“It still knocks me out”: The 1970 song Eric Clapton is most proud of
There are some artists who hate their biggest song. It’s easy to understand why, of course.
After years, sometimes even decades, playing the same one hit over and over and feeling like crowds are only engaged when that well-known introduction rings out. But for Eric Clapton, one of his biggest tracks still gives him a thrill every time.
That reaction is unusual among legacy artists. While many performers grow tired of revisiting the same songs night after night, others come to view their biggest hits as milestones that remain connected to a particular moment in their lives and creative development.
There are plenty of stories of the opposite. Radiohead hate ‘Creep’ with Thom Yorke yelling “fuck off” at fans requesting it. Pete Townshend said of ‘Pinball Wizard’, “Oh, my God, this is awful.” When it came to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, Kurt Cobain said, “I literally want to throw my guitar down and walk away.” It’s a common thing for the song that made an artist famous to be the track they come to hate, or the song they grow to resent as they can never seem to escape it.
For some musicians, familiarity breeds contempt. A song that once felt personal can eventually become a commercial obligation, performed more for audience expectations than artistic fulfilment. Clapton’s relationship with ‘Layla’, however, has followed a very different path.
But Eric Clapton doesn’t buy that. When it comes to ‘Layla’, he’s still proud of it. Actually, pride doesn’t even quite cut it, as he seems to still be utterly amazed by the track and baffled by the fact that he and his band managed to make something so impactful. “You never really get used to having ownership of something that powerful,” he said of the song.
It’s surprising, really, that he’s managed to hold onto his love for the track, given the inspiration. ‘Layla’ was written for Pattie Boyd, the wife of George Harrison, whom Clapton secretly loved, had an affair with, and later married. Layla was his nickname for her, written at the top of the love letters he sent to her door. In one letter, he wrote, “Dear Layla. For nothing more than the pleasures past I would sacrifice my family, my god, and my own existence… Why do you hesitate, am I a poor lover, am I ugly, am I too weak, too strong, do you know why? If you want me, take me, I am yours… if you don’t want me, please break the spell that binds me. To cage a wild animal is a sin, to tame him is divine. My love is yours.”
By the song’s very birth, both Clapton and Boyd knew the song was bigger than them. For the track’s inspiration, its power was almost scary as she called it “The most powerful, moving song I had ever heard.” With so much passion put into the track, from the roaring guitars to Clapton’s wailing voice, the song is an anthem for deep desire.
Since then, it’s remained an incredibly special song for Clapton, but one that has proved tricky. “’Layla’ is a difficult one because it’s a difficult song to perform live,” he told Mike Hrano. “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.”
But when he does manage it, or even when he simply hears the 1970 track, it still impresses him. He said, “It still knocks me out every time I play it”.
Perhaps that is why Clapton has never grown weary of the song. Unlike many artists who become trapped by their biggest success, he still seems capable of hearing ‘Layla’ as both a fan and its creator. More than half a century after its release, the track remains a reminder of a remarkable creative achievement. One powerful enough to impress even the man who wrote it.
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