Eric Clapton – Layla

General CommentAwesome song!! I had never known the history behind this song until I just watched 20/20 and they interviewed Patti Boyd and told her story.

It was before George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh that Eric Clapton became interested in Patti.

She received a letter from a man that stated he was in love with her and it was simply signed "E" She showed it to George and they had a laugh about it and forgot about it till later that evening when she saw Eric and he asked her if she had received his letter.

She started spending lots of time with him- at that time George spent so much time in the studio she was left on her own so much... she was very flattered with George's many compliments he paid her-- one day in 1970 he asked her to listen to a song and put a cassette in and he played "Layla" 3 times and she had by then figured out the song was about her.

That night she and Georged attended a party at Eric's manager's home and she was out in the garden with Eric where George saw them and he asked what was going on and Eric said "I'm in love with your wife"--George asked her "Are you going home with me, or him?" That night she went home with George.

The next time she saw Eric, he held up a vial of heroin, vowing to take it if she didn't run off with him. She refused and she didn't see him for 3-4 years as he then became addicted to heroin.

George and Patti's marriage started breaking apart during that time--the Beatles broke up, George was more distant and distracted..there was lots of drugs and drinking, and infidelity. Then one hideous scene when George was caught having an affair with Ringo Starr's wife Marie.

Eric kicked his heroin addiction and continued persuing Patti. In the summer of 1974 she made the decision to leave George. She then married Eric and they divorced in 1988. She said their marriage was all about extremes loads of heartache and loads of jun, joyous times. He even had written another song for her named "Wonderful Tonight"

In the interview I watched Patti was asked her is the great love of her life. She first asked if she could have 2 and was told no and then she said "Probably George, I feel George is with me forever. So I supposed I'd have to say George is the love of my life"

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  @DesertBreeze

General CommentLittle known fact-- The piano part at the end was by the drummer and was originally recorded as a separate project. However, they decided to put it at the end of Layla. Another little known fact- the drummer who wrote the piano part later went crazy, claiming he heard voices in his head, especially the voice of his mother... later, he actually killed her with a tackhammer. He later died in jail.

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  @vipergt196

General Commentfantastic song.

listen to this, and then listen to "bell bottom blues" and you'll see how clapton moves from being in love, though furious, with patti harrison to bidding her farewell.

oh, clapton is the coolest man ever. I had the fortune to see him perform this song live....wow.

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  @catherineks

General CommentActually this song is more than about how he was in love with George's wife...Eric changed the name to Layla because of an old arabic story which seemed to mimic the story of his love for Pattie. The tale goes that when a man "Majnun" saw Layla for the first time, he fell desperately in love with her. However, Layla's father refused to allow him to marry her. Soon after she married a different man, and a while after she died. This drove him mad. He wandered the desert writing verse and poems about her. It was said that he would fall upon his knees (you got me on my knees Layla) and scream "LAYLA" into the wind. It is still said that you can hear the tortured cries on the winds in Saudi Arabia...and this is a true story by the way. His poems were all collected and stored and he was the founder of many arabic romantic poems. Seems to me Eric and Manjun had a lot in common, except Eric got the girl in the end.

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  @juliliva1

General CommentIt was a relationship that just wasn't meant 2 b. they were young + it just didn't work. George eventualli found his tru love + it worked. R.I.P

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  @hippie-chick

General CommentIt's a real masterpiece of art
one has to be a "clapton" to experience such love situations
Sorry I don't know what pushes him to sing it, but it remains one of his outstanding songs.

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  @kamel

General Commentthis is great song about George Harrison's wife

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  @bubbron

General CommentWe've all been to a point where we like someone so much and then they never like us back, I think this is what the song means. They pretend to like you and switch everything around in your life.

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  @MUNKY149

General CommentWhat can I say? A powerful song - ending with one of the most moving pieces of music ever, the famous "Piano Exit". I'll never forget when I first saw Goodfella's, and the scene where the kids walk up to the pink caddy, then you just hear the imposing piano chords and all the bodies start appearing - truly magical...

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  @turtonhot

General CommentThis a gereat song even as a sixteen year old I can appreciate one of my favourite songs ever. I love the unplugged version to.

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  @ethanbentley