53听|听Top 100 Layla Eric Clapton It boasts the most recognisable guitar riff in history and was written about one of the most tortured love triangles in rock 鈥 it鈥檚 fair to say that 鈥淟ayla鈥 has all the ingredients of a classic.
Eric Clapton had formed Derek And The Dominos in early 1970 with three musicians from the band Delaney & Bonnie & Friends. The Allman Brothers鈥 Duane Allman also joined them for recording sessions and it
Song facts
Composer
Eric Clapton/Jim Gordon
Genre
Rock
Album
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Year of Release
1970
UK Chart Position
4
was he who provided that riff. Drummer Jim Gordon played a major part in the song鈥檚 creation too, composing the beautiful piano coda that closes the track.
鈥淟ayla鈥 burns throughout with the pain of Clapton鈥檚 unrequited love for George Harrison鈥檚 wife, Patti. To further complicate matters, Harrison was his best friend.听 Unable to mention her by name, Clapton titled the track after the heroine of a Persian epic called The Story Of Layla And Majnun, about a doomed romance.
Tragedy haunts the recording in other ways. Allman died a year later in a motorcycle accident, Gordon was jailed for murder, bassist Carl Radle died from a liver infection and Clapton descended into a heroin-induced depression.
On a positive note, old Slowhand eventually married the woman of his dreams in 1979 and also wrote 鈥淲onderful Tonight鈥 for her. So much for true love though - they divorced in 1988.
Listen to Eric Clapton on his early guitar heroes
Eric Clapton talks about some of the great artists that inspired him to start playing听guitar.
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