Wonderful Tonight

It's the dream, right? To be someone's muse? Maybe it's just me, but the idea that my very existence could stir deep creative feelings is pretty powerful stuff. I find myself wishing certain songs were written with me in mind (Shameless, She's Always a Woman & John Legend's All of Me come to mind.) Alas, it has not happened - at least not that I know of. So, I'll live vicariously through one of rock and roll's greatest muses, Ms. Pattie Boyd.

It's sort of embarrassing to admit, but while I knew of Pattie Boyd, I didn't know she had written this book until I read about it in Elle magazine. Specifically, I read an interview in which Taylor Swift questioned Boyd about her life. I'm not a T-Swift fan, but the Boyd half of the article was enough for me to place it on my library 'holds' list immediately.

Pattie Boyd was a model and photographer in her own right. But, much of her public life was defined by the men she loved. Or, more specifically, the men who loved her. First, she met George Harrison at the height of Beatlemania. He loved her so much, he wrote the song "Something" about her "Something in the way she moves attracts me like no other..." That's a hell of a love letter, George. But, life wasn't all Yeah Yeahs and Ob-La-Das. He got heavily into drugs and chanting and wasn't really navigating well the fame that comes with being a part of the most famous musical group of all time. So, while she loved George and he clearly loved her, another man was waiting in the wings with Boyd as his muse.

That man was legendary musician - and, friend of George Harrison - Eric Clapton. During her marriage to Harrison, Clapton was everything but subtle about his love for Pattie Boyd. After reading an old Arabian poem about forbidden love that contained a character named Layla, he attached that name to Boyd. Yeah, that little song Layla? That's about her, too. Eventually, she gave into the passionate musician, divorced Harrison and married him. And, if you couldn't guess from the title of her memoir, Clapton's Wonderful Tonight is about her, too. He literally wrote it about her while she was getting ready to go out and couldn't decide on an outfit. If my husband's waiting impatiently for me to get ready to go somewhere, he sure as hell aint writing songs about it. See? I'm no muse.

The book follows Boyd's life through the 1960s and 70s with a perspective very few could share. She saw rock and roll not from the stage but from the wings. She was close enough to feel the trappings of fame and yet far enough removed to feel the weight it brings on families left at home. You read this book wishing for a better outcome for all of them, already knowing how quickly some of those lights burned out.

The writing in this book isn't terrific and I found myself wishing Boyd would choose herself instead o these men. But, she's raw and real about what happened and her role in all of it. And, the desperate love letters from Clapton are worth more than the price of admission.

In many ways, this is a cautionary tale about blind passion and love. It's also a fascinating look inside an era of music we'll likely never see again. 

She may have lost in love and missed her opportunity to have a family. But, those songs are a hell of a trade off.