Why Eric Clapton was nervous about playing for George Harrison: “That’s always been a bone of contention”
No matter how good you are at your job, there’s always going to be something you encounter from time to time that terrifies the living daylights out of you. Making mistakes is part of human nature, but you can’t convince me that publishing a minor grammatical error or typo in my line of work doesn’t spell the end of the world. For musicians, getting a terrible reception for your work or hitting a bum note during a live performance arguably rank high on the scale of frightening things that can happen, and whether you’re a novice playing a basement show or a living legend like Eric Clapton, these things will always have the potential to haunt you when you least expect.
Clapton has had a remarkable career in music, and even though his output has steadily declined in recent years, his status as a guitar god remains secure due to the potency of his work in the 1960s and ‘70s as a session player, and member of bands such as Cream and The Yardbirds. However, despite his impeccable technique, ‘Slow Hand’ wasn’t impervious to nerves and errors, and there was one thing that put fear in him more than anything else.
Because of his prowess, other artists often recruited Clapton to contribute to their work and embellish it with his impeccable licks, and one noted musician who frequently employed the services of the British bluesman was the ‘Quiet Beatle’ himself, George Harrison. He may have been close to all of the members of the band, and collaborated with each of them on their post-Beatles ventures, but he and Harrison arguably shared the closest bond.
The duo were known for being close friends at the peak of their respective careers. Clapton notably provided the impenetrable guitar solo on The Beatles’ ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and was once almost recruited by John Lennon to replace George Harrison following a brief resignation from the band in 1969.
But despite this closeness, being under Harrison’s watchful eye was something that never failed to strike fear into Clapton, and during a 1991 interview with Rolling Stone prior to embarking on a joint headline tour of Japan with his accomplice, he shared that he had more reservations about performing for Harrison than he did the gigantic audiences he would be faced with.
When asked by the interviewer if he would be performing Derek and the Dominos’ hit ‘Layla’ on the tour, Clapton responded with a slight sense of ambivalence towards the idea, alluding to the fact that playing it for Harrison. However, it wasn’t due to Harrison judging his playing style that he was most worried – it was largely down to how his affair inspired the song with Harrison’s ex-wife, Pattie Boyd.
Understandably, despite their friendship, this was always a sore subject for the two to approach. “That’s always been a bone of contention,” Clapton told the magazine. “Every time I play it and he’s in the audience, I’ve always wondered what the hell goes through his mind. But I don’t know, we could play it. We’ve got a sense of humour about it.”
Not many would be so brazen to write a song about the love affair they had with their best friend’s spouse, and even fewer would be able to brush it off with such ease. However, the bond that Clapton and Harrison clearly shared was substantial enough to supersede any of the awkwardness or tension created by the wife-swapping scandals, and the fact that they were able to tour together without going for each other’s throats was remarkable in itself.
Playing ‘Layla’ on every night of the tour might have rubbed salt in the wound for Harrison a little, but they were clearly mature enough to see beyond this. “We’re still very much the same in the way we think about and feel about each other,” Clapton declared. Each to their own, I guess.
