Eric Clapton could play the blues as few other guitarists could -- a talent which both satisfied and tortured him. Unlike some of his fellow British “bluesmen,” Clapton was keenly aware that he was a white musician imitating an essentially black art form. This created a terrible conflict; playing the blues was his first love, but was he really entitled to practice his craft? In order to reconcile these feelings, Clapton became a blues purist. He believed that you had to suffer in order to be able to play
the blues -- so he was miserable a lot of the time. He was particularly unhappy when he wrote “Layla”.

PROFILE: “Layla”’s real name was Patti Boyd -- or more accurately, Patti Boyd Harrison. She was the wife of Beatle George Harrison when Eric Clapton began pursuing her.  Harrison first met her on the set of A Hard Day’s Night in 1964. A stunning nineteen-year-old blonde model, she was only supposed to make a brief appearance in the film and leave; instead, she and George fell in love and eventually married.  George and Eric were close friends. They’d known each other since the days when the Beatles and the Yardbirds (Eric’s group at the time) were becoming popular. As they both became superstars, they hung out together more and more. They even contributed to each other’s recordings. Eric played a magnificent solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” George co-wrote and played on Cream’s “Badge:’ George wrote “Here Comes the Sun” while sitting in Eric’s garden; he wrote “Savoy Truffle” specifically for Eric, who was having dental problems but still couldn’t resist chocolates. George joined Eric on the Delaney and Bonnie tour; etc. George didn’t realize, however, that over the years Eric had quietly fallen in love with his wife. Eric told Patti (but not George) about his feelings, but she wouldn’t hear anything of it. She remained dedicated to the man who had written “Something” for her. Already a tortured soul, Eric was plunged into despair. In an outburst of emotion, he wrote “Layla.” Later, when people asked him who he was singing for, all he would say was, “‘Layla’ was about a woman I felt really deeply about and who turned me down, and I had to pour it out in some way.”  You may be wondering how “Patti” became “Layla.” The answer: Clapton lifted the name “Layla” from a Persian love story called “Layla and Mashoun.” The tale had little similarity to the Eric/Patti/George love triangle. Clapton just liked the title.  The song was recorded and released in 1970, with Bobby Whitlock, Jim Gordon, Carl Radle, and Duane Allman, of the Allman Brothers’ Band, playing on it. But it flopped. The record was attributed to Derek and the Dominoes, and no one knew it was Clapton. So Eric, who had poured his heart and soul into the record, threw in the towel. He gave up music and took up heroin. He withdrew for several years-during which the record was re-released and became one of the all-time FM favorites, and a Top 10 single. A few years later, Clapton kicked the habit and reemerged with “I Shot the Sheriff:’ his first #l song.  The story has a happy ending for Eric. Patti eventually divorced George and, in a secret ceremony in Tucson, Arizona, in 1979, married Clapton. Ultimate irony: Patti and Eric later joined George in a recording of the
Everly Brothers’ old hit, “Bye, Bye Love.”