-Written by Jackson Skam-
Right in the middle of the peak era of classic rock laid one of the most confusing and musically influential love triangles. This complicated affair surrounded the tangled relationship between The Beatles’ George Harrison, the legendary guitarist Eric Clapton, and their mutual amour, actress Pattie Boyd.
Pattie Boyd was an English actress and model who was highly influential in her own right as an icon in the 1960s British fashion and culture scene. Her well-established modelling career in London and Paris led her to being cast in the Beatles film, “A Hard Day’s Night”, in 1964. It was on this set that Boyd met her future lover, the “Quiet Beatle”, George Harrison. The two instantly fell for each other and after Boyd initially rejected the rockstar’s ask for a date, she broke up with her boyfriend and when they saw each other next, England’s newest power couple was born.
While on tour with the Beatles until 1966, George was away from Pattie for long periods of time, but the two were so enamoured that they would write each other heartfelt letters and postcards of wherever they had been. Harrison’s love was so immense that he would eventually conceive of one of the greatest love songs of all time to demonstrate his everlasting love for Pattie. The song was named “Something” and placed as the second track on the momentous album “Abbey Road”. It is widely known as one of, if not the best love song of all time.
Though the Beatles had written many love songs throughout their legendary career, “Something” was different. While tracks like “Love Me Do” and “All My Loving” are amazing in their own right, their themes of love are much more surface level than “Something”. “Something” depicts an incredibly deep connection that binds two lovers. Harrison writes about a lover that is so special, so connected to him on an intrinsic level, that he would never need anyone else. But this love is also very nuanced. In contrast with their usual songs of a straightforward love, “Something” is much more poetic about the love it describes, with an uncertainty to their love if it will “grow”, but he “[doesn’t] know”.
Musically, “Something” foreshadows Harrison’s impending blast into his legendary solo career apart from the Beatles. His guitar playing is incredible in conveying the warmth of the love he is alluding towards, and the solo is nothing but masterfully beautiful and emotionally impactful, pouring his love for Pattie into his guitar. Ringo’s drumming ability also shines quite bright. Though it is very minimalistic, this is what makes it great as he is able to let an already packed musical arrangement shine through, but also contributing very memorable parts of the song like his quarter note kick drums. Finally, the entire orchestral arrangement really adds a sense of maturity to this track and all of the instrument’s blend so well together, notably the strings and organ, creating the perfect love song with expertly crafted melodies to convey Harrison’s desired feeling of a deep and connected love.
Frank Sinatra put it best in calling “Something”, “one of the best love songs [he believed] to be written”, wisely remarking that it never says, “I love you”. The depth and sincerity of the love that Harrison had written about produced a song that expressed the message of loving someone, without even saying the words.
Unfortunately, the relationship that inspired “Something”, was not entirely great. Pattie Boyd and George Harrison would experience many years of troubled marriage, with George becoming a frequent drug user and isolating himself physically and emotionally from Pattie while delving further into his obsession of Indian spirituality. To make matters worse, Harrison himself did not adhere to his own lyrics, proving this line “I don’t need no other lover” wrong by having many affairs, including with Ringo Starr’s wife, Maureen.
But to bring it back to the start of this story, Pattie Boyd wasn’t the only significant person that George Harrison would meet in 1964, as during a gig in London, the Fab Four invited an up-and-coming English rock band as a supporting act. The band was the Yardbirds, and George Harrison hit it off very well with their lead guitarist, the legendary Slowhand, Eric Clapton.
As Harrison drifted further away from his role as a Beatle, he became much closer with his other friends in the music world, most prominently Clapton. Harrison admired Clapton so much so that he invited him to perform the lead guitar on the Beatles track “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in 1968, which would become one of George Harrison’s most acclaimed songs of all time. Harrison’s first album after The Beatles broke up also heavily featured Clapton’s guitar skills, and vice versa with Clapton’s various ventures with Cream and his subsequent bands. As close as the two legends of rock had become, Clapton’s time spent with Harrison meant that he was spending a lot of time around Pattie Boyd, for whom Clapton would eventually develop an intense love.
While Harrison was growing more distant from Pattie and continued to have affairs, Pattie could not resist Clapton’s newly formed love. The two would frequently meet in private. During one risky rendezvous, Clapton would play one of his new songs to Pattie. But this was not any regular song. This song would come to serve as Clapton’s public declaration of love towards Pattie.
The track that was played that night was given the name “Layla”, coming from a medieval Arabic story called “Layla and Majnun”. This tale resonated with Clapton, who likened himself to Majnun who was infatuated with a woman named Layla, but she was married to a man she did not love. The song itself is thus Clapton’s confession to Pattie, telling her that she’s “got [him] on [his] knees” and that he’s begging for her to come to him. Clapton admits that Pattie “turned [his] whole world upside down” and that he is going crazy trying to get her to love him back and to “ease [his] worried mind”. Apart from its lyrics, “Layla” became a rock industry standard with its iconic opening guitar riff that pretty much any player knows. The tone of the guitar is so raw, coupled with Clapton’s passionate and soulful raspy voice conveys a sense of a desperate plea. His guitar and voice perfectly match, almost becoming one instrument through which Clapton calls out in anguish for his unrequited lover. The song reaches an intense climax with a weeping lead guitar and background vocals screaming out in agony. But this eventually fades away to a piano that leads the second half of the song into a melancholic yet hopeful orchestral melody that carries many musical similarities to the heavier first half of pure rock. In a sense, this progression of melodies acts as Clapton’s way of resolving this painful love affair. What starts out as a heartbreaking relationship leads way to a happy ending, where his love is finally returned, and he can finally have his Layla.
Pattie Boyd now faced a difficult choice. While her relationship with George Harrison was turbulent, she still had hope that they could work through some of the issues they faced. Yet, Eric Clapton was overcome with love for Pattie, being a new challenger for her love who seemed absolutely devastated that he couldn’t have her. At a party the night she first heard “Layla”, Harrison confronted Clapton and Pattie, asking her to choose between them. That night Pattie went home with George.
Unfortunately, seeing that his best friend had fallen in love with his wife, George grew even more distant from Pattie, eventually leading to their divorce in 1977. Clapton, on the other hand, after some years of isolation and drug addiction, had gotten clean and restarted his quest for Pattie’s love. She then made her final choice: while separated from George she accompanied Clapton on tour and by 1979 they were married.
But Eric, like George, did not continue to treat Pattie with the intense love that started each respective relationship and inspired the incredible songs of “Something” and “Layla”. Adhering to rockstar stereotypes, Clapton was an alcoholic and he cheated on Pattie countless times, even getting a girl pregnant. This second rockstar marriage would also not prove to last. Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd ended their marriage in 1989.
The weird, spectacular, and intense love triangle between George Harrison, Pattie Boyd and Eric Clapton is an unexpected story from the height of the classic rock era, including two of the greatest guitarists of all time. With no doubt, this is a story that exposes a toxic rock and roll culture that promoted infidelities and substance abuse which deeply affected Pattie’s respective relationships between George Harrison and Eric Clapton. But it is also a story of a woman whose love meant so much these two rockers, and made them feel so many complex, nuanced and deeply felt emotions, giving us two of the greatest love songs of all time.
SOUTHPORT MAGAZINE 
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