“This is the motherlode”: why Eric Clapton equated ‘Layla’ to striking gold
Every songwriter has that moment where every riff is falling into place. Some can spend time slaving away until they find the makings of a good song, but the classics seem so omnipresent that they practically appear fully formed and are translated on the spot whenever an artist picks up their guitar. Although Eric Clapton never considered himself a songwriter in the same way that Bob Dylan, he was knocked out at the way that he could churn out this bonafide classic out of nothing.
Then again, Clapton had enough experience to know what a hit song was going to sound like. Even if he didn’t come up with the main riff, no one was going to argue with the fact that ‘Sunshine of Your Love’ was a surefire hit, especially when Cream hit those dark harmonies on the song’s chorus.
By the end of his time in the supergroup, Clapton seemed not to want the life of a pop star as much. Judging by the fact that he immediately went to Blind Faith for his next record, a song like ‘Do What You Like’ probably wasn’t screaming hit single with the massive drum solo from Ginger Baker taking up half of the runtime. But Clapton had his eye on something bigger, and that was happening right next to him with Patti Boyd.
Although Clapton was best friends with George Harrison, he had become bit by bit more infatuated with Boyd, going so far as to meet up with her behind Harrison’s back. That kind of forbidden love might have been a recipe for disaster in his personal life, but sometimes, the best songs come from that pent-up emotion.
After trying his best to work through the pain, Derek and the Dominoes became the vehicle for Clapton to air out his feelings once he hit upon ‘Layla’. Despite not having Boyd’s name anywhere, it’s clear that Clapton is crying out in pain, screaming for her to come back to him and ease his troubled mind while knowing that doing so would turn him into one of the greatest villains of his social circle.
Even if the inspiration was questionable, Clapton remembered thinking that he had written one of the high watermarks of his career, saying, “‘Layla’ was like striking gold. There’s that thing about when you’re looking in the water and the sand, and suddenly you see the sparkle. It’s never, for me anyway, ‘Oh, people will like this.’ It’s, ‘This is the mother lode here!’” Once the world got a taste of the lick, though, they knew they were witnessing a piece of music history.
Because aside from Clapton wearing his heart on his sleeve, Duane Allman deserves credit on the final mix for adding real emotion to it. The whole tune was meant to be about someone having a crisis of the heart, and hearing Allman peddle away on his slide guitar might as well be the musical version of Clapton’s heart leaping out of his chest.
Considering how much of a shelf life ‘Layla’ had, Clapton may have been drastically underselling it when it came to striking gold. He would still remain friendly with many members of The Beatles, but this is one of the few tunes that could hold its own among the greatest riffs in the Fab Four’s catalogue.
