Layla

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 6 Jul 2009 11:31 pm

I have a CD of 70's hits and there is a version of Layla by Derek & the Dominos. I thought this was a Clapton tune....????? wha?

nick allen · Post by **nick allen** » 6 Jul 2009 11:41 pm

Eric WAS Derek!
I forget whether it was 1970, or 1971, but it was Eric's very first show as "leader of the band", at the Lyceum in London. (I was there, right up front). And I always understood that it was a spur of the moment joke by Tony Ashton, of Ashton Gardner and Dyke, the support band, to introduce them as "Derek and the Dominoes" - but maybe it was someone else's idea. The billing before the show was just "Eric Clapton".
Lineup was:
Eric C, lead guitar/vocals
Bobby Whitlock, organ/acoustic guitar/vocals
Carl Radle, bass
Jim Gordon, drums
and that night only, Dave Mason (ex-Traffic), guitar/vocals
It was LOUD!
Nick

Andy Sandoval · Post by **Andy Sandoval** » 6 Jul 2009 11:45 pm

It is a Clapton tune. Derek and the Dominos were a group formed in 1970 by Clapton, keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 6 Jul 2009 11:49 pm

Eric Clapton wrote this song with drummer Jim Gordon.
They were Derek and the Dominoes including two other members. They made two double- albums, the first was called Layla and the second one was live. It is said
that Duane Allman who played one Layla had the idea for the first seven notes of the riff. They are the same as
Albert King's As the years go passing by, only faster.

Peter Dollard · Post by **Peter Dollard** » 7 Jul 2009 11:40 am

I have not heard the King song you mention however Albert's "Born Under A Bad Sign" has the same eight note intro as Layla. I'm sure that he might have used it in more than one song....Peter

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 7 Jul 2009 12:36 pm

OK but, really, who was Sgt Pepper?

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 7 Jul 2009 3:44 pm

I don't know who Sergeant Pepper was but the walrus was Paul.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 7 Jul 2009 5:35 pm

The first phrase in the "Layla" refrain is certainly very close to the starting melody to Albert King's "As The Years Go Passing By." Listen - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2mZwHVfBMk - I believe this tune was on Albert's breakthrough LP "Born Under a Bad Sign.", which has to be one of the landmark blues records ever made.

If you're gonna borrow, borrow from the very best. Eric (and a helluvalotta other people) borrowed from Albert a lot, but he also paid back by giving Albert major recognition. When guys like Eric and Mike Bloomfield talked about their influences, lots of young white blues punks in suburbia hustled out and dug up all these real blues records and were never the same again. {It can't happen here, Suzy Creamcheese.}

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 7 Jul 2009 6:00 pm

I thought Derek was in Spinal Tap along with Ronnie Pudding.

Mark Eaton · Post by **Mark Eaton** » 7 Jul 2009 6:41 pm

Dayna, I apologize - but I started laughing when I read your post. You're a little late on this particular question...though I had a similar experience -when I was in high school - like 38 years ago!

Living in the Bay Area, it was pretty cheap in those days to go see shows at Fillmore West and Winterland in San Francisco.

I would always check the listings of upcoming concerts, and I can recall seeing a billing for "Derek & The Dominoes" for an upcoming weekend at Winterland, and blowing it off: "never heard of those guys."

Only a couple weeks later did I find out from a buddy who went (sometimes you would just go and pay your $4 no matter who was playing) that it was a band fronted by Eric Clapton!

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 7 Jul 2009 8:03 pm

Mark, those were the days. Same here in N.Y. at The Fillmore East.

Brint Hannay · Post by **Brint Hannay** » 7 Jul 2009 8:25 pm

They played in Washington, D.C. at the Lisner Auditorium (George Washington University) with absolutely NO media advance publicity whatsoever! (It is a relatively small venue, for a performer of Clapton's stature at the time.) I was lucky enough to get wind of it, the same day, by word of mouth, from someone who knew it was Clapton. It was a GREAT concert--they absolutely kicked a**! This was, of course, before the Layla album came out. EC was on fire! I feel very fortunate to have caught this, because I feel his playing has rarely been worth a d*** since those days!

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 7 Jul 2009 10:54 pm

Mark,
I remember a post asking what were some of the great musical hooks of all time. The way Layla starts off just grabs me! And then when the vocals come in on the chorus...whew! Screamin'.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 8 Jul 2009 2:07 am

daynawills, buddy, you gotta get out more !

t

Stu Schulman · Post by **Stu Schulman** » 8 Jul 2009 9:54 am

Dayna,I believe Clapton's dog was named Layla.

Steve Hitsman · Post by **Steve Hitsman** » 8 Jul 2009 10:18 am

FWIW, the name "Layla" comes from an Arabic folk tale about the unrequited love between Layla and Majnun. Supposedly, Clapton wrote the song for Patty Boyd Harrison (wife of his good friend George) who he had a "thing" for. Eventually, George just said, "Take 'er". Oh, those rock stars and their crazy lifestyles.

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 8 Jul 2009 10:21 am

Just like Rodney Dangerfield: 'Take my wife... please.'

Ken Pippus · Post by **Ken Pippus** » 8 Jul 2009 12:06 pm

The Clapton dog song was "Lay Down Sally." Patty Boyd was no dog.

The then Mrs. Harrison was also the inspiration for George's song "Something."

KP

Steinar Gregertsen · Post by **Steinar Gregertsen** » 8 Jul 2009 3:22 pm

Clapton and Pattie "Layla" Boyd (previously known as Pattie Boyd Harrison....):

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 8 Jul 2009 4:15 pm

First he steals his best friend's wife, then he turns his back on her. Sheesh!

David Mason · Post by **David Mason** » 8 Jul 2009 6:38 pm

According to her version of it, Ol' George wasn't quite as cosmic as his rep, at least alternately - he'd give up sex and drugs and meditate 12 hours a day for a while, then repent from that and go off on cocaine, scotch & groupie binges (without Patti invited), then he'd repent from that and go back to giving up sex... with his wife, even! She finally said the hell with it and took up with Eric, even though he was a full-blown drunk by then too.

Matthew Dawson · Post by **Matthew Dawson** » 8 Jul 2009 8:32 pm

I think most of the guitar on that tune is Duane Allman. In the documentary "Tom Dowd and the Language of Music" the legendary producer pulls the faders up track by track from the original tapes and to my ears it sounds like about a half dozen overdubs of Allman on the Les Paul and comparatively less of the strat. I might be wrong.

Joachim Kettner · Post by **Joachim Kettner** » 9 Jul 2009 3:37 am

I too don't know who played what, but the slide guitar is definetly Duane. At the very end he makes his guitar sound like a bird.

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 9 Jul 2009 3:35 pm

Pattie Harrison, here's a little bit of trivia,

Remember the movie Hard Days Night ? Of course you do, Pattie whatever her name was back then was one of the models on the train in the movie, that's where George met her, then married her. Then Eric married her and then came " You look Wonderful Tonight " .

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 10 Jul 2009 3:58 am

The song Layla, from what I have heard was two separate songs put together. The piano part written by Drummer Jim Gordon and the main part by Clapton were two separate songs, or whatever. The producer decided to incorporate the two into one piece, which turned out fairly nice.

Of course, everyone knows Jim Gordon's story as well

The Steel Guitar Forum

Layla

Layla

Born Under A Bad Sign

layla