Eric Clapton, nicknamed Slowhand, is a Grammy Award-winning English rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and composer. He is one of the most successful musicians of the 20th and 21st centuries, garnering an unprecedented three inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (The Yardbirds, Cream, and solo). Often viewed by critics and fans alike as one of the greatest guitarists of all time, Clapton was ranked fourth in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the “100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time” and #53 on their list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
Although Clapton’s musical style has varied throughout his career, it has always remained rooted in the blues. Clapton is credited as an innovator in several phases of his career, which have included blues-rock (with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and The Yardbirds) and psychedelic rock (with Cream). Clapton has also achieved great chart success in genres ranging from Delta blues (Me and Mr. Johnson) to pop (“Change the World”) and reggae (Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”). Clapton also achieved fame with Derek and the Dominos through the hit song “Layla”.
Layla
“Layla” is a song by blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos and the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, released in December 1970. It is considered one of rock music’s definitive love songs, featuring an unmistakable guitar figure, played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, and a piano coda that comprises the second half of the song. Its famously contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Jim Gordon.
Inspired by Clapton’s then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison, “Layla” was unsuccessful on its initial release.
In 1966, George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met during the filming of A Hard Day’s Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became close friends. Clapton contributed guitar work on Harrison’s song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on The Beatles’ White Album but remained uncredited, and Harrison co-wrote and played guitar pseudonymously (as L’Angelo Misterioso) on Cream’s “Badge” from Goodbye. However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. Between his tenures in Cream and Blind Faith, in his words, “something else quite unexpected was happening: I was falling in love with Pattie.”
The title, “Layla”, was inspired by the The Story of Layla / Layla and Majnun (ليلى ومجنون), by the Persian 12th century poet Nizami Ganjavi. It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah (Arabic: قيس بن الملوح) from the northern Arabian Peninsula, in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. When he wrote “Layla”, Clapton had been told the story by his friend Ian Dallas who was in the process of converting to Islam. Nizami’s tale, about a moon princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the one who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness (Majnun, مجنون, meaning “madman” in Arabic), struck a deep chord with Clapton.
According to Boyd, Clapton played the song for her at a party, and later that same evening confessed to George that he was in love with his wife. The revelation caused no small upset between the three of them, but Pattie and George remained married for several more years, and Harrison and Clapton retained their close friendship with no apparent signs of damage.
Boyd divorced Harrison in 1974 and married Clapton in 1979 during a concert stop in Tucson, Arizona. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton’s wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. During their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for her, “Wonderful Tonight”. Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation.
http://djallyn.org/media/eric-clapton-layla.flvWhat will you do when you get lonely
No one waitin’ by your side
You’ve been runnin’, hidin’ much too long
You know it’s just your foolish prideLayla, you got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind?Tried to give you consolation
Your old man let you down
Like a fool, I fell in love with you
You turned my whole world upside downLayla, you got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind?Make the best of the situation
Before I finally go insane
Please, don’t say, “We’ll never find a way”
Tell me all my love’s in vainLayla, got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind? Yeah, yeahLayla, got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind? Yeah, yeahLayla, got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind?Layla, got me on my knees
Layla, beggin’, darlin’, please
Layla, darling, won’t you ease
My worried mind?
- Audio from the 1994 album, Eric Clapton Unplugged:
(199)