Layla

Name	Layla
Cover	Layla.jpg
Artist	Derek and the Dominos
From album	Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
B–side	"I Am Yours"
Released	Originally 1970; as a single in 1971 and 1972
Format	Vinyl album
Recorded	Criteria Studios, Miami, August–September 1970
Engineers	Chuck Kirkpatrick, Mack Emerman, Ron Albert, Karl Richardson
Genre	Blues-rock
Length	7:02 – 7:112:43 (1971 single version)
Label	Atco (US), RSO, Polydor
Writer	Eric Clapton/Jim Gordon
Producer	Tom Dowd, Derek and the Dominos

"Layla" is a song by blues-rock band Derek and the Dominos, the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, originally 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. The song has since experienced great critical and popular acclaim. It is often hailed as being among the greatest rock songs of all time. Two versions have achieved chart success, the first in 1972 and the second twenty years later as an acoustic "Unplugged" performance. In 2004 it was ranked #27 on Rolling Stones list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", and the acoustic version won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.

Background

In 1964 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 uncredited guitar work on Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on The Beatles' White Album, 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 Story of Layla / Layla and Majnun (ليلى و مجنون), by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi of the Seljuq empire. It is based on the true story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah (Arabic: قيس بن الملوح‎) from the northern Arabian Peninsula, in the Umayyad Caliphate during the 7th century. When he wrote "Layla", Clapton had been told the story by his friend Ian Dallas,

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 among 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 Pattie called "Wonderful Tonight" (1977). Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation.

Writing and recording

After the breakup of Cream, Clapton tried his hand with several groups, including Blind Faith and the husband-and-wife duo Delaney and Bonnie. In the spring of 1970, he was told that Delaney and Bonnie's backup band, consisting of bassist Carl Radle, drummer Jim Gordon, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, was leaving the group. Seizing the opportunity, Clapton formed a new group, soon known as Derek and the Dominos.

In mid- to late 1970, Duane Allman joined Clapton's fledgling band as a guest. Clapton and Allman, already mutual fans, were introduced at an Allman Brothers concert by Tom Dowd. The two hit it off well and soon became good friends. Dowd said of their guitar-playing chemistry: "There had to be some sort of telepathy going on because I've never seen spontaneous inspiration happen at that rate and level. One of them would play something, and the other reacted instantaneously. Never once did either of them have to say, 'Could you play that again, please?' It was like two hands in a glove. And they got tremendously off on playing with each other." Dowd was already famous for a variety of work, and had worked with Clapton in his Cream days (Clapton once called him "the ideal recording man"); his work on the album would be another achievement. For the making of his biographical film Tom Dowd and the Language of Music, he remixed the original master tapes of "Layla", saying "There are my principles, in one form or another." After Dowd spliced the two movements together, is centred around the "signature riff", a guitar piece utilising hammer-ons, pull-offs, and power chords. The second part of the riff is commonly believed to have originated from Allman, an adaptation of the vocal melody from Albert King's "As the Years Go Passing By" from 1967's album Born Under a Bad Sign. The first section contains the overdub-heavy guitar solo, a duet of sorts between Allman's slide guitar and Clapton's bent notes. By placing his slide at points beyond the end of the fretboard, Allman was able to play notes at a higher pitch than could be played with standard technique. Dowd referred to this as "notes that aren't on the instrument!" Originally played in C major, the tape speed of the coda was increased during mixing. The resulting pitch is somewhere between C and C sharp. The piano interlude at the end of the song is augmented by an acoustic guitar, and is also the accompaniment to the outro-solo. The same melody is played on Allman's slide guitar, albeit one octave higher. Gordon does not improvise or deviate from the piano part; Clapton and Allman are the ones who improvise the melody. The song ends with Allman playing his signature high-pitched "bird call" on his slide guitar.

Or, as his inspiration, Pattie Boyd, once said, "I think that he was amazingly raw at the time... He's such an incredible musician that he's able to put his emotions into music in such a way that the audience can feel it instinctively. It goes right through you."

Personnel

Eric Clapton – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, lead vocals

Bobby Whitlock – organ, piano, background vocals

Jim Gordon – drums, percussion, piano

Carl Radle – bass

Duane Allman – slide guitar, lead guitar

Beyond the original album

The album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs opened to lacklustre sales (the album never reached the charts in Britain), possibly in part because Clapton's name was found only on the back cover.

In May 1980 it was covered by the London Symphony Orchestra, but without the lyrics, being recorded at EMI Studio One, Abbey Road, London. A similar version has been performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

On 20 September 1983 a benefit show called the ARMS Charity Concert for Multiple Sclerosis at the Royal Albert Hall in London featured a jam with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page performing "Layla" and "Tulsa Time". Clapton, Beck, and Page were the Yardbirds' successive lead guitarists from 1963 to 1968.

In 1992 Clapton was invited to play for the MTV Unplugged series. His subsequent album, Unplugged, featured a number of blues standards and his new "Tears in Heaven." It also featured an "unplugged" version of "Layla". The new arrangement slowed down and reworked the original riff and dispensed with the piano coda. Clapton introduced this version to the unsuspecting live audience by stating "See if you can spot this one."

In 2003 the Allman Brothers Band began playing the song in concert. Warren Haynes sang the vocal, Gregg Allman played the piano part, and Derek Trucks played Duane Allman's guitar parts during the coda. The performances were seen as a tribute not only to Allman, but also to producer Tom Dowd, who had died the previous year.

Personnel (Unplugged version)

Eric Clapton – acoustic lead guitar, lead vocals

Ray Cooper – percussion

Nathan East – acoustic bass guitar, background vocals

Andy Fairweather-Low – acoustic rhythm guitar

Steve Ferrone – drums

Katie Kissoon – background vocals

Chuck Leavell – piano

Tessa Niles – background vocals

Legacy

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the song had become iconic, and it is featured on a number of "greatest ever" lists. The song was chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of their "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll", and Rolling Stone ranked the song at #27 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". "Layla" was ranked #16 on VH1's "100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll", while Clapton's and Allman's guitar solos earned "Layla" a spot on Guitar Worlds list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" at #14. The song's familiar guitar riff was featured on a series of British TV adverts for Vauxhall cars, while the extended piano coda was featured prominently in Martin Scorsese's film Goodfellas. Covers have been fairly rare, including John Fahey's cover on his 1984 album Let Go, a cover by session musician and smooth jazz guitarist Larry Carlton, a cover by Les Fradkin on his "Hyper MIDI Guitar" album in 2010, and a cover by Impulsia from their debut album Expressions in 2009. Part of the song was included in a remix by American shred guitarist Michael Angelo Batio called "Clapton Is God" in his 2009 album Hands Without Shadows 2 – Voices.

References

;Footnotes

;Bibliography

Ray Coleman, Clapton! (Warner Books, 1985) pp. 179–192

Jan Reid, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs by Derek and the Dominos (Rock of Ages, 2007)

External links

[ Allmusic's review of "Layla]

Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel

"Layla" lyrics

"Reason to Rock" review

Category:1970 singles Category:1972 singles Category:1982 singles Category:1992 singles Category:Eric Clapton songs Category:1971 singles Category:Songs written by Eric Clapton Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients