Steal big.

I watched this documentary a little bit ago, it’s about Eric Clapton - Eric Clapton A life in Twelve Bars.

It’s an interesting watch to be sure. I can’t admit to being an overwhelming fan of Clapton’s music aside from his hits but what I found very telling were the omissions in the documentary which seemed a little more as another example of history being written by the victors.

 

What do I mean by that?

 

Well, perhaps one of Clapton’s greatest songs wasn’t written by him even though he took the credit for writing it! Something that when you roll it over in your head is really, really shitty but Clapton has a history of shitty behavior so I guess it shouldn’t be that much of a stretch.

So, the album in question Layla and Other Love Songs was a musical love letter to Patti Boyd who happened to be George Harrison’s wife at the time.

Clapton wrote the song “Layla,” pouring out his feelings for his unrequited love. She remembered hearing the song for the first time.

“He said, ‘I’ve got something for you to hear,’ and he put it on in a cassette machine and played it,” Boyd said. “And I said, ‘Oh, gosh, this is unbelievable!’ And he said, he was just looking at me and saying, ‘This is for you, I've written it for you.’”

Sounds great right up until the time you know that the most significant and beautiful part of the song was ripped off!

Jim Gordon, who also received song writing credit for Layla

Here’s a little piece of rock trivia for you...

Take a moment if you will to listen to this tune. It’s named ‘Time’ and it...

So, when I started this I had just discovered something about one of the big songs from my youth that left me so very disappointed. Then again, I guess it speaks for the way that some people, famous people. can rip off others and get away with it.

In this case Clapton just took someone else’s work and passed it off as his own (and the funny thing is I just got finished writing another entry about an different asshole who did just about the same thing).

Layla, rather the album version of the song which played on FM radio at the time is a little bit over seven minutes long. It’s a stirring song which starts out with power guitar chords but then transforms into something totally different when it becomes a beautiful piano melody that sets it apart from other rock songs of the era.

It’s that piano passage that really elevates the tune and makes it one of rock’s classic songs of the era.

So, at just over seven minutes long, the piano part comes in just around 3:10 meaning that the larger part of the tune is the piano bit. If you’re not familiar with Layla, here it is:

So, listen to the whole song... the first part is certainly strong but when it moves into the second movement it becomes BEAUTIFUL.

 

There’s only one problem... Eric Clapton DIDN’T WRITE THAT! HE STOLE IT! FURTHER HE NEVER GAVE THE WOMAN WHO ACTUALLY WROTE THAT MUSIC THE CREDIT SHE DESERVED OR THE MONEY FROM ROYALTIES SHE SHOULD HAVE GOTTEN!

 

And the thing of it is, PEOPLE KNEW!

 

A good number of fans hold the opinion that “Layla” is a stronger song without the piano coda. And we know from interviews with Tom Dowd that he had a tough time matching the two parts up. Doesn’t that piece actually go back to the Delaney & Bonnie days?

I agree with those fans and critics. The original single did not have it and it was great without it. When we played it the two times that we did it was sans piano. That piano part in my opinion has nothing to do with this song that Eric wrote entirely himself.

 

It’s about his experience. Not Jim’s! 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.” I didn't hear it as rock ‘n’ roll and bowed out of the little songwriting session. Her sister Priscilla wound up recording it with Booker T. Jones. I still don't think that it's rock ‘n’ roll and really has no place on Eric’s incredibly soul on the line for the world to hear song about his world and his experience. Jim took the melody from Rita’s song and didn’t give her credit for writing it. Her boyfriend ripped her off. I knew but nobody would listen to or believe me. I have told this story for years. That piano coda taints the integrity of this incredibly beautiful song. It has no place on it. 

Bobby Whitlock may believe that but without the piano coda it’s not the same song, it’s NOT a classic. It doesn’t have the same power that is does with it but again, TOTALLY RIPPED OFF!

Here’s the song actually recorded by Collidge’s sister... sounds like the same song to me!

 Now, I can live without the lyrics but the music? It’s the same.

 

Collidge spoke to herself and you have to wonder why after all these years Clapton doesn’t fess up but considering how Clapton is something of a piece of work himself it’s not at all surprising. Of course, those who don’t know about Clapton’s pursuit of George Harrison’s wife don’t realize as his ex-wife put it: She subsequently suspected that Clapton’s pursuit of her when she was married to Harrison “had more to do” with the competitive aspect of the two musicians’ friendship, and that “Eric just wanted what George had.”

Here‘s Rita Coolidge talking about the whole episode and learning someone stole her creative efforts: