The Hollies are back in the spotlight. Sharing the news that they are joining Three Dog Night, Jefferson Starship, Vanilla Fudge, and more for the 10th anniversary of the Flower Power Cruise, which sets sail March 20-27, 2027, the English pop-rock band is giving fans another chance to rock out to the hits that made them one of the most enduring acts of the ‘60s and ‘70s.
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In addition to sunblock and swimming trunks, The Hollies are bringing their decades-spanning catalog back to the stage—and with it, one song in particular that not only left guitar legend Eric Clapton completely awestruck from its first note, but went on to influence generations of musicians and fans.
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According to Far Out magazine, Clapton is a massive fan of The Hollies’ version of “The Air That I Breathe.” Written by songwriting duo Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, and originally recorded by Hammond for his 1972 debut studio album, It Never Rains in Southern California, Phil Everly later covered the track for his solo album Star Spangled Springer.
It’s Everly’s cover that caught the attention of The Hollies.
“Eric Clapton once said that the first note of ‘The Air That I Breathe’ had more soul than anything he’d ever heard,” Alan Parsons, the legendary recording engineer who worked with The Hollies during those sessions, said.
With The Hollies’ version, the band completely transformed the Hammond original into a soaring power ballad at Abbey Road Studios. With electric guitar by Tony Hicks and acoustic rhythm guitar by Terry Sylvester, the track was then elevated by an orchestral arrangement courtesy of Christopher Gunning and enormous tom-tom overdubs via Bobby Elliott.
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Released in 1974, the song became a global hit. Climbing to No. 2 in the U.K., it reached No. 6 in the U.S. and No. 2 in Australia. It also reached the Top 10 across several more countries, including South Africa and Canada, selling millions of copies worldwide and becoming The Hollies’ last major hit a decade after their initial British Invasion peak.
A masterpiece of structural tension, pioneering studio production, and raw emotional resonance, the slow-build track reached another generation of rock musicians nearly two decades later.
Radiohead‘s 1992 debut single, “Creep,” borrowed elements of “The Air That I Breathe,” including its chord progression and melody. It sounded so much like the original that legal action resulted in Hammond and Hazlewood being added as co-writers of “Creep.” Hammond later said Radiohead had been honest about the similarities, allowing the matter to be settled amicably.
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“Radiohead agreed that they had actually taken it,” Hammond said, via Guitar World. “Because they were honest, they weren’t sued to the point of saying, ‘We want the whole thing.’ So we ended up just getting a little piece of it.”
The Hammond/Hazlewood/Radiohead copyright issue even made its way onto the big screen in 2024 with A24‘s high-concept horror film Heretic, which cheekily uses the song’s cross-generational history as a narrative driver.
Since its inception, “The Air That I Breathe” has been covered by numerous notable artists. Beyond The Hollies, Everly, and Radiohead, The Mavericks gave the track a country spin in 2003, Simply Red added their soulful color in 1998, and Belinda Carlisle released a vibrant pop version in 2025.
But it’ll be The Hollies’ signature song fans will soon be singing along to again.
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