Original subtitles

Patty Boyd was described as the great

love of your life true

um I don't know this is Patty Boyd a

model pictured here in 1964 a married to

George Harrison this is Eric Clapton he

was George Harrison's best friend how

did I get to meet him no no no no

how did you just we showed the same wife

Patty inspired some of the most powerful

love songs ever written including Layla

an album written by Eric Clapton

professing his love for Patty of course

his best friend's wife but what happened

that led George and Eric to write this

amazing music for her and did it work

for Eric well kind of

it's a crazy story about a crazy

lifestyle that didn't end well for

anyone

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The Story begins in 1964 when Patty Boyd

was hired to appear in the Beatles film

A Hard Day's Night George took an

instant liking to her but at the time

she was already seeing someone else Eric

Swain but after telling her friends

about her meeting with George she

returned to tell him that she'd broken

up with Eric and they could go for

dinner they got married two years later

in 1966 and after the Beatles stopped

touring in the same year they managed to

find a lifestyle that actually suited

them quite well they both had an

interest in spirituality and

vegetarianism and for a while it looked

as though it would be a happy marriage

that would last a long time despite the

intense lifestyle that came with being a

beetle George's first meeting with Eric

Clapton was also in 1964 when The

Yardbirds are expand at the time was

invited to support the Beatles at a gig

in London

all four of the Beatles were there but

it was George and Eric that headed off

straight away mostly because of their

Mutual admiration and love of the guitar

but at this time the Beatles were stars

unlike Eric and so it would take a while

until they really became close Eric saw

himself less as a pop star and more as a

serious Blues musician whenever pop

success came his way he tended to shy

away from it maybe even look down on it

instead he was drawn more towards

serious guitar playing and blues music I

was by that by the time they came around

I was already deeply ensconced in in

hardcore blues and I'm becoming a purist

very fast George being part of the

Beatles was incredibly famous but he had

this Longing To Be A respected guitar

player something more like Eric

their friendship continued to grow and

at one point George invited Eric over to

Abbey Road Studios to play on one of the

Beatles songs While My Guitar Gently

Weeps this was quite surprising because

not many people played on Beatles

records especially guitar because George

was the Beatles guitarist but it seemed

as though George was starting to

distance himself away from the Beatles

and more towards the guitar world that

Eric was associated with he was also

proving his chops as a songwriter

writing songs such as Here Comes the Sun

and something which was written for his

wife Patty Frank Sinatra called this the

greatest love song ever written it's one

of the best love songs I believe to be

written in 50 or 100 years and it never

says I love you in the song but it

really is one of the finest

the 1960s was a busy period for Eric but

not in the same way as it was for George

the 60s for George was of course

dominated by The Beatles which more or

less kept him on a steady path

but for Eric things are very different

Eric joined the Yard Birds a rhythm and

blues band in 1963 and he stayed with

them for two years until 1965. he

briefly played with John male on the

Blues Breakers before forming cream in

1966 with Ginger Baker and Jack Bruce

it was with cream that he found the most

mainstream success they stayed together

until 1968 and then in 1969 he formed

Blind Faith where they recorded just one

album

by the end of the Decades both George

and Eric found themselves in unique

positions looking for something else out

of life George wanted to further explore

his interest in spirituality and this

led him to become more distant and

isolated from his wife Patty in fact his

interest was so strong that after

returning from a trip to India he wanted

to be like the god Krishna always

surrounded by young women Eric however

was looking to settle down somewhere in

contrast to his ever-changing and hectic

lifestyle of the 60s and so he found

this place in Surrey hertzwood Edge

it was a peaceful and solitary place

where he'd live for many years to come

musically this was a very important time

for Eric he discovered the music of JJ

Cale who become a major influence

throughout his career and he formed the

band Derek and the Dominos which he'd

later called the greatest Rhythm Section

he'd ever play with he also began seeing

a lot more of George and his wife Patty

as they lived only a 30-minute drive

away so they come over they write songs

and they'd have dinner it was clear that

Eric had taken a liking to Patty and

with George becoming more distant in

their marriage it was difficult for

Patty to resist this attention in

[Music]

Bell Bottom Blues

you made me cry

I Don't Wanna Lose throughout 1970 they

occasionally began seeing each other

more often secret meetings would take

place in London or in Guildford close to

where they lived and it was at one of

these meetings where Eric played a

record for Patty of a song he just

recorded the song was Layla

she described it as one of the most

powerful songs she's ever heard it was

about a young man that falls hopelessly

in love with a woman but she's

unavailable this of course was how Eric

felt about Patty I thought that this is

such a

a public Declaration of his feelings for

me and I wasn't really ready for it in

fact I wasn't ready at all for it

because I still hadn't made up my mind

whether George and I could

get back on track but after hearing the

song and knowing how Eric felt it made

it difficult to resist later that

evening Patty was at a party at North

London where Eric was also attending

George didn't want to go so he wasn't

there but he did turn up later and when

he arrived he saw Eric and Patty talking

in the garden

he went over and asked what's going on

to which Eric applied I'm in love with

your wife I remember being out in the

garden with Eric at one point and then

George appeared from nowhere and said

very what's he doing what's happening

and then that's when Eric said I'm in

love with your wife

now it's that moment like ah awful I

just wanted the Earth to swallow me up

George was Furious and asked Patty are

you going with Eric or are you coming

home with me

Patty left the party and went home with

George but this made George even more

distant the next time she met Eric he

offered a similar ultimatum but despite

her feelings about the music she again

declined and Eric went into a long

period of isolation they didn't see each

other again for three years

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after failing to win her over Eric went

into a self-imposed Exile Derek and the

dominoes broke up he retired from

touring and just went into isolation

inside his hurtwood home he didn't leave

the house he didn't pick up the phone

instead he just descended into Oblivion

and other than a few compilations and

live albums he didn't release any new

music until 1974's 461 Ocean Boulevard

there were a small number of live

appearances such as at George Harrison's

concert for Bangladesh in 1971 but he

actually passed out on stage then there

was the rainbow concert which was

organized by his friends in 1973 in an

attempt to get him clean and finally by

1974 he was able to get clean at least

off the stronger stuff but it was at

this time that his drinking became a lot

heavier for George and Patty the 70s

weren't much better either musically

things were going well for George in

1970 he released his first solo album

All Things Must Pass

the following year he organized the

concert for Bangladesh which as we know

Eric just about took part in and in 1973

he had another number one album living

in the material world but for their

marriage it wasn't so good they'd

already began to grow apart and George

was getting even further involved in

meditation and was having numerous

Affairs including with Ringo Starr's

wife Maureen Eric and Patty had already

started speaking again and once again he

professed his love for her but this time

things were different the marriage was

going from bad to worse and she clearly

wasn't happy married to George

Eric went out on tour in the U.S and

this time she decided to go with him

[Applause]

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but this wasn't an easy time not by any

means she felt lost and confused and

instead of feeling free and independent

she just became more attached to Eric

and his touring lifestyle this of course

meant lots of drinking The Beatles

hadn't toured since 1966 and Patty

hadn't joined them before that anyway so

this was her first experience on tour

and she didn't know what to expect

this being Eric Clapton in the mid 70s

it was certainly intense

Eric will be partying all day and all

through the night and sometimes you play

a show just lying on his back

and for Patty well she assumed this was

the touring lifestyle and she wanted to

be part of it but Eric was at one of his

lowest points and sadly Patty had gone

down with him

[Applause]

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[Applause]

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when they returned home things didn't

get much easier either it seems bizarre

that Erica wanted Patty for so long at

this point they'd known each other for

eight or nine years and instead of

cherishing this time when they were

finally together things were going from

bad to worse Eric was drinking more than

ever and he go off on tour and he

wouldn't let Patty come with him and so

yet again feeling lost and confused she

went to spend some time in America with

her friends and family at this point she

didn't expect to see Eric ever again

until one night there was a phone call

and it was from Eric

and he asked her to marry him

reluctantly she said yes and they got

married the following Friday

but what's even more incredible is the

story of how this came about

it later turns out that Erica placed the

bet with a friend Roger Forrester that

he couldn't get his name in The

Following day's newspaper and so Roger

called up the Daily Mail and told them

that Eric Clapton would be marrying

Patty Boyd the following day it was

printed in the paper and everyone knew

about the marriage apart from Patty they

got married almost immediately and

instead of going on a honeymoon she

joined Eric on tour for a few nights

that was until Eric told her that he

wanted her to go home less than a week

into their spontaneous marriage and

things were going back to how they were

and what's more Eric's drinking was

again getting worse despite all this

there was a strong connection between

the two of them and despite the

infidelity the emotional connection

between the two of them was strong until

one night at dinner Eric told Patty that

whilst he'd been in Italy he'd met

someone else and this time it was more

intimate Eric and Patty had

unsuccessfully been trying for children

for a long time and now Eric was going

to have a child with someone else

well that came about quite out of the

blue I met this young lady I'm banging

it happened it was like the baby was

looking for parents too

give it life This truly broke Patty's

heart and so she finally left

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the story of George Patty and Eric is

fascinating but it's even more

incredible to look at the music from

this time it really allows us to

understand how they were feeling and to

feel the intense emotion poured into

this music it's no wonder that something

George's most successful song was

written about Patty who at the time he

was truly in love with

I'm deeply deeply honored that George

wrote that seriously beautiful song

and I think what's happened with time it

has become more iconic because when I

first heard it you know it's a beautiful

song yeah but then the more you hear it

the more it just gets you because it's

so beautiful and Layla was also Eric's

most successful song and I think some of

the best music to come out of his entire

career and then there are other songs

too such as bellbottom blues and

wonderful tonight and it's amazing how

this music is so personal and yet so

Universal to all of us people find it

very difficult to understand therefore

why you and he are still mates you know

I mean why didn't it damage your

relationship

well it did I mean it indented our

relationship and it has you know there's

been a lot of times when it's gone up

and down music has this unique power to

communicate our feelings and connect us

with others and although the story of

the three of them is heartbreaking it

has left us with some amazing music

you know I actually see we all see one

another still and we're like a tight

little family really do you still love

Patty very much

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