The Mysterious Piano Bit in Layla.
Why was it there?
Before we start let’s deal with the elephant in the room and draw a line firmly in the sand. Eric Clapton the co-writer and co-performer of Layla is a horrible person. Racist remarks, anti-vax propaganda and seemingly growing support for the more and more unhinged Republican Party leave me feeling sick. If just considering the idea of a song he’s written is too much for you then by all means move on. It’s understandable. I’m not here to defend him as a person and I don’t want to.
But if you’re okay still talking about the song then let’s carry on.
Layla came out in 1971. I first heard it in about 1983 or 1984. I’d have been about 11 or 12 at the time. I didn’t know anything about all the horrible stuff on stage in 1976. I didn’t even know Eric Clapton and “Derek and the Dominos” were the same thing. All I knew is I had a new cassette deck and my brother had brought me a “Rock Classics” double tape compilation for Christmas. That compilation album was the first time I heard Paranoid, All the Young Dudes and yes… Layla.
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Except I didn’t hear Layla. I heard the first part of Layla. This was some radio edit, cut down version which didn’t include the piano bit.
“The Piano Bit.” Is that what you called it? Me and my mates referred to the song as having “The Rock Bit” and “The Piano Bit”.
Now if you haven’t heard Layla or you don’t know what I’m talking about then below is a link to a playlist on Spotify for Rock Against Racism. Listen to that, and then, if you want, search for Layla and have a listen. Just make sure you listen to the full length 7 minute 3 second version.
It was another three or four years since getting that double album before I heard Layla and suddenly it didn’t fade out like my dreams of rock stardom. It morphed into something else like my thoughts about the singer of that very song after I learnt about the event in 1976. This time the song had “The Piano Bit” and I loved “The Piano Bit”. But I didn’t get “The Piano Bit”. Why was “The Piano Bit” there? What did “The Piano Bit” mean?
A few weeks back I saw an old buddy of mine and remarked that even then, at the ripe old age of 51 I had no idea whatsoever why “The Piano Bit” was there. My old buddy had no idea either.
Then two days ago I’m having to drive between sites for work. I must have spent 3 hours in the car on this one day travelling between sites. I was irritable1, wanted to hide from the world in a dark box2 and very very sweaty3. On the radio came Layla and it was the full length version.
It is an annoyingly good song. Even with the sour taste in my mouth it’s good. It hurts to say it but it is. My mind wandered a bit. Back to the chat with my old buddy. Back to the double tape compilation.
Everyone4 knows “The Guitar Bit” is about Patty Boyd. At the time she was married to one of Clapton’s friends George Harrison5. On the radio the guitar solo faded into “The Piano Bit”. I thought of that scene in Goodfellas which uses “The Piano Bit” so well. Then I thought about Goodfellas in general. Something about all those bodies in that scene showing how ruthless Jimmy Conway was and then that scene where he tries to encourage Karen Hill into the derelict shop…
And right there I knew why “The Piano Bit” was there. I knew what it meant.6
“The Rock Bit” is Clapton shouting for Patty Boyd to leave George Harrison and go with him. It even ends with an overdubbed guitar screaming in desperation and then…
He sees her. She’s walking towards him. That’s when “The Piano Bit” kicks in.
But something is not right. Is she actually leaving his mate? Will she throw her arms around him? Or is she just going to turn around and go, “Leave me alone Eric”? “The Piano Bit” begins with these powerful chords which question what’s happening.
And then the other instruments join. “The Piano Bit” shifts a few times. It gets “happier”. The screaming guitar plays but drops in the mix. And are my ears deceiving me… is this all going in a major key? She’s actually dumped George and come to Eric.
It makes perfect sense. “The Rock Bit” is a guy screaming for a woman who is with his best mate. “The Piano Bit” is her coming to him.
I assume there’s a missing third part which was released a few years later where she leaves because he’s become one of those blokes who’s in the pub every night moaning about foreigners. That would be a punk/ska tune and would definitely be in a minor key.
Dave Pitt
4th September 2024
An increasingly default position for me
An increasingly default position for me
A lifelong default position for me
Everyone who has read the Wikipedia page or stood next to that guy at a party who says, “You know Layla was about Eric Clapton wanting to shag Patty Boyd who was married to George Harrison, don’t ya?” I am not that person, but I will now be the person who goes… “You know what ‘the Piano Bit’ in Layla is about, don’t ya?”
Clapton was an absolute fucking tool, wasn’t he?
Of course I could be wrong. I could be reading too much into it but that’s why it’s art. We can all have our own interpretations.