“I suppose I felt that I deserved it for the amount of seriousness that I’d put into it. My head was huge!” “Clapton is God” graffiti made him a guitar legend when he was barely 20 – he says he was far from uncomfortable with the adulation at the time

Eric Clapton performs onstage with the Yardbirds in Brighton, England on June 11, 1964.

“Clapton is God.” It's one of those essential pieces of guitar hero lore. Someone so moved by guitar prowess that they scrawled the name of the virtuoso in question on a wall – a figure in the town square telling passersby of messianic musical exploits that must be seen to be believed.

Musical divinity is a hell of a thing to throw on anyone, especially someone that young – he was around 20 at the time the scrawl appeared – but to hear him tell it, Eric Clapton was ready at least in some ways for the label.