Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs

Recording the album

With Allman on board, the album quickly came together. Most of the songs were products of Clapton and Whitlock's writing co-operation, but a number of classics were included as well, including "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", "Have You Ever Loved A Woman", and "Key To The Highway".

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The last of these was a pure accident - the band heard an artist in another room at the studio doing the song, liked it, and spontaneously started playing it. The startled Dowd heard what was happening, and quickly told the engineers to start the tape recorder running - which is why that song fades in in the middle on the album.

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"Tell the Truth" was initially recorded in June 1970 as a fast up-beat song and released soon after as a single. During the Layla sessions, "Tell the Truth" was recorded again, but this time as a long and slow instrumental jam. The final version of the song that appears on the album is a combination of these two takes: the frantic pace of the single is slowed down to the laid-back speed of the instrumental. The two previous versions of "Tell the Truth" were released on The History of Eric Clapton (1972).

Related Topics:
June - 1970 - Single - Jam - The History of Eric Clapton - 1972

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Also included was the classic Jimi Hendrix blues "Little Wing", recorded as a tribute to Hendrix, who had died while the sessions were in progress, to the great distress of Clapton (who said he had "this terrible, lonely feeling" after Jimi's death).

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The long lyrical piano coda which forms the second half of the version of the title track, "Layla", on the album was composed independently by Jim Gordon, who had to be convinced to allow the piece to be added to "Layla". "Layla" remains one of the most widely played rock songs of the 1970s.

Related Topics:
Layla - 1970s

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