One Love Triangle, Two Iconic Classic Rock Songs
Behind two of rock’s greatest love songs lies a tangled web of romance and rivalry between George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Pattie Boyd.
by Nina Pierce
Songs have been characterized by the emotions of their songwriters since the dawn of man’s first plunk on the piano. Here, their untold feelings are best taken on in the form of guitar string pulls and divisive chord progressions. The ways artists process personal experiences often spill into their music, sometimes creating narratives that fans can’t help but piece together.
Abbey Road, the final Beatles release, features one of these drama-filled time capsules quite unknowingly to the passive listener. Though often remembered as the “quiet Beatle,” George Harrison wrote his hit “Something” as a loud proclamation of love for his wife Pattie Boyd. The song tells the story of young, spell-bound George Harrison trying to find a way to describe her unique personality and effect on him and eventually landing on the word “something” to capture it all.
Boyd and Harrison met in 1964 during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. Boyd was cast in the film as one of the schoolgirls. Boyd said he was the “best-looking man I had ever seen,” and Harrison practically proposed on the spot—he turned to her, asked “will you marry me?” and when she didn’t respond, pestered her for a chance at dinner. Boyd got up and walked away from her ex-boyfriend faster than record storegoers on the Beatles’ first day in America. She’d been having her own doubts about her current boyfriend, as he was many years her senior and seemed lackluster when pitted against the fiery fame-crazed bowl-cut boys, who were a lot closer to her in age. Harrison and Boyd were married a year and a half later; the couple was “so happy they thought they might burst.”
That fateful year, 1964, as the Beatles led the British invasion of America, George Harrison met Eric Clapton, an American blues guitarist, at a Beatles Christmas show. It was the beginning of a friendship that would outlast the years of their respective bands. Clapton even performed the guitar solo on Harrison’s legendary song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” They were best friends, and while it seemed like an innocent collaboration between two artists, it unknowingly gave Clapton a way to get closer to Harrison’s wife, which led him to develop a crush on Boyd himself. Watching her from afar, Clapton decided to curb his affection for Pattie by dating her sister Paula Boyd. But it didn’t lead to the romantic ending he had hoped, and his desperation began to reach a breaking point.
“What do you do when you get lonely, and nobody’s waiting by your side?” Clapton sang, opening his plea towards Boyd in the form of “Layla,” a song officially released by himself and the rest of Derek and the Dominos in 1970. Clapton took his feelings of hopelessness and put them forward to the masses, many of whom would come to admire and revel in his obvious desperation. “Layla” is best known for its recognizable guitar riff that sets the stage for his cry for love. Clapton’s desperation is obvious in “Layla,” where he begs “you’ve got me on my knees,” over a now-iconic guitar riff and piano coda.
After writing Boyd a letter revealing his feelings, Clapton played “Layla” for her—then later that night, it truly got messy. Clapton told Harrison that he was “in love with his wife,” prompting Harrison to give Boyd an ultimatum to choose who to go home to. She ultimately left with George, and for a couple of years, the two struggled with infidelity issues on George’s end until they eventually divorced in 1977. Boyd told interviewers he regarded his cheating so openly and casually that her deep love for Harrison was eventually halted and redirected—to none other than his best friend, Clapton. It ended when Clapton, drunk and desperate, showed up at George Harrison's apartment, demanding a guitar duel to settle his feelings for Pattie Boyd. Boyd and Clapton finally took a chance on their love in 1974 and made it official with a wedding in 1979.
George Harrison claimed he was fine with the two becoming a couple; that he’d rather her be with Clapton than some other man (though certain lyrics from his post-Beatles album Dark Horse suggest he was more heartbroken than he let on). Despite their love triangle, Boyd, Harrison, and Clapton stayed outwardly loving towards one another and were all very reluctant to throw out any shade. Harrison and Clapton remained good friends and supported each other through personal hardships like the tragic loss of Clapton’s son. In the end, their relationship was not defined by their mutual love for one woman, but by the deep bond and respect they had for one another.
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