Layla

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Biography

" Layla " is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon (musician)|Jim Gordon , originally released by their blues-rock band, Derek and the Dominos , as the thirteenth track from their album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (December 1970). It is considered one of rock music's definitive love song s, featuring an unmistakable guitar figure (music)|figure played by Eric Clapton and Duane Allman , and a piano Coda (music)|coda that comprises the second half of the song. Its famously contrasting movements were composed separately by Clapton and Gordon.

Inspired by Clapton's then unrequited love for Pattie Boyd , the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison , "Layla" was unsuccessful on its initial release.Paul Gambaccini et al. . Retrieved 6 July 2005. The song has since experienced great critical and popular acclaim, and is often hailed as being among the greatest rock songs of all time. Two versions have achieved chart success, the first in 1972 and the second twenty years later as an acoustic " MTV Unplugged|Unplugged " performance. In 2004 it was ranked #27 on Rolling Stone s list of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ", and the acoustic version won the 1993 Grammy Award for Best Rock Song .

Background

In 1966 George Harrison married Pattie Boyd , a model he met during the filming of '' A Hard Day's Night (film)|A Hard Day's Night ''. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became close friends. Clapton contributed uncredited guitar work on Harrison's song " While My Guitar Gently Weeps " on The Beatles ' White Album , and Harrison co-wrote and played guitar pseudonym ously (as L'Angelo Misterioso) on Cream (band)|Cream 's " Badge (song)|Badge " from Goodbye (Cream album)| Goodbye . However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. Between his tenures in Cream and Blind Faith , in his words, "something else quite unexpected was happening: I was falling in love with Pattie."
The title, "Layla," was inspired by The Story of Layla / Layla and Majnun (???? ? ?????), by the 12th-century Persian people|Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi of the Ganja, Azerbaijan|Ganja (present day Azerbaijan ) Seljuq empire . It is based on the true story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah (Arabic: ??? ?? ???????) from the northern Arabian Peninsula , in the Umayyad Caliphate during the 7th century. When he wrote "Layla," Clapton had been told the story by his friend Abdalqadir as-Sufi|Ian Dallas , who was in the process of converting to Islam . Nizami's tale, about a moon princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the one who was desperately in love with her, resulting in Majnun's madness (A name, ?????, which translates to "madman" in Arabic), struck a deep chord with Clapton.

According to Boyd, Clapton played the song for her at a party, and later that same evening confessed to George that he was in love with his wife. The revelation caused no small upset among the three of them, but Pattie and George remained married for several more years, and Harrison and Clapton retained their close friendship with no apparent signs of damage.

Boyd divorced Harrison in 1974 and married Clapton in 1979 during a concert stop in Tucson, Arizona . Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney . During their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for Pattie called " Wonderful Tonight " (1977). Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989 after several years of separation.

Writing and recording

After the breakup of Cream (band)|Cream , Clapton tried his hand with several groups, including Blind Faith and the husband-and-wife duo Delaney and Bonnie . In the spring of 1970, he was told that Delaney and Bonnie's backup band, consisting of bassist Carl Radle , drummer Jim Gordon (musician)|Jim Gordon , and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock , was leaving the group. Seizing the opportunity, Clapton formed a new group, which became Derek and the Dominos.

In mid-to-late 1970, Duane Allman joined Clapton's fledgling band as a guest. Clapton and Allman, already mutual fans, were introduced at an Allman Brothers concert by Tom Dowd . The two hit it off well and soon became good friends. Dowd said of their guitar-playing chemistry: "There had to be some sort of telepathy going on because I've never seen spontaneous inspiration happen at that rate and level. One of them would play something, and the other reacted instantaneously. Never once did either of them have to say, 'Could you play that again, please? ' It was like two hands in a glove. And they got tremendously off on playing with each other." Dowd was already famous for a variety of work 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 film Tom Dowd and the Language of Music , he remixed the original master tapes of "Layla," saying, "There are my principles, in one form or another."
Clapton originally wrote "Layla" as a ballad, with lyrics describing his unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, but the song became a "rocker" when Allman reportedly helped compose the song's signature riff . With the band assembled and Dowd producing, "Layla" was recorded in its original form. The recording consisted of six guitar tracks: a rhythm track by Clapton, three tracks of harmonies played by Clapton against the main riff, a track of slide guitar by Allman, and one track with both Allman and Clapton playing duplicate solos.

Shortly afterward, Clapton returned to the studio, where he heard Gordon playing a piano piece he had composed separately. Clapton, impressed by the piece, convinced Gordon to allow it to be used as part of the song. "Layla's" second movement was recorded roughly a week after the first, with Gordon playing his piano part, Clapton playing acoustic guitar and slide guitar, and Allman playing electric and bottleneck slide guitar.Original Criteria studio Track Identification Chart After Dowd spliced the two movements together, "Layla" was complete.

Due to the circumstances of its composition, "Layla" is defined by two Movement (music)|movements , each marked by a riff. The first movement, which was recorded in the key (music)|key of D minor for choruses and E major for verses, is centred around the "signature riff", a guitar piece utilising hammer-on s, pull-off s, and power chord s. The second part of the riff is commonly believed to have originated from Allman, an adaptation of the vocal melody from Albert King 's "As the Years Go Passing By" from 1967's album Born Under a Bad Sign . The first section contains the Overdubbing|overdub -heavy guitar solo, a duet of sorts between Allman's slide guitar and Clapton's Bend (guitar)|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. 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 (music)|coda ." Originally played in C major , the tape speed of the coda was increased during mixing. The resulting pitch is somewhere between C and C sharp. The piano break (music)|interlude at the end of the song is augmented by an acoustic guitar, and is also the accompaniment to the outro-solo . The same melody is played on Allman's slide guitar, albeit one octave higher. Gordon does not improvise or deviate from the piano part; Clapton and Allman are the ones who improvise the melody. The song ends with Allman playing his signature high-pitched "bird call" on his slide guitar.

As Clapton commented on his signature song:

Or, as his inspiration, Pattie 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."

Personnel

Duane Allman & nbsp;– slide guitar|slide guitar , lead guitar

Eric Clapton & nbsp;– lead guitar, rhythm guitar , slide guitar, acoustic guitar , lead vocals

Jim Gordon (musician)|Jim Gordon & nbsp;– drums , percussion , piano

Carl Radle & nbsp;– bass guitar|bass

Bobby Whitlock & nbsp;– Organ (music)|organ , piano , Backing vocalist|background vocals

Beyond the original album

The album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs opened to lacklustre sales (the album never reached the charts in Britain), possibly in part because Clapton's name was found only on the back cover. In addition, 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 Records (US). It peaked at #51 on the Billboard Hot 100| Billboard Hot 100 .
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 US. In 1982 "Layla" was re-released as a single in the UK, and peaked at #4. This time the whole 7 minute single charted, containing the trailing two-thirds which is instrumental only.

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." Marsh listed "Layla" at #156 in his The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made .

In May 1980 it was covered by the London Symphony Orchestra , but without the lyrics, being recorded at EMI Studio One, Abbey Road Studios|Abbey Road , London. A similar version has been performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra . http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=KYihP5qQ04A& feature=related

On 20 September 1983 a benefit show called the ARMS Charity Concert for Multiple Sclerosis at the Royal Albert Hall in London featured a jam with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck , and Jimmy Page performing "Layla" and "Tulsa Time". Clapton, Beck, and Page were the Yardbirds ' successive lead guitarists from 1963 to 1968.

In 1992 Clapton was invited to play for the MTV Unplugged series. His subsequent album, Unplugged (Eric Clapton 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. Clapton introduced this version to the unsuspecting live audience by stating "See if you can spot this one." This version climbed to #12 on the US pop chart, but failed to chart in Britain. In 1992 it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song , beating out " Smells Like Teen Spirit " by Nirvana (band)|Nirvana , one of the ten biggest upsets in Grammy history, according to Entertainment Weekly .

In 2003 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 Allman's guitar parts during the coda. The performances were seen as a tribute not only to Allman, but also to producer Tom Dowd, who had died the previous year.

Personnel ( Unplugged version)

Eric Clapton & nbsp;– acoustic lead guitar, lead vocals

Ray Cooper & nbsp;– percussion

Nathan East & nbsp;– acoustic bass guitar, background vocals

Andy Fairweather-Low & nbsp;– acoustic rhythm guitar

Steve Ferrone & nbsp;– drums

Mac and Katie Kissoon|Katie Kissoon & nbsp;– background vocals

Chuck Leavell & nbsp;– piano

Tessa Niles & nbsp;– background vocals

Legacy

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, the song had become iconic, and it is featured on a number of "greatest ever" lists. The song was chosen by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of their " The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll|500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll ", and Rolling Stone ranked the song at #27 on their list of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ". "Layla" was ranked #16 on VH1 's "100 Greatest Songs of Rock and Roll", while Clapton's and Allman's guitar solos earned "Layla" a spot on Guitar World s list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" at #14. The song's familiar guitar riff was featured on a series of British Television|TV adverts for Vauxhall Motors|Vauxhall cars, while the extended piano coda was featured prominently in Martin Scorsese 's film Goodfellas . Covers have been fairly rare, including John Fahey (musician)|John Fahey 's cover on his 1984 album Let Go (John Fahey album)|Let Go , a cover by session musician and smooth jazz guitarist Larry Carlton , a cover by Les Fradkin on his "Hyper MIDI Guitar" album in 2010, and a cover by Impulsia from their debut album Expressions (Impulsia album)|Expressions in 2009. Part of the song was included in a remix by American shred guitarist Michael Angelo Batio called "Clapton Is God" in his 2009 album Hands Without Shadows 2& nbsp;– Voices .

Chart performance

Chart (1972)	Peak position
Australian Kent Music Report	100cite book
Canadian RPM Top Singles	9
Irish Singles Chart	4
Polish Singles Chart	10
U.K. Singles Chart	4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	10

Copyright Citations

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1. Ofra Haza 2. John Mayall 3. Riot Grrl 4. One 5. Dru Down 6. Derek And The Dominos 7. Jamie Madrox 8. Beirut 9. Firefall 10. De Kreuners 11. Ali 12. Clapton, Eric 13. Delaney & Bonnie 14. Fresno 15. Goodfellaz 16. Harrison, George 17. Hilltop Hoods 18. Hopscotch 19. laila 20. lila 21. McCartney, Paul 22. Toque Profundo 23. Aya Hirano 24. Bob Dylan & The Band 25. Kazem Al Saher

Undetermined Music Artists