It’s a fair assumption that any hobbying guitarist from the past half century will have made countless fumbling attempts at learning the same triumvirate of classic rock anthems: the sledgehammering “Smoke on the Water”, the ethereal “Stairway to Heaven”, and the galloping “Layla”.
Although all three can be found near the top of any round-up of rock’s greatest songs, the act behind the latter, Derek and the Dominos, would hardly be considered to be a genre behemoth like Deep Purple and Led Zeppelin. After all, they weren’t so much an actual band, but a single-album project led by Eric Clapton in the early 1970s; a footnote, in Slowhand’s illustrious and decades-spanning career.
As far as footnotes go, though, 1971’s “Layla” is as vital and expansive as they get — a level of marginalia worthy of David Foster Wallace. Running at just over seven minutes, it stands as an apotheosis of rock composition, fusing duelling, dovetailing guitars, pleading vocals and an epic, if prolix, instrumental piano section.
But it wasn’t originally intended as a blistering (literally, given the number of solos) electrified anthem. When Derek and the Dominos formed in mid-1970, Clapton was in a rather sentimental, dolorous state, afflicted by his infatuation with close friend George Harrison’s wife, Pattie Boyd — whom Clapton would marry in 1979. But he would find solace in an unlikely place: a 12th-century Persian narrative poem about star-crossed lovers called The Story of Layla and Majnun. Inspired, he set about writing a lament for his unrequited feelings for his own Layla, Boyd — who had already served as the muse for the Harrison-penned “Something”.
Despite the lyrics being so marked by Clapton’s personal tribulations, the composition was largely shaped by guest collaborator Duane Allman, who devised that brazenly confrontational intro riff, and who helped transform Clapton’s early, self-pitying balladic draft into a bravura rock showpiece.
Such is the impact of those opening few bars that it’s easy to forget that two-thirds of “Layla” consists of an extended outro, written by Dominos drummer Jim Gordon — although it’s alleged that he lifted the tune from a song written by his ex-girlfriend Rita Coolidge, which she later released as “Time” in 1973. The coda would eventually become as integral to the song’s enduring legacy as the intro, following its use in the famous assassination montage in 1990’s Goodfellas.
Two years after “Layla” had re-entered the public consciousness thanks to Scorsese’s film, Clapton would return to “Layla” for his 1992 MTV Unplugged session at Bray Studios in Berkshire, in which he reimagined the song as an intimate, husky acoustic blues jam, eschewing the riffs and bringing the melody down an octave. “See if you can spot this one,” he teases the audience, who have to hear a few bars before cheering in recognition.
This reinvented “Layla” would quickly become the signature of Clapton’s later career. And the stripped-back version never sounded better than in a 1997 benefit concert in which Clapton duetted with Mark Knopfler on lead guitar. Looking like a pair of substitute geography teachers, the two give a sublime rendition, with the Dire Straits frontman’s virtuoso, yet unassuming licks perfectly complementing the new arrangement.
It’s certainly a more consummate effort than one at another charity concert in 1983, which served as a Yardbirds reunion of sorts, as three generations of that band’s guitarists (Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page) jammed to “Layla” in a shambling performance littered with mistakes.
The song also became a staple for The Allman Brothers Band, who played it in tribute to founding member Duane, who died just months after the original was released. And at one especially memorable show in 1993, Derek Trucks — the preternaturally gifted 13-year-old nephew of the band’s drummer — flawlessly played the slide guitar.
A handful of other artists have tried translating the track into different genres. The London Symphony Orchestra released a stirring instrumental/choral version befitting a spaghetti Western; the French-Caribbean crooner Henri Salvador offered up a lounge-room rendition; and The Charlie Daniels Band brought their trademark violins and banjos to their country-inflected effort.
Elsewhere, Guns N’ Roses gave several live (though lifeless) performances of the song on tour in the mid-2010s. More recently, Ed Sheeran gave it the anodyne toy-sized guitar treatment alongside Jools Holland on the latter’s 2017 Hootenanny show.
According to Sheeran, it was the first song he ever learned on guitar. Whatever you think of his attempt, most of us never made it beyond playing “Layla” in front of our bedroom mirrors.
What are your memories of ‘Layla’? Let us know in the comments section below.
‘The Life of a Song Volume 2: The fascinating stories behind 50 more of the world’s best-loved songs’, edited by David Cheal and Jan Dalley, is published by Brewer’s.
Music credits: UMC (Universal Music Catalogue); Rhino/Warner Records; Peach Records Associates, LLC; Simply; Epic/Nashville
Picture credit: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images