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The Epic Track: “Layla”
Editor’s Note: There are certain tracks that are, well, “epic” — memorable, larger than life, carved into music history. In this series, we look at one of them.
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Rock fans would be hard-pressed to come up with a finer expression of the anguish of unrequited love than Derek and the Dominos’
“Layla,” the 1970 title track from Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It checks the boxes of exceptional musicality, compelling backstory, and rock history.
Eric Clapton, already a huge star, chose the road of anonymity by referring to himself as “Derek” on the LP, so as not to exploit his fame. Initial sales bore this out. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs started life as a commercial disappointment, gaining traction over the decades. It’s an unfettered classic; the cover illustration is a trippy goddess who closely resembles the woman with whom Eric/Derek is obsessed.
The backstory is well-documented. Clapton and George Harrison were longtime buddies, musical soulmates with enormous regard for one another. Then Clapton fell madly in love with Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd. Boyd was an international model, possessing a perfect doe-eyed face, leggy form, and sunny blondeness. He ached for what he could not have, and “Layla” (the title track on this double album) was the acknowledgement of his anguish.
But this was no solo effort: “Layla” was fleshed out with the remaining Dominos (Bobby Whitlock on vocals, Carl Radle on bass, Jim Gordon on drums, and, more significantly, keyboards). Iconic guest Duane Allman provided some of the most intuitive guitar work in rock history.
“Layla” is a two-part piece: the guitar-centric first half followed by the keyboard section (called the “piano exit”) that conjures melancholy longing without words, ending with a sweet bird whistle created by Allman’s guitar.
Since calling the song “Pattie” would be far too specific for comfort, Clapton used the name “Layla” for his love, which he harvested from the Arabic tale of “Layla and Majnun,” a Romeo and Juliet-esque tragedy about a doomed love that drives the main character mad. Clapton carried out the imagery in his love letters to Boyd, where he addressed her as “Layla.”
Co-written with Jim Gordon, it’s a powerful track that digs deep with its introspective lyrics about the narrator’s love for Layla that cannot be realized, referencing details of Eric’s interactions with Pattie during her marriage to Harrison: “Tried to give you consolation/Your old man had let you down/Like a fool, I fell in love with you/Turned my whole world upside down.” The pain in his voice is visceral; Clapton’s well-deserved rep as a guitar god often crowds out the fact that he is a superb vocalist.
Initially conceived as a ballad, Duane Allman (who had a mutual admiration society going with Clapton) provided the kick-ass 7-note opening slide guitar riff to “Layla” that cemented its rocker status. While Allman is believed to be the hook’s composer, he was strongly influenced by bluesman Albert E. King’s “As the Years Go Passing By.” Abigail DeVoe gives a terrific breakdown of her theory on her Vinyl Monday YouTube channel. King’s opening lyrics are thematically on point: “There is nothing I can do…” The cadence with which he speaks them, sped up and morphed into a guitar lick, very likely forms that legendary opening phrase.
Allman and Clapton’s dueling guitars on “Layla” are an eternal thrill. They intuit each other’s moves, and their joint efforts deliver a track with unique fullness, skill, and soul.
The second part of “Layla” is a keyboard section by drummer Jim Gordon, filled with quiet longing and a gorgeous melody that cools the piece out while leaving a remnant of melancholia. Clapton overheard Gordon playing it in the studio and had the unerring instinct to attach it to the first part of “Layla,” yielding seven minutes of musical mastery. Worth noting that Jim Gordon actually lifted part of it from his girlfriend Rita Coolidge. It was a song of theirs called “Time.” To her understandable chagrin, she was not credited on the album.
Long considered a masterpiece about the torment of unrequited love, “Layla” made an enormous impression on Pattie Boyd, who, upon hearing it, was immediately aware of its relevance to her. She and Harrison eventually divorced, and Boyd threw in her lot with Clapton, marrying him in 1979. They remained a passionate, troubled union for a decade. Even though their pairing didn’t last, the friendship between Harrison and Clapton somehow did. And the song, of course, is for the ages.
Pattie Boyd, now 81 and a successful photographer and treasured pop culture figure, is grateful for her status as muse to two of England’s greatest rock stars.
The double album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was the single output of Derek and the Dominos, a one-time supergroup that created a stunning album whose legend started slowly but continues to build. Clapton’s 1992 Unplugged album yielded a best-selling acoustic version of “Layla,” which burnished its legend. But the original “Layla” is a miracle of musicianship, studio work, collaboration, mojo, and the grace that occurs when creative souls take their broken hearts and turn them into art.
-Ellen Fagan
Photo: George Harrison and Eric Clapton (Getty)
Thanks for the article. Good stuff. My two cents about the Rita Coolidge thing – it’s mostly a bunch of BS. I doubt she wrote as much of the MUSIC for the coda as everyone thinks she did (if at all). Everyone forgets that this “revelation” came out in her book ($$) with details (read excerpt below). It’s fascinating how this story has been grossly exaggerated (especially by her) – to the point where some people think she wrote the entire song (her story changes in every interview).
Beyond drumming, Gordon was an accomplished musician since he was a teen – he could read and write music. and he was a prodigy Bobby Whitlock, the keyboardist for the Dominos, even calls out Coolidge’s BS on his popular YouTube Channel (while he appreciated Gordon’s talent immensely, he did NOT like Gordon personally). Coolidge also claims to have been ripped off by Whitlock and Leon Russell with the song ‘Superstar’ (the one made famous by the Carpenters). She has a history of doing this. The song “Time” that you linked here, was recorded and released AFTER Layla, not before. And, she didn’t even bother to credit Gordon on the song (in light of what she wrote in her book, who ripped off who?).
Me, I’ll stick with what she wrote herself in her book, which is quite telling (read excerpt below).
AT BEST, she made some minor additions to the coda, and that’s about it. Should she have been added to the writing credits? Maybe? But she did not even come up with the initial idea for the song ‘Time’ – Gordon did. She said so herself in the book (read below). Nor did she have the speck of musical talent that Jim Gordon did (he wasn’t some hippie, half-assed drummer and, he produced several albums). Finally, It’s also pretty easy for Coolidge to make this accusation when really, the only one who can truly refute it was in jail and eventually died.
People will believe ANYTHING that they read on the internet.
Below is what Coolidge wrote in her book about this matter. There are important facts that will sneak by if you’re not reading carefully. For what it’s worth, her book was a disappointment. It was an exercise in name dropping and constantly playing the victim – making sure the message that she never made a mistake or did anything wrong was repeatedly imparted. She was given credit for “co-writing” songs with Kris Kristofferson and there are many out there that says she really didn’t.
Again, great piece here otherwise.
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Excerpted from Delta Lady: A Memoir by Rita Coolidge with Michael Walker.
Copyright (c) by Rita Coolidge. Reprinted by permission of Harper, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers
“One afternoon in 1970, Jim Gordon came over to my house in Hollywood, sat down at the piano, and played for me a chord progression he’d just composed. Most people know Jim as one of L.A.’s top session drummers in the early ‘70s — he played on everything from Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman” to the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album — but he was also a capable pianist, and because he was exposed to so many styles of music, he had a well-developed sense of melody and structure.
“The chords Jim played for me were in the key of C sharp and built to an eight-note refrain before the progression repeated. There was something haunting about it, especially when the bright major chords suddenly dipped to B-flat 7th for the refrain. It also seemed deeply familiar—like when you meet someone you’re immediately attracted to who seems at once both exotic and approachable.”
“I loved Jim’s progression, but at the moment that’s all it was — a stunning riff, not a song. As we played with it, a second progression suddenly came to me, a countermelody in the key of G that “answered” and resolved the tension of Jim’s chords and built to a dramatic crescendo that bridged the song’s beginning and ending. I wrote lyrics that reflected the melody’s sense of fatalism and hope (“my darling believe me, don’t ever leave me, we’ve got a million years to show them that our love is real.”). Jim and I ended up calling it “Time (Don’t Let the World Get In Our Way)” and taped a demo. We played the song for Eric Clapton when we were in England touring with Delanie and Bonnie –”
“I remember clearly sitting at the piano at Olympic Studios while Eric listened to me play it all the way through (so does Bobby Whitlock, Delaney’s and Bonnie’s ace piano player, who was on the session).”
“Jim and I left a tape cassette of the demo with Eric, hoping of course that he might cover it. Nothing came of it, and I largely forgot about it. But our song, with Jim’s wistful melody and my sweet countermelody, would come to haunt me the rest of my life.”
Thanks so much for all this wonderful insight & intel. So many layers & levels to the history of this wild story. I appreciate your take!
Wonderful review of “Layla”. The Coolidge backstory was enlightening too. In the spirit of “finding the truth” , I thought I’d point out how miserable the marriage actually was. The unrequited love story of Pattie and Eric is legendary. Their marriage however was not pretty. You wrote, “They remained a passionate, troubled union for a decade.” Right from the start their marriage was fraught with emotional distress. Marriage bliss did not last a week. Phillip Norman, writer to the Rock God (Eric) and Beatle Gods, claims that Eric was faithful for less than a few days. “Layla” is legendary!