‘Wonderful Tonight’: the dark heart of Eric Clapton’s classic love song
‘Wonderful Tonight’ has soundtracked many a romantic moment, from wedding ceremonies to first kisses and more. The track is one of a handful of ballads Eric Clapton wrote for his then-partner Pattie Boyd, and it certainly casts her in a flattering light, capturing her shimmering “long blonde hair” as she prepares to leave the house.
Of course, it soon becomes apparent that this “tribute” to Boyd is actually an excuse for Clapton to assert his status. “We go to a party,” he sings, “And everyone turns to see/ This beautiful lady/ Who’s walking around with me.” And that’s not the worst of it. Scratch beneath the surface, and this classic love song becomes very sinister indeed.
The song’s narrative goes like this: Eric and Pattie are getting ready for a party, and just before they leave the house, she turns and asks if she looks alright, to which he replies: “You look wonderful tonight”. When they arrive at the party, everyone’s eyes are fixed on Pattie. Eric is having a great time and starts drinking. At one point, Pattie notices he’s getting drunk and asks if he’s feeling alright. “Yes,” he replies. “I feel wonderful tonight”. When it’s time to go home, Eric is too drunk to drive. “So I give her the car keys, and she helps me to bed”.
The perfect ending to a perfect day, you might think. But from what we know about Clapton’s violent treatment of Boyd, it was also one of the rare occasions one of the couple’s outings didn’t end in violence. Clapton not only hit Boyd during his drunken binges but, as he confessed in a 1999 interview with The Sunday Times that he “took sex with my wife by force and thought that was my entitlement” in quotes by way of The New York Post.
Clapton and Boyd began dating while the latter was still married to The Beatles’ George Harrison, who, despite his reputation as a zen master and pacifist, also seems to have treated her rather badly. Boyd left Harrison in July 1974 and married Clapton in March 1979. Clapton and Boyd were drinking heavily at this time, with Clapton later describing himself as a “full-blown alcoholic”. Detailing further, the guitarist said: “Everyone used to walk around me on eggshells, they didn’t know if I was going to be angry or whatever. When I’d come back from the pub I could come back happy, or I could come back and smash the place up.”
Boyd bore the brunt of Clapton’s sporadic outbursts. “I had absolutely no concern for other people at all,” he said. “And I think that what happens in a family is everyone starts to doctor their own roles to make it bearable to live that way, he said of his abusive behaviour towards his wife:.
Pattie left Clapton in 1987 and divorced him the following year. The split greatly affected her sense of self. “Well, I was no longer Mrs Famous George, or Mrs Famous Eric, so who am I? I am no one,” she recalled in an interview with The Telegraph. “No one knows me – I don’t even know me”. She ended up seeking therapy as a result. “I was at a critical point in my life,” she said, “And so I saw a psychotherapist who was quite wonderful. She was amazing. She guided me out of this mire of respond, and gradually, I learned to believe in myself.”
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