Ever notice how some songs just feel like a specific time? For a lot of people, It's In The Way You Use It isn't just a classic rock radio staple; it’s the sound of 1986. It’s the sound of smoke-filled pool halls and the neon-soaked tension of The Color of Money. If you grew up then, you know exactly what I’m talking about. If you didn’t, you’ve likely heard it in a grocery store and thought, "Man, this guitar tone is incredible."
Because it is.
But there is a weird thing about this track. Despite being a Number 1 hit on the Mainstream Rock tracks chart, it’s often sidelined in the "Greatest Hits" conversations in favor of "Layla" or "Wonderful Tonight." That’s a mistake. Honestly, the song represents a pivotal moment where Eric Clapton—who had spent much of the early 80s struggling with his personal life and a shifting musical landscape—finally figured out how to be a guitar god in the age of synthesizers. It wasn’t just a catchy hook. It was a comeback.
The Robbie Robertson Connection You Probably Didn't Know
Most people think Clapton just sat down and wrote this for a movie. Not quite. The magic happened because of a collaboration with Robbie Robertson of The Band. Robertson was producing the soundtrack for Martin Scorsese’s The Color of Money, the long-awaited sequel to The Hustler. Scorsese needed something that captured the slick, high-stakes world of pool sharks.
Robertson brought in Clapton. They co-wrote the track, and you can hear both of their DNA in it. Robertson has that cinematic, atmospheric sensibility, while Clapton brings the blues-inflected pop polish. They recorded it at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles. It’s got that mid-80s "big" production—think gated reverb on the drums and shimmering keyboards—but the core of it is fundamentally bluesy.
It's actually kinda funny when you think about it. Clapton was playing a Stratocaster through a heavy rack of effects, which was the style at the time, yet the lick is pure, traditional rhythm and blues. He managed to make the "old way" of playing work in a "new way" world.
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The Gear Behind the Tone
If you're a gear nerd, this song is a goldmine. This was the era of the "Gold Leaf" Strat and the beginning of Clapton’s relationship with Fender for his signature model. He was using Lace Sensor pickups. Purists hated them at first. They thought they were too "hi-fi" or clinical. But listen to the solo on It's In The Way You Use It. It’s clean, it’s compressed, and it cuts through the mix like a hot knife through butter.
The mid-boost circuit in his guitar allowed him to get that thick, vocal-like sustain without having to crank a stack of Marshalls to deafening levels. It changed how people approached studio recording. He wasn't fighting the synthesizers; he was sitting right on top of them.
Why the Lyrics Actually Matter
It’s easy to dismiss the lyrics as a simple tie-in to the movie's theme of "talent vs. discipline."
“It’s in the way that you use it / It comes and it goes.” On the surface, it’s about Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) teaching Vincent Lauria (Tom Cruise) how to hustle. It’s about the fact that having a gift isn’t enough. You have to know how to deploy it. You have to know when to hold back and when to go for the kill.
But if you look at Clapton’s life in '86, he was talking to himself too. He was navigating sobriety. He was trying to figure out if he still had "it." The song is basically a manifesto for his second act. It’s an acknowledgment that talent is a fickle thing—it comes and it goes—and the only thing you can control is your technique and your choices.
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The August Album Context
This song wasn't just a soundtrack one-off. It became the lead single for his album August. Now, August is a polarizing record. It was produced by Phil Collins. Yeah, that Phil Collins.
Because of Collins, the album has a very specific "brass and big drums" sound. Some fans felt it was too commercial. Too "80s." But It's In The Way You Use It stands out because it bridges the gap. It has the soul of 461 Ocean Boulevard but the shiny veneer of MTV-era rock. It proved that Clapton wasn't going to become a relic. He was going to dominate the charts.
The song actually hit the airwaves before the album did, largely because of the movie's massive marketing push. It created this huge momentum. Suddenly, Clapton was cool again to a generation of kids who only knew him as the guy their parents listened to.
The Scorsese Effect
We can't talk about this song without talking about the visuals. Scorsese is a master of the needle drop. Think about the scene where Tom Cruise is dancing around the pool table to "Werewolves of London." Great, right? But the Clapton track provides the emotional architecture for the film's grit.
The song plays over the end credits, but its influence is felt throughout the pacing of the movie. It’s got that rhythmic, driving tempo—roughly 116 beats per minute—that mimics the click-clack of billiard balls. It’s precise. It’s deliberate.
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There's a reason why, even decades later, when you see a pool table in a dimly lit bar, your brain might start humming that opening riff. It’s Pavlovian.
What People Get Wrong About the Success
The common narrative is that the song was a massive pop hit. Actually, while it topped the Rock charts, it didn't even crack the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100. Why?
Label politics.
Warner Bros. was so focused on the soundtrack's success and the subsequent singles from August (like "Pretending" later on) that the single's physical distribution was a bit of a mess. Also, the music video—which was basically just clips from the movie—wasn't the kind of high-concept art that MTV was obsessing over in the year of Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer."
But the "Way You Use It" didn't need a fancy video. It had the radio. It was played constantly on AOR (Album Oriented Rock) stations. It became a "lifestyle" song. It was the background music for every Saturday night in 1987.
Actionable Takeaways for the Modern Listener
If you want to truly appreciate the craftsmanship of this track, don't just stream it on a tiny phone speaker. Do these three things:
- Listen to the 12-inch Extended Mix: If you can find the vinyl or a high-quality rip, the extended version lets the groove breathe. You can hear the interplay between the bass and the percussion much more clearly. It shows how tight the "Phil Collins era" band actually was.
- Watch the Movie First: Seriously. Watch The Color of Money. See how the themes of the movie—arrogance, redemption, and the "hustle"—line up with the lyrics. It gives the song a weight that it lacks when played in isolation.
- Analyze the Solo: If you play guitar, sit down and try to chart the solo. It’s not fast. It’s not "shredding." It’s about phrasing. Notice how he uses the space between the notes. That is the literal embodiment of the title: it's not the notes he has, it's how he uses them.
The legacy of It's In The Way You Use It is a reminder that reinvention isn't about throwing away your past. It's about repackaging your core truth for a new moment. Clapton didn't stop being a bluesman; he just learned how to play the blues through a rack-mounted digital delay. And in doing so, he created a permanent piece of pop culture history.