Intimate and honest correspondence from Eric Clapton to Pattie Boyd during her marriage to George Harrison will be up for auction, exposing one of the music world’s most infamous love triangles.
Boyd was a prominent figure in the fashionable scene of London during the 1960s, and she tied the knot with Harrison in 1966 after they first met on the set of the Beatles’ movie A Hard Day’s Night. It was rumored that Harrison wrote the romantic ballad Something about her, but he later refuted the claim. Towards the latter part of the decade, Harrison and Clapton collaborated on songwriting and Clapton developed strong feelings for Boyd.
In a 1970 correspondence, which was included in a collection of Boyd’s belongings being auctioned by Christie’s from March 8-21, Clapton politely asks Boyd if she still harbors feelings for her husband or if she is involved with someone else. He acknowledges that his questions may be intrusive, but he implores her to inform him if she still holds any affection for him. He also mentions his own complicated romantic situation, referring to it as a “rapidly moving joke” where he was dating Boyd’s sister Paula while also being in a supposed relationship with aristocrat Alice Ormsby-Gore.
Boyd revealed during an interview with Christie’s that her first impression upon receiving the communication was that it was a message from an odd admirer. It was not until Clapton reached out to her through a phone call that she recognized the significance.
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A few months later, Clapton wrote another letter on a torn title page from a copy of Of Mice and Men. In the letter, he expresses his willingness to give up his family, god, and his own life for the pleasure he shared with the recipient. He reveals that he feels at the end of his mind and has searched for a sign or gesture from nature, but has only found silence. He questions the recipient’s hesitation and doubts about himself, offering to be theirs if they want him. However, if they do not want him, he asks them to release him from the spell that binds him. He compares himself to a wild animal and believes that capturing him is sinful while taming him is divine. Each letter is expected to be sold for £10,000-£15,000.
He calls Boyd by the name “Layla” and composed the well-known rock ballad with the same title in reference to her. Upon listening to the recorded version of “Layla”, Boyd admits, “I was struck by its loveliness – yet also felt a sense of remorse.”
Boyd discusses her emotions during that time. “George and I were experiencing some tension in our relationship. The Beatles were dealing with chaos and stress within the band, and George was being dismissive. Then Eric continuously came to our home, asking me to run away with him. While it was tempting, I ultimately couldn’t go through with it. It just didn’t feel right.”
In 1974, Boyd and Harrison went their separate ways because of his numerous affairs. She and Clapton had little contact until the mid-1970s, when they reunited and later tied the knot in 1979. Clapton wrote several other songs dedicated to Boyd, one of them being the adoring ballad “Wonderful Tonight,” which was inspired by her getting ready for a night out.
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The original painting by Emile Théodore Frandsen de Schomberg that adorned the release of Layla, credited to Derek and the Dominos, is up for sale with a high estimate of £60,000. There are also postcards and other letters between Clapton and Boyd during their courtship and marriage.
According to Boyd, Clapton gave her permission to sell the different items to the Telegraph. She felt that it would be a good idea to let others enjoy them. The letters from Eric are filled with intense passion that only occurs once in a lifetime. Even to this day, reading them makes her incredibly sad. She keeps them in a small trunk and occasionally looks through them, causing her heart to ache because they are both beautiful and heartbreaking.
Other items up for auction include a 1964 postcard from Harrison to Boyd’s mother during a Beatles tour, where he expresses missing Boyd’s daughter. In a letter from 1971, written in New York after a sea voyage, he complains about being surrounded by “more straights in tuxedos” and reminds Boyd not to forget that he loves her. The collection also features handwritten letters, song lyrics, and photographs of Harrison, as well as drawings of giraffes and dogs, handmade Christmas cards, and a sketch of a fictional album cover with Harrison sitting under an apple tree. Boyd has commented that the sketch speaks volumes about Harrison’s gentle and sweet nature.
In addition to clothing, photographs, and other memorabilia, such as a bizarrely written letter from John Lennon to his fellow Beatles and specialized plectrums from Clapton’s Live Aid performance, there is also a sketch by Ronnie Wood, another one of Boyd’s romantic partners during this time period. This further complicates the love triangle between them, ultimately resulting in a love pentagon. Wood’s ex-wife Krissy Findlay had previously dated Clapton, married Wood, and then had an affair with Harrison. Boyd and Wood eventually began a relationship before she got together with Clapton. In his memoir, Wood reflects on his “lovely thing” with Boyd in the mid-1970s, and how he and Clapton often joked and competed over their shared connections with certain women.
Source: theguardian.com
