This Woman Was The Inspiration For 3 Amazing Songs
SPEAKING OUT
Ever wonder how some of the most incredible songs of the last 50 years were created? Well, a few musicians had the same inspiration.
The artists both knew the same person who would inspire some of their greatest hits. She kept this detail from the public for 40 years before finally speaking out.
PATTIE BOYD
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Pattie Boyd was and is an icon. During the 1960’s she was a huge trendsetter when it came to fashion, art, and music.
Wonderful Tonight – written by the great Eric Clapton, and Something – written by an equal legend, George Harrison, were both allegedly written about the same woman. That woman is Boyd.
STYLE ICON
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Pattie revolutionized the way women dressed in Britain in the 1960s. She could be found on nearly every fashion magazine in that era.
While in the middle of her exposure she met George Harrison. The two quickly fell in love and tied the knot. She still remembers how she first felt about him.
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
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“On first impressions, John seemed more cynical and brash than the others. Ringo [was] the most endearing, Paul was cute, and George, with velvet-brown eyes and dark chestnut hair, was the best-looking man I had ever seen.” Boyd remembers.
But soon one of Harrison’s friends would take notice of Boyd and would put him in a tough situation.
ERIC CLAPTON
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She met Eric Clapton through Harrison. But he wasn’t just another friend, he was another great rock legend. His name had just as much weight as Harrison.
The chemistry was definitely there and after a short while, Eric Clapton and Pattie Boyd were spending most of their time together.
TROUBLE IN PARADISE
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Pattie, George, and Eric often all hung out together. But while Pattie’s relationship with Eric was growing, her relationship with her husband was becoming strained.
In her memoir, she states, “Since a trip to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s ashram in India in 1968, George had become obsessive about meditation. He was also sometimes withdrawn and depressed. My moods started to mirror his”. Then she heard another song.
LAYLA
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The song was called “Layla” by Eric Clapton. It was a song about a man who falls hopelessly in love with a woman who he can’t have.
Eric played it for her three times, watching her face intently. Her first thought was “Oh god, everyone’s going to know this is about me”. But would Pattie accept him?
REJECTION
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After Eric more or less confessed his love for her through song, Pattie had a choice to make. She could either continue to endure an unhappy marriage with George or accept Eric’s affection.
She decided to stay with George. A decision that caused Eric to spiral out of control.
A DARK PATH
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Eric didn’t take well to this rejection and he numbed his pain through self-medicating. However, Eric wasn’t the only one who was suffering.
Pattie and George’s marriage didn’t get much better and they continued to live an unhappy lifestyle together. Pattie was just at the breaking point when she got the letter.
THE LETTER
The Guardian
The letter was disguised as a random fan mail – which she’d often receive. It read ‘as you have probably gathered, my own home affairs are a galloping farce, which is rapidly degenerating day by intolerable day…it seems like an eternity since I last saw or spoke to you!”
He then continued to ask her if she still loved her husband and to answer him to put his mind at ease. It was signed, “All my love, e”. Pattie just thought it was a weird fan but that wasn’t the case at all.
THE MAN BEHIND THE LETTER
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The letter was from Eric Clapton who rang her later that day asking her if she received his letter. It had been years since they talked and she got quite a shock.
Nonetheless, she met up with him and told him she was going to divorce George. Their relationship soon picked up where it left off and they were married 2 years later. But would they live happily ever after?
MORE PROBLEMS
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Eric once again fell into addiction and the couple began to have problems. They remained married for 10 years before deciding to divorce in 1989.
It was during their later years when Eric wrote his hit song, “Wonderful Night”. Pattie tells the story of how this song came to be in her autobiography named after the song itself…
WONDERFUL NIGHT
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They were invited out for an evening, and Pattie couldn’t decide what to wear. “I was taking so long, and I was panicking about my hair, my clothes, everything,” she revealed. “And I came downstairs expecting [Clapton] to really berate me, but he said, ‘Listen to this!’”
“In the time I had taken to get ready, he had written ‘Wonderful Tonight.’” she marveled. However, there was something else that was equally as impressive.
LASTING FRIENDSHIP
McCartney Times
Even though the relationship between George and Eric became strained when times were difficult with Pattie, they remained good friends throughout all of it.
The same year Pattie divorced George and moved to live with Eric, George visited their home for Christmas and they all had a wonderful time. However, it wasn’t meant to last.
HAPPY EVER AFTER
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Pattie Boyd was caught in a love triangle with two of the most renowned rock stars of the 1960s. And even though she has novels full of unique memories, she never found her happy-ever-after with them.
Instead, she found it with her now-husband, Rod Weston, a property developer with whom she remains happily married today!
