Cream member and legendary guitarist Eric Clapton says he cannot “play and sing” one of his best songs at the same time.
Clapton, who played on songs such as White Room, Sunshine of Your Love and was a main member of Derek and the Dominos, confirmed he could not play and sing Layla at the same time. The all-time great track, which features in Martin Scorsese’s film, Goodfellas, is a “difficult song to perform live” according to the rock legend. In previous interviews, Clapton has described the struggle of performing the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs track. Though Clapton loves the song, he has frequently described the difficulty in playing the song live. It was a staple of his live set though it appears to depend on who else plays the song with him.
In an interview with Mike Hrano, Clapton said: “Layla is a difficult one, because it’s a difficult song to perform live. You have to have a good complement of musicians to get all of the ingredients going but, when you’ve got that…
“It’s difficult to do as a quartet, for instance, because there are some parts you have to play and sing completely opposing lines, which is almost impossible to do. If you’ve got a big band, which I will have on the tour, then it will be easy to do something like Layla – and I’m very proud of it. I love to hear it. It’s almost like it’s not me.
“It’s like I’m listening to someone that I really like. Derek And The Dominos was a band I really liked – and it’s almost like I wasn’t in that band. It’s just a band that I’m a fan of. Sometimes, my own music can be like that. When it’s served its purpose to being good music, I don’t associate myself with it anymore. It’s like someone else. It’s easy to those songs then.”
He elaborated further in a separate interview, where he admitted he could not play and sing Layla at the same time. This has likely changed in recent years, with Clapton’s legendary Unplugged performance, hearing him play guitar and sing, though in a slower tempo.
Asked by a reporter if it’s true that he can’t sing and play Layla at the same time, Clapton confirmed the struggle he had when it came to bringing the song to the stage.
He said: “No, it’s true, I can’t. If I really worked at it I could I think but you’d go mad trying to work it out.”
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Solves an old mystery when I saw D & D the audience was requesting Layla and Eric said he could not play it because “ Duane is not here
The piano part at the end is Jim Gordon addition to Layla. It’s eerily similar to Gordon’s ex girlfriend Rita Coolidge song time . That’s something Clapton’s known about since 1969. That’s another reason to massacre it and go slowhand
Greatest rock song ever written
Agree
I can play and sing it on pedal steel guitar (tuned in f#9). It’s not difficult.