Most men would stay far away from the wedding of their ex-wife and their best friend. George Harrison went to the party, stepped up on an outdoor stage, and played guitar. He even gave himself a new title for the occasion. He called himself Eric Clapton’s “husband-in-law.”
It is one of the strangest and most touching friendships in music history. Eric Clapton fell in love with George Harrison’s wife, told George so to his face, and eventually married her. Somehow, the two men stayed friends for the rest of George’s life.
Friends Long Before the Heartbreak
Eric Clapton first met The Beatles in December 1964, when he was still playing with The Yardbirds. He and George Harrison became close. Eric played the lead guitar on George’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and George wrote “Here Comes the Sun” in the garden of Eric’s country home.
They were not just musicians who admired each other. They were friends who spent real time together. That is what made what came next so complicated.
Falling for His Best Friend’s Wife
George married model Pattie Boyd in January 1966. They had met on the set of A Hard Day’s Night, where she had a small role.
Eric fell for her hard. By 1970 he was sending her letters, and he poured his feelings into the music he made with Derek and the Dominos. “Layla” was about the woman he wanted and could not have. “Bell Bottom Blues” came from the same ache.
Pattie later wrote that she was flattered by the attention. Her marriage to George was struggling, and she felt he had grown distant.
“I’m in Love With Your Wife”
In her memoir, Pattie described the night everything came into the open. It happened at a late party at the home of music manager Robert Stigwood. George arrived in the early hours and found Pattie in the garden with Eric. When he asked what was going on, Eric told him straight out that he was in love with his wife.
Pattie did not leave right away. She stayed with George for several more years. But on July 3, 1974, the marriage finally broke, and she went to Eric. Her divorce from George became final in 1977, and George married Olivia Arias the following year.
A Wedding in Tucson, a Party in England
Eric and Pattie married on March 27, 1979, in Tucson, Arizona, where Eric happened to be on tour. It was a small ceremony with only a few dozen guests.
The real celebration came later. On May 19, 1979, the couple threw a big party at Hurtwood Edge, Eric’s estate in Surrey, England. An outdoor stage was set up, and the guest list read like a rock and roll hall of fame. Mick Jagger, Elton John, David Bowie and members of Cream were reportedly there.
So was George Harrison, with his wife Olivia.
George did more than show up. He jammed on that outdoor stage with Paul McCartney, with Traffic’s Jim Capaldi on drums. Ringo Starr played too. It was the first time those three former Beatles had played together since their famous rooftop concert in January 1969. Eric later said that John Lennon phoned him afterward to say he would have come too, if only he had known about it.
The “Husband-in-Law”
George handled the whole situation with the dry humor his friends knew well. He took to calling himself Eric’s “husband-in-law.” When people asked how he felt about the marriage, he said he would rather Pattie be with Eric than with some dope. Pattie later recalled him telling her almost the same thing: he was glad she was going off with Eric instead of some idiot.
That does not mean it was easy. Pattie herself later said she regretted how it all happened, and felt both she and Eric had done wrong by George. But George chose friendship over bitterness, and he kept choosing it.
A Marriage Ends, a Friendship Lasts
Eric and Pattie’s marriage did not last. Pattie filed for divorce in 1988, and the marriage ended soon after. She stayed close to George for the rest of his life.
Eric stayed close to George too. Through all of it, the two men never let the love triangle end what they had built.
The Concert for George
George Harrison died of cancer on November 29, 2001. Not long after, Eric called George’s widow, Olivia, and told her he wanted to do something. Olivia said she felt relieved that it was Eric, because he had been such a deep friend to George.
On November 29, 2002, exactly one year after George’s death, Eric led the Concert for George at London’s Royal Albert Hall. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were there. George’s son Dhani played on stage. It was an evening built entirely around George’s music, and the man at the center of it was the friend who had once fallen in love with his wife.
Eric Clapton is still on the road today, and “Layla” is still in his show. Every time he plays it, he is playing a song born from a love triangle that, against all odds, ended in friendship.
Do you remember the first time you heard “Layla”? Did you know the story behind it back then?