LAYLA

"'Layla'" is the title track on the Derek and the Dominos album ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'', released in December 1970. It is considered one of rock music's definitive love songs,^[1] featuring an unmistakable guitar figure, played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman, as lead-in. 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 George Harrison, "Layla" was unsuccessful on its initial release.^[2] The song has since experienced great critical and popular acclaim. Two versions have achieved chart success, first in 1972 and again twenty years later.

Contents

Background

Recording

Structure

Beyond the original album

Notes

Further reading

External links

Background

In 1966, 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, as two of the top English guitarists of the day, became firm friends. Clapton contributed guitar work on Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on The Beatles' ''White Album'' but remained uncredited, and Harrison played guitar pseudonymously on Cream's "Badge" from ''''Goodbye''''. However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. Besides his difficulty in keeping a band together and his growing heroin addiction, when Boyd came to him for aid during marital troubles, Clapton fell desperately in love with her.^[3]
The title, "Layla", was inspired by a love story, ''The Story of Layla / Layla and Majnun'' (ليلى ومجنون), by the Persian classical poet Nezami. When he wrote "Layla", Clapton had recently been given a copy of the story by a friend (reportedly Ian Dallas)^[4] who was in the process of converting to Islam. Nezami's tale, about a moon-princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the man who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness (in Arabic and Persian, ''Majnun'', مجنون, means "madman"), struck a deep chord with Clapton.
Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney. During their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for her, "Wonderful Tonight". Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation.

George Harrison with Pattie Boyd

In an interview with Songfacts, Bobby Whitlock, who was a member of Derek and the Dominos and good friends with both Harrison and Clapton, explains the situation between Clapton and Pattie around the time he wrote Layla:^[5]

Recording

After the breakup of Cream, Clapton tried his hand with several artists, including Blind Faith and a husband and wife duo, Delaney and Bonnie. In the spring of 1970, he was told that Delaney and Bonnie's backup band (bassist Carl Radle, drummer Jim Gordon, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock) was leaving the group. Seizing the opportunity, Clapton formed a new group, Derek and the Dominos.^[6]
In mid-to-late 1970 Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band joined Clapton's fledgling band as a guest. Clapton and Allman, already mutual fans, were introduced at an Allman Brothers concert by Tom Dowd.^[7] The two hit it off well and soon became good friends. Dowd was already famous for a variety of work (including Aretha Franklin's cover of "Respect"), 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 documentary ''Tom Dowd and the The Language of Music'', he remixed the original master tapes of "Layla",^[8] saying "There are my principles, in one form or another." With the band assembled and Dowd producing, "Layla" was recorded.
One night some time later, Clapton returned to the studio. He found Gordon playing a piano piece he had composed separately and convinced him to let it be used with the song. Roughly three weeks after the recording of its first three minutes, "Layla" was complete.

Structure

Due to the circumstances of its composition, "Layla" is defined by two movements, each marked by a repeated musical figure, or riff.

The opening five bars to the guitar part of "Layla"

The first movement, which alternates between the keys of D minor for choruses and C-sharp minor for verses,^[9] is centered around the "signature riff", a guitar piece utilising hammer-ons, pull-offs, and power chords. It 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. Tom Dowd referred to this as "notes that aren't on the instrument!"
The second movement, Jim Gordon's contribution, is commonly referred to as the "piano coda."^[10] Originally played in C major, the tape speed of the coda was increased approximately 5% during mixing. The resulting pitch is microtonal, somewhere between C and C sharp.
This song has two outros. The outro of the first half is the guitar solo performed on Clapton's Brownie and Allman's Gibson Les Paul. The piano coda is the second outro.

Visual representation of "Layla", showing two clearly defined movements, the first tapering off into the second.

As Clapton commented on his signature song:^[11]
Or, as his inspiration Pattie Boyd once said:

Beyond the original album

The album ''Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs'' opened to lackluster sales (the album never reached the charts in Britain), as, with Clapton unmentioned except on the back, it appeared to be a double album from an unknown band. Also, the song's length proved prohibitive for radio airplay; as a result, an edited version of the song, trimmed to 2:43, was released as a single in March 1971 by Atco (U.S.). It peaked at only #51 on the Billboard Hot 100.
However, when "Layla" was re-released on the 1972 compilation ''The History of Eric Clapton'' and then released as a single, it charted at #7 in the UK and #10 in the U.S. Critical opinion since has been overwhelmingly positive. Dave Marsh, in ''The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock and Roll'', wrote that, "there are few moments in the repertoire of recorded rock where a singer or writer has reached so deeply into himself that the effect of hearing them is akin to witnessing a murder, or a suicide... to me, 'Layla' is the greatest of them."
In 1982 "Layla" was re-released as a single in the UK and was an even bigger success than in 1972, peaking at #4.
On September 20, 1983 at a benefit show called the ARMS Charity Concert for Multiple Sclerosis at the Royal Albert Hall in London, which featured a jam with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page performing "Layla" and "Tulsa Time". This is the only time all of the 1963–1968 Yardbirds lead guitarists appeared on stage together.
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. This version climbed to number twelve on the U.S. charts but failed to chart in Britain. It would later win a Grammy Award in 1992 for Best Rock Song, beating out "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana. The win would later be named one of the 10 biggest upsets in Grammy history by Entertainment Weekly.^[12]
"Layla" is featured on a number of "greatest ever" lists, including The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, 27th place on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time^[13] and 16th place on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll. "Layla" also has had an effect on popular culture, with the piano coda featured in Martin Scorsese's film ''Goodfellas''. Covers have been fairly rare, including John Fahey's cover on his 1984 album ''Let Go'' and a cover by famous session musician and smooth jazz guitarist Larry Carlton.
Beginning in 2003, the song's history came almost full circle in another direction, when 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's guitar parts during the coda. The performances were seen not only as a tribute to Duane, but to producer Tom Dowd, who had died the previous year.^[14]
On May 19, 2007 at a free concert titled "The Road To Austin" former Derek and The Dominoes keyboardist Bobby Whitlock performed "Layla" and "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad" with dueling guitars courtesy of Eric Johnson and David Grissom.
^[15]

Notes

1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Song Review". Retrieved on June 22, 2005.
2. Paul Gambaccini et al. ''Derek and the Dominoes (sic) - Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs''. Accessed on July 6, 2005.
3. Patterson, Jean. "Crazy About "Layla":Eric Clapton Song Inspired by Nizami, 12th century Azerbaijani Poet". 1998, Azerbaijan International. Retrieved on October 9, 2006.
4. Morgan, John. Biography for Ian Dallas. Internet Movie Database, retrieved October 9, 2006.
5. Songfacts "Layla" entry. Accessed on December 14, 2006
6. Williamson, Nigel. Derek and The Dominos - Layla & Other Assorted... Retrieved on June 22, 2005.
7. Moormann, Mark. ''Tom Dowd and the Language of Music''. 2003, Language of Music Films.
8. Halsey, Derek. Tom Dowd: The Legendary Producer Dies on October 27, 2002. Retrieved October 9, 2006.
9. Perrin, Jeff. ''The Best of Eric Clapton - Signature Licks / A Step-by-Step Breakdown of His Playing Technique''. Hal Leonard, 1996.
10. Sold on Song Top 100: Layla. Retrieved on October 12, 2006.
11. Hrano, Mike. Eric Clapton- The Mike Hrano Interview. Retrieved on July 6, 2005.
12. "Grammy's 10 Biggest Upsets"
13. The Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Retrieved on September 9, 2006
14. The Allman Brothers Band in Concert: Beacon Theatre 2003. Retrieved on November 4, 2006
15. Road To Austin Review. Retrieved on May 25, 2007

Further reading

★ 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

★ "Layla" lyrics

★ "Reason to Rock" review