“I have regrets”: The Bob Dylan song Eric Clapton said defined his life
Not every musician can claim to have the most stable lifestyle when out on the road. The process of recording, touring, and still having to cater to a steady home life isn’t always the healthiest for anyone to take on, which might explain why many rockstars would rather forget the whole thing and retire early on in life. Eric Clapton did have a slightly darker side to his personal life, though, and he thought these sage words from Bob Dylan helped define what his life was like.
Looking through Clapton’s favourite artists of all time, though, his lifestyle was more akin to the bluesmen of old. If anything, the life of a travelling musician carrying on the gospel of tasty licks felt like something out of an old western, only this time, people like Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson replaced the gunslingers.
When Clapton first started working, it looked like he was going to go in that direction. The Yardbirds were never going to cut it for too long after ‘For Your Love’ became a hit, and once Cream made it to three core albums, ‘Slowhand’ spent a wilderness period working with any supergroup he could put together, whether it meant having Steve Marriott up front in Blind Faith or turning in a glorified love letter to Patti Boyd with Derek and the Dominoes.
But that relationship with Boyd would have never happened without some messy chapters, either. After all, Boyd had been happily married to George Harrison by the time that Clapton showed her the song ‘Layla’ for the first time, and given the fact that both guitarists were the best of friends, it’s commonly not a great idea to become obsessed with their other half if you want to remain friends.
Although things were rocky for a long time with Harrison creating Dark Horse, Boyd became the muse for yet another batch of classic songs, whether it was the songs of desire like ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ or hearing Clapton get more intimate talking about them having a night out on ‘Wonderful Tonight’. Looking back on his behaviour, though, Clapton thought that Dylan summed it up best in the song ‘The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’.
Given his bizarre love triangle, Clapton thought Dylan had the right idea about not going after someone else’s lover, saying, “I have regrets, obviously. Countless. One of the great regrets was getting involved with George Harrison’s marriage. What is that fabulous song that Dylan plays? ‘Don’t go mistaking paradise for that home across the road.’ I don’t know what inspired that song, but my experience is exactly what it’s about.”
Granted, Dylan probably had his fair share of moments where that advice held true as well. Considering how much drama came from his eventual divorce from his wife, Sara, on Blood on the Tracks, perhaps the enigmatic songwriter began taking his own advice when he started to get over his own heartbreak.
Because songs like this are never meant to work their magic at the moment. Dylan probably had no idea what ‘The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest’ would come to be, but a song like this can only be appreciated by someone who has done their fair share of living and has made a few mistakes down the line.
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