Written and first recorded by John Martyn (1971).
Re-recorded by John Martyn (1973).
Hit album version by Eric Clapton (1977).
From the wiki: “‘May You Never’ became something of a signature song for its writer, John Martyn, becoming a staple of his live performances. Released in November 1971 as a single, in an early form with a full band, the first release of ‘May You Never’ had slightly different lyrics than appeared in subsequent recordings. ‘May You Never’ was re-recorded with a more sparse arrangement for the Solid Air album sessions in 1973. According to Songfacts.com, the night before producer John Wood was due to fly to New York to master the album, he was still waiting for the tape containing this tune. ‘It was by then nearly midnight,’ he recalled to Mojo magazine April 2013, ‘so I said to him, For Christ’s sake, John, just go back down into the studio and play it again, and we’ll record it. And he did, and it’s great.’
“Eric Clapton covered ‘May You Never’ on his 1977 album Slowhand. When Martyn was presented with a lifetime achievement award at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards, Clapton sent a message saying that [Martyn] was ‘so far ahead of everything else it was inconceivable’ and acknowledged the extent of his influence on ‘everyone who ever heard him.'”
John Martyn, “May You Never” re-recording for Solid Air (1973):
John Martyn & Paul Kossoff, “May You Never” alternate take (1971):
https://youtu.be/57Ae58gOrwk
Eric Clapton, “May You Never” (1977):
https://youtu.be/YLmfkbhEHrE
John Martyn & John Paul Jones, “May You Never” live performance BBC Folk Awards broadcast (2008):