Saturday, November 10, 2012

Like Looking in a Mirror

I just had the most amazing experience. I must share.

I just finished reading Wonderful Tonight, the autobiography of Pattie Boyd. It's been out for a few years, but sometimes I lag a bit behind on these things. I never listened to Rush's 2112 until 2008.

In a recent post I unfavorably compared ABBA to Rush.
I sort of feel compelled to apologize for that right now.
But I digress.

Anyway, if you don't know, Pattie Boyd is a former model who was married to both George Harrison and Eric Clapton. Not at the same time, silly. In fact, it's the most famous love triangle of the 1960s. Clapton became obsessed with Pattie Boyd while she was married to his good friend and frequent collaborator Harrison. In order to subtly convey to her the depth of his feelings, he recorded Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs with Derek and the Dominos.

Let me repeat: Eric Clapton made a landmark double album of some of the most brilliant, tortured, achingly beautiful love songs ever recorded because he was secretly in love with his best friend's wife.

Happens all the time, right?
Eventually, hearing "Bell Bottom Blues" on the local AOR station every single day wore her down, and Pattie did leave George for Eric. Even though George wrote "Something" for her. Yes, Pattie Boyd inspired both "Layla" and "Something," the song Frank Sinatra called "the greatest love song ever written." Oh, and "Wonderful Tonight," which I personally consider the worst song Clapton ever wrote, although it is better than the last love song he wrote for me, which has yet to exist.

Admittedly, Pattie has cause to gloat on that score.
Then Eric did a naughty thing and had a baby with another woman, which not unexpectedly was a bad thing for his marriage to Pattie. Tragically, little Conor Clapton fell to his death when he was only four years old. So Eric wrote yet another million-selling song about how much his life sucked, "Tears in Heaven." Not to minimize the unimaginable pain of losing a child, but damn, Eric Clapton is genius at fucking up his life and then turning it into brilliant and lucrative music.

I have much to learn.
To sum up: Pattie was an astonishgly beautiful young model who met and married one of the most talented and popular musicians on the planet. Her husband's best friend fell in love with her, wrote songs about her, became a heroin addict because of her, wooed her, won her, sucked her into his world of alcoholic bacchanalia, and rendered her helpless to leave because of the passion they shared.

What's the amazing thing?

Her story is so exactly like my life it's uncanny. Reading Pattie's autobiography was like reading my own diary.

Exhibit A: My wedding portrait.
OK, OK, there are a few minor differences. She's a Pisces, I'm an Aries.

It's probably too late for me to start having Pattie Boyd's life, isn't it?

Damn.

So...I officially believe in reincarnation. I'm depending on it.

1 comment:

  1. You know what? Now that I think about it, he hadn't written me a love song either. This is an injustice and must be remedied. I'm going to protest by not wearing a bra all next week.

    ReplyDelete

You're thinking it, you may as well type it. The only comments you'll regret are the ones you don't leave. Also, replies to threads make puppies grow big and strong.