Layla

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This article is about the song. For the name, see Leila (name). For the tale, see Layla
and Majnun. For other uses, see Layla (disambiguation).

"Layla"

German single picture sleeve

Single by Derek and the Dominos

from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Released March 1971

Recorded 9 September 1970

Studio Criteria, Miami

Genre Rock

7:04 (album version)

Length
2:43 (single version)

Label Atco (US)

RSO

Polydor
 Songwriter(s) Eric Clapton

Jim Gordon

Producer(s) Tom Dowd

Derek and the Dominos

"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded by Derek

and the Dominos, as the thirteenth track from their only studio album, Layla and Other
Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were composed separately by
Clapton and Gordon. The piano part has also been controversially credited to Rita
Coolidge, Gordon's girlfriend at the time.
The song was inspired by a love story that originated in 7th-century Arabia and later
formed the basis of The Story of Layla and Majnun by the 12th-century Persian
poet Nizami Ganjavi,[1] a copy of which Ian Dallas had given to Clapton. The book
moved Clapton profoundly, because it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly
in love with a beautiful young girl, went crazy and so could not marry her. [2][3][4] The song
was further inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend
and fellow musician George Harrison of the Beatles. Clapton and Boyd eventually
married.
"Layla"[5] has since its release 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 (without the piano coda) 20
years later as an acoustic Unplugged performance by Clapton. In 2004, "Layla" was
ranked number 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.

Contents

 1Background
 2Writing and recording
o 2.1Personnel
 3Beyond the original album
 4Charts and certifications
o 4.1Weekly charts
o 4.2Year-end charts
o 4.3Certifications
 5Unplugged version
o 5.1Recording
o 5.2Arrangement
o 5.3Reception
o 5.4Weekly charts
o 5.5Year-end charts
o 5.6Certifications
 6Critical reception and legacy
 7References
o 7.1Bibliography
 8Further reading
 9External links

Background[edit]
In 1966, Beatles guitarist George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met two
years before during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton
and Harrison became close friends. Clapton contributed uncredited (although openly
acknowledged) guitar work on Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on the
Beatles' self-titled double album (also known as the White Album), and Harrison co-
wrote and played guitar on Cream's "Badge" from Goodbye. However, between his
tenures in Cream and Blind Faith, Clapton fell in love with Boyd.[6]
The title of "Layla" was inspired by the story of Layla and Majnun, which Clapton had
been told by his friend Ian Dallas,[6] who was in the process of converting to Islam.
Nizami's tale, about a moon princess who was married off by her father to a man she
did not love, resulting in Majnun's madness, struck a deep chord with Clapton. [7]
Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979 during a concert stop
in Tucson, Arizona.[8] Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's
wedding party with his former bandmates Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.[9] During
their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for Boyd, "Wonderful Tonight"
(1977).[10] Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989.[11]

Writing and recording[edit]

After the break-up of Cream, Clapton tried his hand with several groups, including Blind
Faith and the husband-and-wife duo Delaney & Bonnie. In the spring of 1970, he was
told that some members of Delaney & Bonnie's back-up band, including bassist Carl
Radle, drummer Jim Gordon and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, were leaving the group.
Seizing the opportunity, Clapton formed a new group with Whitlock, Radle and Gordon.
[12]
 Naming themselves Derek and the Dominos, the band "made our bones", according
to Clapton, while backing Harrison on his first post-Beatles solo album, All Things Must
Pass.[13]
During the recording of the Layla album, Duane Allman joined Clapton's fledgling band
as a guest. Clapton and Allman, already mutual fans, were introduced by Tom Dowd at
an Allman Brothers concert on 26 August 1970.[14][15] 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."[16] 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 & the Language of Music, he remixed the original master tapes of
"Layla",[17] saying, "There are my principles, in one form or another." [14][time  needed]
Clapton originally wrote "Layla" as a ballad, with lyrics describing his unrequited love for
Boyd, but the song became a "rocker" when, according to Clapton, Allman composed
the song's signature riff.[16][18] With the band assembled and Dowd producing, "Layla" was
recorded in its rock form. The recording of the first section consisted of sixteen tracks of
which six were guitar tracks: a rhythm part by Clapton, three tracks of harmonies played
by Clapton (the main power chord riff on both channels and two harmonies against that
main riff, one on the left channel and one on the right channel), a track of solos by
Allman (fretted solos with bent notes during the verses and a slide solo during the
outro[19]), and one track with both Allman and Clapton playing duplicate solos (the 7-note
"signature" riff doubled in two octaves and the 12-note "signature" riff doubled in
unison).[16][20] According to Clapton, Allman played the first seven notes of the 12-note
"signature" riff fretted and the last five notes on slide in standard tuning. [19] Each player
used one input of the same two-input Fender Champ amplifier.[19][21]
Shortly afterwards, Clapton returned to the studio, where he heard Jim Gordon playing
a piano piece he had composed separately. Impressed by the piece, Clapton convinced
Gordon to allow it to be used as part of the song. [12] Though only Gordon has been
credited with this part, according to Whitlock, "Jim took that piano melody from his ex-
girlfriend Rita Coolidge. I know because in the D&B days I lived in John Garfield's old
house in the Hollywood Hills and there was a guest house with an upright piano in it.
Rita and Jim were up there in the guest house and invited me to join in on writing this
song with them called 'Time' ... Her sister Priscilla wound up recording it with Booker T.
Jones ... Jim took the melody from Rita's song and didn't give her credit for writing it.
Her boyfriend ripped her off."[22] "Time" ended up on the 1973 album Chronicles by
Booker T. and Priscilla Jones. Whitlock's story was echoed by Coolidge herself in her
2016 autobiography. The claim is also substantiated in Graham Nash's 2014
autobiography Wild Tales.
"Layla"'s second movement (the "Piano Exit") 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. [16][20] After Dowd spliced the two
movements together,[16] "Layla" was complete.

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

Due to the circumstances of its composition, "Layla" is defined by two movements, each

marked by a riff. The first movement, which was recorded in the key of D minor for
choruses and C-sharp minor for verses,[23] is centred around the "signature riff", a guitar
piece using hammer-ons, pull-offs and power chords. The first section contains
the overdub-heavy slide guitar solo, played by Allman. 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!"[14][time  needed]
The second movement is commonly referred to as the "Piano Exit". [24] Originally played
in C major, the tape speed of the coda was increased slightly during mixing. The
resulting pitch is somewhere between C and C sharp. The piano 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 also played on Allman's slide guitar an 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. [16] This portion is featured
prominently in the film Goodfellas.
Clapton commented on the song:[25]
"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
liked – and 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 any more. It's like someone else. It's easy to do
those songs then.
Pattie Boyd later reflected: "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." [26]
Personnel[edit]

 Eric Clapton – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar
 Duane Allman – lead guitar, slide guitar
 Bobby Whitlock – Hammond organ, piano, background vocals
 Carl Radle – bass guitar
 Jim Gordon – drums, percussion, piano
 Tom Dowd – producer
 Howard Albert, Ron Albert, Mack Emerman, Chuck Kirkpatrick, Karl
Richardson – recording engineers