Song Review: “Layla” by Eric Clapton
“Layla” by Eric Clapton is a phenomenal song that tells us that love not only has the ability to take us by surprise, but that it always does and always will! It also tells us that when one person truly is in love, they are controlled by the hands of love that grasp on to you, pull you in, and never let you out. This song is a perfect example of this idea and also represents the idea of forbidden love. Eric Clapton wrote this song about George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd, when he fell desperately in love with her. A lyric that shows this forbidden love is "Like a fool, I fell in love with you, Turned my whole world upside down." When he sings "Like a fool I fell in Love with you," he is referring to Pattie. Clapton actual ended up marrying Pattie after she divorced George. Clapton admitted to George that he had feelings for his wife, but George understood the fact that is a very hard thing to control, and he even attended their wedding!
When You Are Old by William Butler Yeats
When you are old and gray and full of sleep
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;
How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true;
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face.
And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead,
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.
Written: 1893, published in “The Rose”