It’s amazing how half of a song can be the polar opposite of the other. This is the case of the Derick and the Dominos song, “Layla”. At first, the song went by almost unnoticed. While the name Eric Clapton was known because of his ties with the Beatles, Yardbirds, and Blind Faith, however, nobody knew that Clapton was a part of the Dominos. It wasn’t until two years later when it was rereleased under his name did it receive air play, and only the first half of the song was featured on the radio.
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The first part was written by Clapton (and Duane Allman…who is not credited). The song gets the title from a Persian fable (based on a true story) about a poet, Qays ibn al-Mulawwah ibn Muzahim, who was madly in love with a woman named Layla. Her father refused Qays request for her hand in marriage. She was rushed to the alter to marry another man. Heartbroken, Qays fled the village and went insane. This was how Clapton felt about his best friend’s wife. There has been much written about Clapton and Pattie Boyd, so I won’t really go into great detail about their tenuous marriage and how they got together.
Clapton single-handedly destroyed the song in 1992 when he performed it for MTV’s Unplugged series. Gone were the recognizable dueling guitar riffs from Allman and Clapton and the pain in Eric’s voice, beggin’ darling please. It was replaced with half-assed singing and an acoustic guitar presentation that was the auditory equivalent to watching paint dry. I guess as his passion for Pattie waned, so did the passion in the song.
However, to me, the best part of the song is the last 3:55--the second movement. That bit of the song (which many people mistakenly think was written by Clapton) was composed by Domino drummer Jim Gordon. This beautiful, yet simple, melody has a hopeful feel to it, rather than pining for unrequited (at the time) love. Each section of the movement ends with an arpeggio of the preceding treble chord.
The movement finally got the attention it deserved when it was featured in Goodfellas. It does seem unfortunate that it is known only for that. Anytime you hear the second movement in a TV show or movie, you automatically know that you're about to see a spoof of Goodfellas.
When I hear this part of the song, I imagine myself on a tropical beach. I’m sitting on an outdoor patio at night, surrounded by torches that illuminate the sky. This melody is playing while the warm breeze greets me and a cold beer.
Much like the poet of the song's namesake, Jim Gordon’s tale ended in madness. Gordon was an accomplished percussionist and had played with many artists including Randy Newman, Jackson Browne and Tom Waits, and he was the percussionist for the Muppet Movie Soundtrack. In the late ‘70s, he stated the he was hearing voices, including his mother’s, telling him to harm and starve himself. Mis-diagnosed as alcohol related effects, his condition worsened. In 1983, to make the voice stop, he brutally murdered his mother. Although he was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic, it was too late for his legal team to use the insanity defense. He is currently serving time in the California Penal System. Several of his friends, fans and well wishers have continued to petition the state to move him to a psychiatric facility.
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