<\/p>\n
One of the most famous love triangles in Rock history involved George Harrison, Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton. She was first married to George, courted by Clapton while still married and after her separation from Harrison, she eventually married the guitarist, who had been one of George\u2019s closest friends.<\/p>\n
She was the inspiration behind \u201cSomething\u201d, \u201cWonderful Tonight\u201d and, of course, \u201cLayla\u201d, the song Eric wrote as a message to her while she was still married. Harrison\u2019s friendship with Clapton did not end, unlike Eric and Pattie\u2019s marriage. But what was George Harrison<\/a>\u2019s opinion on the hit \u201cLayla\u201d?<\/p>\n What was George Harrison\u2019s opinion on Eric Clapton\u2019s \u201cLayla\u201d<\/p>\n It was obviously not a song George Harrison listened to, but the late musician said that he didn\u2019t have a problem with the song or with the fact that Clapton married Pattie, also saying that they remained friends and that he was happy for him. When asked by Sounds<\/a> magazine if he had written a \u201cmusical rebuttal\u201d to \u201cLayla\u201d, he said: \u201cPardon?! What do you mean, musical\u2026 what rebuttal?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat sounds nasty. Eric Clapton`s been a close friend for years. I`m very happy about it, I`m still very friendly with him.\u201d The interviewer replied saying: \u201cSeriously? How can you be happy about it?\u201d George answered: \u201cBecause he\u2019s great. I`d rather she was with him than with some dope,\u201d the musician said in 1974.<\/p>\n A couple of years later, when asked by Crawdaddy<\/a> if he suspected something was going on when \u201cLayla\u201d was released, George revealed that he had a sense of what was happening. \u201cWell yeah, sort of (I knew about his love for Pattie when the song was released). The thing is, with Eric over the years, and you know we (George and Pattie Boyd) both loved Eric. Still do. And there were a few funny things.\u201d<\/p>\n George Harrison continued:<\/p>\n \u201cI pulled his chick once. That\u2019s happened, and now you\u2019d think he was trying to get his own back on me. (laughs) But much later, when all that thing was going on, when I split from Pattie, you know\u2026 Pattie and he got together after we\u2019d really split. And actually we\u2019d been splitting up for years.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat was the funny thing, you know. I thought that was the best thing to do, for us to split. We should\u2019ve just done it much sooner. But I didn\u2019t have any problem about it\u2013 Eric had the problem. Everytime I\u2019d go and see him, and stuff, he\u2019d be really hung up about it. I was saying, \u2018F*ck it, man. Don\u2019t be apologizing,\u2019 and he didn\u2019t believe me. I was saying, \u2018I don\u2019t care,’\u201d George Harrison said.<\/p>\n In an interview<\/a> in the late 80s, when asked how he first met Eric he joked saying \u201cwe shared the same wife\u201d (laughs). \u201cI\u2019ve been friends with Eric for years and I think I will always be. He is a lovely fella and I love him very dearly.\u201d<\/p>\n Curiously, besides \u201cLayla\u201d, Pattie Boyd is credited as the inspiration for George Harrison\u2019s Beatles song \u201cSomething<\/a>\u201d and Eric Clapton\u2019s \u201cWonderful Tonight\u201d, two other major Rock and Roll classics. Among the three, her favorite track is \u201cLayla\u201d.<\/p>\n Eric felt uncomfortable playing the song at his shows when Harrison was in the audience<\/p>\n A worldwide hit, \u201cLayla\u201d became part of Eric Clapton\u2019s setlists in the 1970s. Since he and George Harrison were friends, he sometimes played the song at shows when Harrison was in the audience. Clapton later said in his autobiography<\/a> that he felt uncomfortable performing the track whenever the former Beatle<\/a> was present.<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s always been a bone of contention. Every time I play it and he\u2019s in the audience, I\u2019ve always wondered what the hell goes through his mind. But I don\u2019t know, we could play it. We\u2019ve got a sense of humor about it,\u201d Eric Clapton said in an interview with Rolling Stone<\/a> in 1991. That year when Clapton and George toured together in Japan the song was not part of their setlist.<\/p>\n Interestingly, George had originally been part of some sessions of songs which would later be part of \u201cLayla and Other Assorted Love Songs\u201d. \u201cThey were the first sessions for Derek & the Dominos. In fact, during those sessions we actually recorded \u2018Tell The Truth\u2019 and \u2018Roll It Over\u2019. We did versions where I was playing on them. (I wasn\u2019t credited) because they usually didn\u2019t use those, and because Phil Spector was in the box doing my record when we did those takes.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo for some reasons when they went back and made their album, I don\u2019t think those versions made their album. I don\u2019t think those versions I was on came out until they did re-compilation albums later (In the late 80s),\u201d George Harrison told\u00a0Billboard<\/a> in 2000.<\/p>\n Before marrying Pattie Boyd, Eric Clapton first dated her younger sister<\/p>\n Another unbelievable fact about this love triangle is that, while he was already secretly in love with Pattie, he met and dated her younger sister, Paula, who was with him when he recorded \u201cLayla\u201d. \u201cIn fact, in order to get closer to her, I had even taken up with her sister. The circumstances that led to this were curious and had happened a few months before, when Delaney & Bonnie played the Liverpool Empire, with George playing guitar.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cPattie had showed up, accompanied by her younger sister Paula. After the show, when we were all back at the hotel, George, who was motivated just as much by the flesh as he was by the spirit, had taken me aside. (He) suggested that I should spend the night with Pattie so that he could sleep with Paula. The suggestion didn\u2019t shock me, because the prevailing morality of the time was that you just went for whatever you could get. But at the last moment, he lost his nerve and nothing happened. The end result was not the one George wanted, as I ended up spending the night with Paula instead of him.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Clapton continued:<\/p>\n \u201c(\u2026) In Alice\u2019s absence (Former partner), Paula, a surrogate Pattie, moved into Hurtwood, where I was almost immediately involved in setting up another band. It was a stopgap relationship, and I think we both knew that, but she reminded me a lot of Pattie, and for the moment I had no qualms about that.\u201d<\/p>\n Some time after that relationship began, Clapton was still in love with Pattie and repeatedly asked her, whenever he had the opportunity, to leave George and be with him. This eventually marked the end of his relationship with Paula, who later dated The Dominos\u2019 keyboardist Bobby Whitlock.<\/p>\n Paula was with Eric Clapton when he recorded \u201cLayla\u201d<\/p>\n