How Eric Clapton influenced Bob Dylan’s great MTV’s ‘Unplugged’ performance
If anything was going to solidify Eric Clapton as one of the best and most innovative musicians in history, it would have been his reimagining of his ‘Layla’ classic for 1992’s MTV’s Unplugged. Broader personal and career context aside, this performance showcased how Clapton could take a monumental hit and transform it for live broadcasting, enhancing its emotional appeal while reinstating his position as a true trailblazer.
Musically, the original version of ‘Layla’ already proves the one thing Clapton has represented since even before forming Derek and the Dominoes—his unmatched prowess as a guitar player. From day one, Clapton embodied the true essence of a guitar hero, existing in his unique realm of world-class talent even when others, like Jimi Hendrix, came along and threatened to dethrone his well-earned position on top.
But if you were to hear nothing by Clapton other than ‘Layla’, this is an easy reputation to believe—from the moment the song starts, the guitar licks guide the entire emotional appeal of the song, implementing an indescribable storytelling quality with little in terms of effort. Alongside Clapton’s heady vocalisation, his guitar work provides a haunting and explosive interplay that emulates the intensity of longing and heartbreak.
However, for Unplugged, Clapton performed a slower-paced, stripped-back version that carried the kind of groove that transcended the emotional appeal of the original, pandering to the more personal and intimate feel of Unplugged while spotlighting the song’s core weight. Many artists were privy to the stripped-back nature of Unplugged by the time Clapton appeared on the show, but his performance proved that the headiness of a song could remain intact without the full backing of an accompanying band behind it.
A few years later, Clapton’s performance would end up unintentionally influencing the approach Bob Dylan took before appearing on the show, mainly at the hands of his team, who began pressurising him about which songs he should or shouldn’t sing and how he should sing them. “I wasn’t quite sure how to do it and what material to use. I would have liked to do old folk songs with acoustic instruments, but there was a lot of input from other sources as to what would be right for the MTV audience,” he said.
Recalling his difficulties, he claimed his record company disagreed with certain songs for being too “obscure” for Unplugged. Relinquishing control in a not-so-Dylan move, he entertained their views and asked which songs would be appropriate, and, of course, they said ‘Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door’ and ‘Like A Rolling Stone’. However, the real challenge came when trying to figure out how to alter the performance for the audience.
That’s when he was reminded of Clapton’s delivery of ‘Layla’. “I was hearing a lot about how Eric Clapton did ‘Layla’ acoustically for Unplugged,” he said, adding, “That influenced me to do the same for ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, but it would never get played that way normally.” Although his performance was hailed as one of his best, his attempt at channelling Clapton made him feel an unwarranted amount of strain, mainly because it pushed him out of his comfort zone.
However, the stripped-down sound worked as well for Dylan as it did for Clapton, allowing his melodies and lyrics to shine through in ways that didn’t always immediately come across on the recorded versions. Although Dylan was a trailblazing troubadour himself, it’s interesting to look at how Clapton forced him to perform in a manner he deemed unnatural yet still showcased his dedication to artistic evolution.
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