Dancers in the Dark : Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

What'll you do when you get lonely
And nobody's waiting by your side?
Layla, darling won't you ease my worried mind.

Layla LaRue LeMay talks about her unusual name to Sean in Dancers in the Dark (Charlaine Harris Sookieverse novella from 2004)

" My parents liked the song ? You know it ?"
Sean says " Which version ? The original one by Cream or the slower version by Eric Clapton?

She says " the original..in their wilder years, they thought it was cool to name their daughter after a song "

I was mystified by this exchange as the original version of Layla was NOT BY CREAM. It was written by Eric Clapton and first released in 1970 by his band, Derek and the Dominos from the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It was re-released as a single (shorter version) in 1971 and 1972.

Eric Clapton was in Cream but that band dissolved two years before the song was released. This is kind of like asking "was it the song by Eric Clapton or the one by Eric Clapton?"

There is truly a fascinating story behind the song and the love affair between Eric and Pattie Boyd who was married to Beatle, George Harrison , but there is only one song called Layla by Eric Clapton ( recorded multiple times ) and no song called Layla by Cream.

In 1966, George Harrison married Pattie Boyd, a model he met during the filming of A Hard Day's Night. During the late 1960s, Clapton and Harrison became firm friends. However, trouble was brewing for Clapton. Between his tenures in Cream and Blind Faith, in his words, "something else quite unexpected was happening: I was falling in love with Pattie."

The title, "Layla", was inspired by the The Story of Layla by the Persian classical poet Nezami. It is based on the real story of a young man called Qays ibn al-Mulawwah from the northern Arabian Peninsula,in the Umayyad era during the 7th century. When he wrote "Layla", Clapton had been told the story by his friend Ian Dallas who was in the process of converting to Islam. Nezami's tale, about a moon-princess who was married off by her father to someone other than the one who was desperately in love with her, resulting in his madness (Majnun, meaning "madman" in Persian and Arabic), struck a deep chord with Clapton.

Boyd divorced Harrison in 1977 and married Clapton in 1979. Harrison was not bitter about the divorce and attended Clapton's wedding party with Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.

Patti just wrote a best selling book about this time in her life

Boyd, Pattie and Junor, Penny (2007). Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me.. Crown Publishing Group. ISBN-13: 9780739358191.

Her web page is here : http://www.pattieboyd.co.uk/ (the photos and the scrap book are amazing!)

Here is the 1970 version from Derrick and the Dominoes ( Eric Clapton you will also hear Duane Allman )



This is how it sounded in 1986 by Eric Clapton ( you will hear Phil Collins on drums)



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layla_and_Other_Assorted_Love_Songs

http://www.gibson.com/Files/aaFeaturesImages2008/Derek%20and%20the%20Dominos%20Layla.jpg