There is a fine video of Clapton (on acoustic) and Knopfler (on electric) at YouTube. Deluxe duo.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=wrQ0-ImNn7s ** --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, new.morning <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I am not sure if life is stranger (and more connected) than fiction. > After my riff on Layla, I looked it up. Talk about interconnections > and "six degrees". > > Oh. Layla: was Patty Boyd: and based om Persian spiritual poet > Nezami's poem: Patty introduced George to MMY: Beatles put MMY in > papers: FF > > > "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[2], 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, similar to the combination of > fragments John Lennon and Paul McCartney used to create "A Day in the > Life". > > Clapton was inspired to write the piece by his burning unrequited love > for Patti Boyd, the wife of his friend George Harrison. > Contents > > > > Background > > In 1966, George Harrison married Patti 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, and Harrison played > guitar pseudonymously on Cream's "Badge" from Goodbye. However, > trouble was brewing for Clapton. His supergroup Cream had angrily > broken apart, his growing drug use would lead to a life-threatening > heroin addiction, and, when Boyd came to Clapton for aid during > marital troubles, Clapton fell desperately in love with her. > > 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, Ian Dallas, 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 Persian, Majnun, مجنون, means > "madman"), struck a deep chord with Clapton. "Layla" was the result: a > powerful and moving statement of unrequited love for Patti > Boyd-Harrison, with an immediately recognizable guitar riff, always > remaining a vivid memory for anyone who has heard it. The influence of > Clapton's affection for Boyd is obvious; compare the striking album > cover by Frandsen-de Schonberg to the picture of Boyd in the bottom left. > > In 1977, Boyd divorced Harrison and married Clapton in 1979. Harrison > was not bitter about the divorce and attended the wedding with Ringo > Starr and Paul McCartney. During their marriage, Clapton wrote another > love ballad for her, "Wonderful Tonight". Their marriage later > developed difficulties over Clapton's alcoholism and his extramarital > affair with Yvonne Khan Kelly, and in 1985 he left Boyd altogether for > Italian model Lori del Santo, with whom he had a child. Clapton and > Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation. Boyd > currently lives with the property developer Rod Weston. > George Harrison with Patti Boyd > Enlarge > George Harrison with Patti Boyd > > 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: > > I was there when they were supposedly sneaking around. You don't > sneak very well when you're a world figure. He was all hot on Patti > and I was dating her sister. They had this thing going on that > supposedly was behind George's back. Well, George didn't really care. > He said, 'You can have her.' That kind of defuses it when Eric says, > 'I'm taking your wife' and he says, 'Take her.' They got married and > evidently, she wasn't what he wanted after all. The hunt was better > than the kill. That happens, but apparently Patti is real happy now > with some guy who's not a guitar player. Good for her and good for > Eric for moving on with his life. George got on with his life, that's > for sure. > > [edit] > > 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. However, 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. Their original title, Eric > and The Dynamos, was apparently mispronounced as Derek and the > Dominos, a name which stuck. > > In mid-to-late 1970 Duane Allman of the Allman Brothers Band joined > Clapton's fledgling band as a guest. Clapton, having heard Allman's > work on Wilson Pickett's "Hey Jude" cover, and finding himself in the > same area as Allman, was introduced at an Allman Brothers concert by > Tom Dowd. 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"); however, his work > on the album would be a crowning achievement. For the making of his > biographical documentary The Language of Music, he remixed the > original master tapes of "Layla", saying "There are my principles, in > one form or another." With the band assembled and Dowd producing, > "Layla" was recorded as it was then written. However, Clapton found > Gordon playing a piano piece he had composed separately and convinced > him to let it be used with Clapton's song. "Layla" was complete. > [edit] > > Structure > Note the two clearly defined movements, the first tapering off into > the second. > Enlarge > Note the two clearly defined movements, the first tapering off into > the second. > > "Layla" is centered around two musical themes. The first, a D minor > guitar piece performed at several different octaves, composed of a > quick series of hammer-ons and pull-offs, is considered the "signature > riff". The second is primarily a piano theme, accompanied by slide > guitar. (The entire song is in 4/4 time; the section order is > intro-verse-chorus-v-c-v-c-c-solo-coda.) > > In essence, "Layla" is split into two segments. The first, after its > emotional verses and pleading choruses, segues into the thickly > overdubbed solo. As Clapton with "Brownie" (a Fender Stratocaster that > later sold at auction for nearly half a million dollars) plays the > gripping melody, Allman's incendiary slide work on a Gibson Les Paul > channels Clapton's pain into music. The second is Jim Gordon's piano > coda. It is altogether a more sublime, peaceful segment, as both > guitarists contribute quiet, lofty slide guitar in the background. The > recorded version of the second half is shifted in pitch microtonally: > originally played in C, the tape was slowed down during playback to a > slightly lower tone (less than a half-step to B) making the solos and > chords an arduous task to notate simply from listening, because the > key is thus somewhere between B-major and C-major. The contrast > between the emotional beginning and mild ending is uncommon in rock > music, and highly effective as a result; compare to other classics of > the era, such as "Stairway to Heaven", which builds from a mild > introduction to a hard-rock finale. > > The lyrics are written in the second person. The speaker is talking > (possibly in his mind) to the object of his affection. The second > verse is usually the only verse with an agreed meaning; it describes > Clapton's involvement with Boyd ("Tried to give you consolation / When > your old man would let you down"). The other verses are somewhat more > abstract, describing Clapton's general state of mind and hopes at the > time. > > As Eric Clapton commented on his signature song: > > "Layla" is a difficult one, because it's a difficult song to > perform live. You have to have a good complement of musicians to get > all of the ingredients going but, when you've got that... It's > difficult to do as a quartet, for instance, because there are some > parts you have to play and sing completely opposing lines, which is > almost impossible to do. If you've got a big band, which I will have > on the tour, then it will be easy to do something like 'Layla' and > I'm very proud of it. I love to hear it. It's almost like it's not me. > It's like I'm listening to someone that I really like. Derek and The > Dominos was a band I really likedand it's almost like I wasn't in > that band. It's just a band that I'm a fan of. Sometimes, my own music > can be like that. When it's served its purpose to being good music, I > don't associate myself with it anymore. It's like someone else. It's > easy to do those songs then. > > Or, as his inspiration Patti 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." > [edit] > > Beyond the original album > > The album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs opened to mixed critical > reviews. Sales were lackluster (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; only top sellers from > established bands, such as Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" or The > Beatles' "Hey Jude", could afford to be over seven minutes long. > Clapton went into a drug-filled depression when the single tanked in > 1971. He could not understand why it was not a hit. The main reason > for its lack of instant success was that the record company did very > little to advertise the album, figuring any project with Clapton would > get plenty of publicity. > > 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. In addition, 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." > > "Layla" is featured on a number of "greatest ever" lists: > > * 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 > * 16th place on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll > * The 14th greatest guitar solo ever at Digital Dreamdoor > * the 3rd greatest guitar riff at Digital Dreamdoor > * 17th place on Digital Dreamdoor's 100 Greatest Rock Songs > * 33rd place on Virgin Radio's All Time Top 500 > * 14th place on Guitar World's poll of the 100 greatest guitar solos > * 43rd place on Q magazine's 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks > > Clapton played "Layla" as part of a three song set at Live Aid in 1985. > > "Layla" also has had an effect on popular culture: > > * The piano coda of "Layla" was featured in the 1990 film > Goodfellas. (Incidentally, the same film featured another of Clapton's > hits, "Sunshine of Your Love" by Cream.) > * John Fahey covered "Layla" on his 1984 album Let Go. > * Andy Summers of The Police named his daughter Layla after this song. > > [edit] > > Acoustic recording > > 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. The result was more nostalgic > and melancholy than the desperately passionate original, and has been > compared to the reminiscence of a mature man reflecting on his > memories of a youthful passion. This version climbed to #12 on the > U.S. charts, making Clapton one of only two artists known to have made > the Billboard Hot 100 with two different versions of the same song > (the other being Neil Sedaka). In Britain this was the third time (and > third decade) that "Layla" had charted, the original version charting > in 1972, and again in 1982. > [edit] > > Quotations > > * "'Layla' is pure catharsis, followed by a coda written by Jim > Gordon that is nothing less than bliss, the sound of love fulfilled." > Stephen Thomas Erlewine[3] > * "But with the addition of Gordon's plaintive piano movement, > over which Clapton and Allman wove filigree guitar lines, it became a > staggering piece of music." Nigel Williamson[4] > * "To have ownership of something that powerful is something I'll > never be able to get used to. It still knocks me out when I play it." > Eric Clapton > > [edit] > > Sample > To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!' Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
