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Money and Cigarettes, Eric Clapton's debut release on his own Duck imprint within the Warner Bros./Reprise Records subsidiary was the first album he made after coming to terms with sobriety. Newly focused and having written a batch of new songs, he became dissatisfied with his longtime band he chose to hire an all new band with the exception of second guitarist Albert Lee. In their place, he hired session pros like Stax Records veteran bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn and Muscle Shoals drummer Roger Hawkins, also bringing in guest guitarist Ry Cooder.

His new songs reflected on his changed condition, with "Ain't Going Down," a thinly veiled musical rewrite of the Jimi Hendrix arrangement of "All Along the Watchtower," serving as a statement of purpose that declared, "I've still got something left to say." The album also features "The Shape You're In," the acoustic ballad "Pretty Girl," "Man in Love" and the album's single "I've Got a Rock n' Roll Heart." Clapton's blues fans were passionate about the covers of Sleepy John Estes' "Everybody Oughta Make a Change" (significantly placed as the album's leadoff track), Albert King's "Crosscut Saw," and Johnny Otis' "Crazy Country Hop."