Layla
"Layla" is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded with their band 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.
This article is about the 1970 song. For the album on which it appears, see Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. For the 2022 song, see Layla (DJ Robin & Schürze song). For other uses, see Layla (disambiguation)."Layla"
"I Am Yours"
March 1971
- May 1972(Re-release)
9 September 1970
- 7:04 (album version)
- 2:43 (single version)
- Tom Dowd
- Derek and the Dominos
The song was inspired by a love story that originated in 7th-century Persian 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 secret love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison. After Harrison and Boyd divorced, 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 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. In 1998, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[6]
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.[7]
The title of "Layla" was inspired by the story of Layla and Majnun, which Clapton had been told by his friend Ian Dallas,[8] 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.[9]
Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979 during a concert stop in Tucson, Arizona.[10] Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding party with his former bandmates Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.[11] During their relationship, Clapton wrote another love ballad for Boyd, "Wonderful Tonight" (1977).[12] Clapton and Boyd divorced in 1989.[13]
Beyond the original album[edit]
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs opened to lacklustre sales as the Derek and the Dominos album never actually reached the music charts in the United Kingdom, 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.[5] As a result, a shortened version of the song, consisting of the first 2:43 of Part I, was released as a single in March 1971 by Atco Records in the United States. The version peaked at number 51 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. When "Layla" was re-released on the 1972 compilations The History of Eric Clapton and Duane Allman's An Anthology and then released the full 7:10 version (including the "Piano Exit" that formed Part II) as a single, it charted at number seven in the United Kingdom and reached number 10 in the United States. With good sales figures, the Billboard magazine was able to rank the Rock single as the 60th best-selling song in 1972.
In 1982, "Layla" was re-released as a single in the United Kingdom, and peaked at number four. This time the whole seven-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."[5] Marsh listed "Layla" at number 156 in his The Heart of Rock & Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made.[29]
In May 1980, "Layla" was covered by the London Symphony Orchestra, but without the lyrics, being recorded at EMI Studio One, Abbey Road, London.[30] A similar version has been performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.[31] 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".[32] Clapton, Beck, and Page were the Yardbirds' successive lead guitarists from 1963 to 1968.[33]
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.[34] Eric Clapton recorded yet a third version. "Layla" appears as track seven on Play the Blues: Live from Jazz at Lincoln Center.[35] Personnel on this version include Wynton Marsalis (vocals, trumpet), Eric Clapton (vocals, guitar), Victor Goines (clarinet), Marcus Printup (trumpet), Chris Crenshaw (trombone, vocals), Don Vappie (banjo), Chris Stainton (keyboards), Dan Nimmer (piano), Carlos Henriquez (bass), and Ali Jackson (drums).
"Layla (Acoustic)"
"Tears in Heaven (Acoustic)"
14 September 1992
16 January 1992
4:46
Critical reception and legacy[edit]
In 1970, Jamrock Entertainment listed "Layla" as the best song of the year.[105] In 1972, "Layla" was one of the most performed songs of the year,[106] and was already considered a "rock standard".[107] With its re-release in 1982, the song was again praised.[108][109] 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 its "500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll",[110] and Rolling Stone ranked the song at number 27 on their list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[111] The Recording Industry Association of America ranked "Layla" at number 118 on their Songs of the Century on 7 March 2001.[112] Music critic Dave Marsh placed the tune at number two in his "Best Singles of the Year 1972" compilation.[113]
With its reworking in 1992 for the Unplugged album, "Layla" became an all-time hit song, as it won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song in 1993,[114] and was broadcast nonstop in 1992 and 1993 on the radio, in stores, and on television around the globe.[115] In 1992, "Layla" was the most performed song of the year,[116] and won a BMI Broadcasting Award for radio and television appearances of the 1992 "Layla" for more than two million times in summer of 1994.[117] As of 2011, "Layla" had attained more than six million broadcasts on television and the radio or performances on other records and during live concerts.[118]
"Layla" was used in Goodfellas during the scene portraying the aftermath of the 1978 Lufthansa heist. Director Martin Scorsese planned out the sequence with the song specifically in mind, playing it on set to synchronise with the staging and camera movement.[119] The song also plays during the film's ending credits, after a cover of "My Way" by Sid Vicious.
American record producer DJ Khaled sampled the Derek and the Dominos' arrangement of "Layla" in his 2021 song "I Did It" featuring American rappers Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Lil Baby and DaBaby.[120]