The famous Pattie Boyd was like somebody's utterly conventional British aunt, somebody you would find permanently planted at the end of the bar in a pub in the Home Counties, perhaps after a cricket match, ciggie and cocktail in hand....
Well, now that Eric Clapton has written a confessional memoir, all has become clear. During their marriage, the long-suffering Pattie spent most of her time patrolling pubs with Clapton, then cleaning up his drunken messes at home.
That is, when she wasn't walking in on the guitar hero and his errant girlfriends or listening to him recount his most recent conquests on the road. Small wonder the poor woman looked a little faded that day in L.A. It's tough work playing nursemaid to a junkie drunk womanizer.
Of course. It's obvious. Yet somehow we were all so jealous of her. I listened to the audio version of Pattie Boyd's memoir "Wonderful Tonight" yesterday as I took a long walk. She was so lucky, so exactly where everything was happening, where we all longed to be, and yet it was horrible. She recounts the ordeal sweetly and says more than once that she wouldn't change a thing, but it's such a sad story.
... Clapton was withdrawn and surly, a blues purist, despising the Beatles as a "bunch of wankers."...
By 1970, he had become obsessed with Pattie Boyd. "I coveted Pattie," he writes, "because she belonged to a powerful man who seemed to have everything I wanted - amazing cars, an incredible career, and a beautiful wife." When he couldn't have Boyd immediately, inspired by Charlie Parker and Ray Charles, Clapton turned to heroin, spending thousands a week on his habit.
Finally, his manager produced Boyd for Clapton, as a kind of deal perk. Once he had her, naturally he didn't want her, racking up scores of one-night stands on the road and ignoring her when he came home....
By 1981,... Boyd was locking him in his bedroom so he wouldn't spoil Christmas for family and friends with his drunken antics.
Painful. Anyway, what does Pattie Boyd look like now? Like this, at age 63. More:
I've always thought that she was quite lovely when she was young, although in a very different way than young models and starlets are pretty now. Much more natural and naive, with her chubby cheeks and British teeth.
How interesting that some of the most incredible love songs of modern music were inspired by what ended up being little more than a oneupsmanship contest. I'll have to read Patti's memoirs to see how it felt to be one more trophy.
It was actually a manage a trois, that Layla thing...
Patti...Clapton...Duane Allman
As Wiki says, he "wound up contributing to almost all the tracks on Layla, even the ones on which work had already started – and lifting everyone's work onto a higher plane. "He brought out the best in all of us", said Whitlock."
Prof. Althouse, were you and people you know really jealous of Patti? Did her chosen lifestyle really have all that much allure?
I never, ever understood the attraction of the counterculture. One really good thing about pre-MTV music was that you could just listen to it without having to look at all the collateral damage.
But we didn't have much of a picture of what her "lifestyle" actually consisted of. We wanted George (or whoever), but she didn't have him to herself. And -- did you watch the film clip? -- he not only had an affair with Ringo's wife right in their house and without apologies, but he spent a lot of his time clicking a bag of beads he wore around his neck and chanting "Hare Krishna." And one of the things he liked about Krishna was that Krishna got to surround himself with women. He thought he should be able to do that too. Some asceticism!
Perhaps the appeal of the counterculture was that, rightly or wrongly, the mainstream culture was viewed as too oppressive, with few if any outlets for someone who thought and felt differently.
I saw a June interview with Clapton. Boyd may show her years, but not him. Guy looks like he is in his late 40s. Fit, trim, clean for 12 years.
But his past life? Its like the heroin laced with alchohol abuse pickled him like Iggy Pop.
Now he tours, does music, loves antique fast cars and motorcycle riding, is a proficient flyfisher, has a rehab center in the Caribbean he built. And funny enough, hangs around Columbus Ohio a good deal of the time where he loves the country and became fast friends with his 4th wife's crowd and their parents
Patty Boyd, alas, is a past trinket of the talented..who have died or moved on to casting wet flies for smallmouth bass in Lake Erie.
The review by Norman Snider reveals Snyder as a hateful man. Who could say something like that about a woman they are interviewing? This old girl? What an ass.
He adds that Clapton's tale of redemption after his son's tragic death comes as something of a yawn. What a twit. For Snider, becoming a civic-minded doting father of four daughters who founded his own rehab center is nothing compared to cheating on your wife, slowly dying of addiction, and vomiting everywhere.
RC said..."Anyway Ann, I can't quite tell if you look back on all this as foolishness, or do you still think it was the way to be? Seems kind of lame, myself."
It's just a fantasy. You don't seriously think it would really be wonderful. When you watch porn (I don't), do you think the actors are having a great time?
Pogo: I think he's talking about what makes a good read. Happy, well-balanced, generous people are lovely, but we don't want to read their memoirs.
Pogo: I think he's talking about what makes a good read. Happy, well-balanced, generous people are lovely, but we don't want to read their memoirs.
In an amazing twist, I find myself agreeing with Pogo. Snyder is pathetic and for that matter so are you Ann.
You seem to look back longingly on a time when so many brilliant artists self-destructed through over-indulgence. And even whine that you couldn't join in (and even make the ridiculous assertion that everyone wanted to live that lifestyle).
Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now.
As the now firmly middle aged 40 year old son of baby boomers that were 25-30 years younger than I am right now when the Beatles "Hard Days Night" was released, I cannot impress upon all of the people who will watch this segment so fondly, how truly sickened I am of even the sight of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Eric Claptons of the world.
Really. When is it time to move past all of this? Layla is a song you hear on a classic rock station when the DJ needs eight minutes to run to the bathroom. And Wonderful Tonight? How many cheesy first wedding dances has that middling, soppy piece of "music" been spoiled by. Yeesh. All of this seems so silly.
I guess these dinosaurs might be important to some, and they were for me for a while too. Until I realized that my eye muscles were starting to get too huge from all of the eye rolling I started doing every time I heard how important these bands were for about the one millionth time. Nostalgia is one thing but man... move along will ya?
He didn't have an interview. I guess he just saw her at another table. Never mind then. Pattie; what a hag!
but we don't want to read their memoirs. I like to see people overcoming adversity and personal demons. But I can no longer stomach the recent run of memoirs like Running with Scissors describing horrific people who should never have reproduced.
I just don't get the point anymore of reading about how awful some people are to each other.
I tend to agree with Pastafarian. Lot of the shine on those bands has tarnished, and won't be coming back. I used to be a huge Beatle fan when I was a kid, but now I think probably half their output is pretty feeble stuff. And Clapton may be one of the most overated figures in Rock - did he do anything worth listening to (or remembering)after Derek & the Dominoes? Poor songs, poor singing, though I hear he breaks out with some good guitar playing in concert.
He married the high school classmate of a friend of mine in Columbus, Ohio. Clapton today is not the jerk he was back when he was on H and booze. Totally different person.
"Careful, Dr. Althouse, they may try to pay you to do a vlog of you watching porn! With commentary, no doubt!"
I'm sure it would be filled with world-weariness. But possibly horror. I'm afraid it would just seem ugly to me.
"Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now."
What?! I thought she looked fine for her age. I said nothing against her. You're revealing your own thoughts there. Weird.
"Will you go to her photo exhibit?"
If I found myself walking by the gallery and noticed it, I'd go in. If I have to look it up and get a taxi.... maybe.
"Really. When is it time to move past all of this? Layla is a song you hear on a classic rock station when the DJ needs eight minutes to run to the bathroom. And Wonderful Tonight? How many cheesy first wedding dances has that middling, soppy piece of "music" been spoiled by. Yeesh. All of this seems so silly."
Well, I objected to the reign of arena/dinosaur rock at the time, when it was current and never liked anything like "Wonderful Tonight" so you aren't talking to me. I liked the 60s pop stuff and in the 70s mostly only the New Wave things. We listened to a lot of jazz and classical music in those tough times.
She looks good for her age. I thought she was going to look like Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous.
In the mid-60s, girls wanted the Beatles -- they were individually what Elvis and Frank Sinatra had been -- of course they would be jealous of any chick who could snag one. Most of their appeal was simply their fame; a woman I went to college with, who had seen them gigging around Hamburg when she was a teenager, did not think they were any thing that special.
Ann: "I objected to the reign of arena/dinosaur rock at the time, when it was current ... I liked the 60s pop stuff and in the 70s mostly only the New Wave things...."
So we could say that in the 70s, you found Trex objectionable, whereas now, you find Trex objectionable.
And Trex has always been awful. Marc Bolin dying was the best thing that could have happened to that band. Instant legend right? If he hadn't died everyone would have seen how awful it was.
I also blame that terrible 80's "super group(?)" Power Station for introducing Bang a Gong or whatever that song is to my friends with the horrendous big hair in the late 80's.
Freder wrote: "Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now."
Ann replied: What?! I thought she looked fine for her age. I said nothing against her. You're revealing your own thoughts there. Weird.
That's exactly what I thought when I ran across Freder's comment earlier. I was going to ask what he was talking about but I figured it really wasn't worth the effort. That idea never even crossed my mind as it seemed to fit in with your earlier "then and now" post on Mailer and Annie @ Ambivablog just posted a pic from that era too.
Going "behind the music" is fine, but it has nothing to do with whether the music is any good. Patti Boyd could be twice as beautiful, Eric and George could have been as faithful as Lancelot and Arthur, but if that meant "Layla" was any less powerful and passionate, we'd be the losers.
I saw Clapton on Larry King and he comes off as this nice, modest fellow. Good for him. I don't want him back on heroin, boozing, cheating on George's ex., fighting with his bandmates. I just want the music all that mess led to.
Nice people doing nice things in a nice way seldom results in enduring art.
"She looks good for her age. I thought she was going to look like Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous."
I think Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous looks great too. I mean, the woman has problems! But she still looks fine for her age.
By the same token, there's really nothing you can say to me about the way I look that can hurt my self esteem. I know how old I am, and I'm relieved and entirely satisfied that I look as good as I do. What the hell do you expect? I'm 56. I think younger people cringing at the way older women look are either: 1. sexist or 2. afraid of their own aging and impending death. In which case, the person who looks bad is you.
TC said... "This boy Simon says he not a be one a dem dere fudge-packers... but who can tell."
I suppose it's reassuring to discover that I've apparently been subtle enough about my opinion of our hostess' charms that there are at least some denizens of the Althouse blog who remain oblivious to it.
Boyd didn't have a very good structure in her face. Add fat, and she's just a blob.
Older women can still look beautiful, but they have to have had a good structure: high cheekbones, and so on.
Also, I think it helps to be intelligent so that your face looks interesting and thoughtful when you are older. I can't think of any famous women who look this way, but I have seen some women who do look this way. Bank tellers, even, who still have a structure in their face, and who are easy on the eyes.
British women in general are monstrous in their formatting. Britney Spears will look like Patty Boyd in a few years. In some ways she already does. Again, no structure.
I think that the film called The Blob was already about this. It was a horror movie.
Well, Titus, just listen to some of the music, maybe the White Album. I love all the Beatles, especially the whole combination. It was never as good separated as together. I suppose I liked John the best, but I love Paul and George too. And it would be mean not to include Ringo.
I'm glad to see you appreciate the older Pattie. I appreciate the way gay men have a warm bond to older women.
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44 comments:
I've always thought that she was quite lovely when she was young, although in a very different way than young models and starlets are pretty now. Much more natural and naive, with her chubby cheeks and British teeth.
How interesting that some of the most incredible love songs of modern music were inspired by what ended up being little more than a oneupsmanship contest. I'll have to read Patti's memoirs to see how it felt to be one more trophy.
It was actually a manage a trois, that Layla thing...
Patti...Clapton...Duane Allman
As Wiki says, he "wound up contributing to almost all the tracks on Layla, even the ones on which work had already started – and lifting everyone's work onto a higher plane. "He brought out the best in all of us", said Whitlock."
Maybe the acoustic Layla was without all the makeup.
That was the one worth keeping.
Prof. Althouse, were you and people you know really jealous of Patti? Did her chosen lifestyle really have all that much allure?
I never, ever understood the attraction of the counterculture. One really good thing about pre-MTV music was that you could just listen to it without having to look at all the collateral damage.
Absolutely!
In her memoir, Boyd talks about all the hate mail she got from American women.
But we didn't have much of a picture of what her "lifestyle" actually consisted of. We wanted George (or whoever), but she didn't have him to herself. And -- did you watch the film clip? -- he not only had an affair with Ringo's wife right in their house and without apologies, but he spent a lot of his time clicking a bag of beads he wore around his neck and chanting "Hare Krishna." And one of the things he liked about Krishna was that Krishna got to surround himself with women. He thought he should be able to do that too. Some asceticism!
Perhaps the appeal of the counterculture was that, rightly or wrongly, the mainstream culture was viewed as too oppressive, with few if any outlets for someone who thought and felt differently.
Reality is a bitch. He was right about the Beatles, though...
I saw a June interview with Clapton. Boyd may show her years, but not him. Guy looks like he is in his late 40s. Fit, trim, clean for 12 years.
But his past life? Its like the heroin laced with alchohol abuse pickled him like Iggy Pop.
Now he tours, does music, loves antique fast cars and motorcycle riding, is a proficient flyfisher, has a rehab center in the Caribbean he built. And funny enough, hangs around Columbus Ohio a good deal of the time where he loves the country and became fast friends with his 4th wife's crowd and their parents
Patty Boyd, alas, is a past trinket of the talented..who have died or moved on to casting wet flies for smallmouth bass in Lake Erie.
Er, why do people who want to think differently form groups to all think alike? Never got that.
Anyway Ann, I can't quite tell if you look back on all this as foolishness, or do you still think it was the way to be? Seems kind of lame, myself.
The review by Norman Snider reveals Snyder as a hateful man. Who could say something like that about a woman they are interviewing? This old girl? What an ass.
He adds that Clapton's tale of redemption after his son's tragic death comes as something of a yawn. What a twit. For Snider, becoming a civic-minded doting father of four daughters who founded his own rehab center is nothing compared to cheating on your wife, slowly dying of addiction, and vomiting everywhere.
I just hate writing like that.
RC said..."Anyway Ann, I can't quite tell if you look back on all this as foolishness, or do you still think it was the way to be? Seems kind of lame, myself."
It's just a fantasy. You don't seriously think it would really be wonderful. When you watch porn (I don't), do you think the actors are having a great time?
Pogo: I think he's talking about what makes a good read. Happy, well-balanced, generous people are lovely, but we don't want to read their memoirs.
"Who could say something like that about a woman they are interviewing?"
He didn't have an interview. Just Clapton's book to review.
Careful, Dr. Althouse, they may try to pay you to do a vlog of you watching porn! With commentary, no doubt!
Pogo: I think he's talking about what makes a good read. Happy, well-balanced, generous people are lovely, but we don't want to read their memoirs.
In an amazing twist, I find myself agreeing with Pogo. Snyder is pathetic and for that matter so are you Ann.
You seem to look back longingly on a time when so many brilliant artists self-destructed through over-indulgence. And even whine that you couldn't join in (and even make the ridiculous assertion that everyone wanted to live that lifestyle).
Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now.
You certainly are a class act!
As the now firmly middle aged 40 year old son of baby boomers that were 25-30 years younger than I am right now when the Beatles "Hard Days Night" was released, I cannot impress upon all of the people who will watch this segment so fondly, how truly sickened I am of even the sight of the Beatles, Rolling Stones, and Eric Claptons of the world.
Really. When is it time to move past all of this? Layla is a song you hear on a classic rock station when the DJ needs eight minutes to run to the bathroom. And Wonderful Tonight? How many cheesy first wedding dances has that middling, soppy piece of "music" been spoiled by. Yeesh. All of this seems so silly.
I guess these dinosaurs might be important to some, and they were for me for a while too. Until I realized that my eye muscles were starting to get too huge from all of the eye rolling I started doing every time I heard how important these bands were for about the one millionth time. Nostalgia is one thing but man... move along will ya?
Like most rebellions the counter -culture was destined to burn itself out, leaving some good and lots of bad (birth control for middle school girls?).
Talent, madness and self-destruction seem to be the ultimate menage-a-trois.
For many baby-boomers the dream became a nightmare of perpetual adolesence for the boys and single parenthood for the girls.
The celebrated lyrics sound great as foreplay but fade quickly once the deed is done, rent is due, and there is no food in the fridge.
Layla as Lay Lady Lay across my big brass bed!
He didn't have an interview.
I guess he just saw her at another table. Never mind then.
Pattie; what a hag!
but we don't want to read their memoirs.
I like to see people overcoming adversity and personal demons. But I can no longer stomach the recent run of memoirs like Running with Scissors describing horrific people who should never have reproduced.
I just don't get the point anymore of reading about how awful some people are to each other.
I tend to agree with Pastafarian. Lot of the shine on those bands has tarnished, and won't be coming back. I used to be a huge Beatle fan when I was a kid, but now I think probably half their output is pretty feeble stuff. And Clapton may be one of the most overated figures in Rock - did he do anything worth listening to (or remembering)after Derek & the Dominoes? Poor songs, poor singing, though I hear he breaks out with some good guitar playing in concert.
He married the high school classmate of a friend of mine in Columbus, Ohio. Clapton today is not the jerk he was back when he was on H and booze. Totally different person.
vet66 said...
"The celebrated lyrics sound great as foreplay but fade quickly once the deed is done, rent is due, and there is no food in the fridge."
If the account above is right, that seems to be essentially the story of the couple for whom the original was written.
"Careful, Dr. Althouse, they may try to pay you to do a vlog of you watching porn! With commentary, no doubt!"
I'm sure it would be filled with world-weariness. But possibly horror. I'm afraid it would just seem ugly to me.
"Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now."
What?! I thought she looked fine for her age. I said nothing against her. You're revealing your own thoughts there. Weird.
"Will you go to her photo exhibit?"
If I found myself walking by the gallery and noticed it, I'd go in. If I have to look it up and get a taxi.... maybe.
"Really. When is it time to move past all of this? Layla is a song you hear on a classic rock station when the DJ needs eight minutes to run to the bathroom. And Wonderful Tonight? How many cheesy first wedding dances has that middling, soppy piece of "music" been spoiled by. Yeesh. All of this seems so silly."
Well, I objected to the reign of arena/dinosaur rock at the time, when it was current and never liked anything like "Wonderful Tonight" so you aren't talking to me. I liked the 60s pop stuff and in the 70s mostly only the New Wave things. We listened to a lot of jazz and classical music in those tough times.
She looks good for her age. I thought she was going to look like Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous.
In the mid-60s, girls wanted the Beatles -- they were individually what Elvis and Frank Sinatra had been -- of course they would be jealous of any chick who could snag one. Most of their appeal was simply their fame; a woman I went to college with, who had seen them gigging around Hamburg when she was a teenager, did not think they were any thing that special.
Ann:
"I objected to the reign of arena/dinosaur rock at the time, when it was current ... I liked the 60s pop stuff and in the 70s mostly only the New Wave things...."
So we could say that in the 70s, you found Trex objectionable, whereas now, you find Trex objectionable.
No I wasn't talking to anyone in particular. Just as a whole I guess. Sorry I've never quite gotten the hang of this whole posting thing.
And Trex has always been awful. Marc Bolin dying was the best thing that could have happened to that band. Instant legend right? If he hadn't died everyone would have seen how awful it was.
I also blame that terrible 80's "super group(?)" Power Station for introducing Bang a Gong or whatever that song is to my friends with the horrendous big hair in the late 80's.
Freder wrote: "Then to top it all off, you add a catty little dig about how awful she looks now."
Ann replied: What?! I thought she looked fine for her age. I said nothing against her. You're revealing your own thoughts there. Weird.
That's exactly what I thought when I ran across Freder's comment earlier. I was going to ask what he was talking about but I figured it really wasn't worth the effort. That idea never even crossed my mind as it seemed to fit in with your earlier "then and now" post on Mailer and Annie @ Ambivablog just posted a pic from that era too.
Simon: Maybe she's just a jeepster for his love!
I loved Marc Bolan in the 60s when the band was called Tyrannasaurus Rex.
Going "behind the music" is fine, but it has nothing to do with whether the music is any good. Patti Boyd could be twice as beautiful, Eric and George could have been as faithful as Lancelot and Arthur, but if that meant "Layla" was any less powerful and passionate, we'd be the losers.
I saw Clapton on Larry King and he comes off as this nice, modest fellow. Good for him. I don't want him back on heroin, boozing, cheating on George's ex., fighting with his bandmates. I just want the music all that mess led to.
Nice people doing nice things in a nice way seldom results in enduring art.
"She looks good for her age. I thought she was going to look like Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous."
I think Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous looks great too. I mean, the woman has problems! But she still looks fine for her age.
By the same token, there's really nothing you can say to me about the way I look that can hurt my self esteem. I know how old I am, and I'm relieved and entirely satisfied that I look as good as I do. What the hell do you expect? I'm 56. I think younger people cringing at the way older women look are either: 1. sexist or 2. afraid of their own aging and impending death. In which case, the person who looks bad is you.
Ann Althouse said...
"I know how old I am, and I'm relieved and entirely satisfied that I look as good as I do. What the hell do you expect? I'm 56."
And on evidence presented, you look better now than you did when you were younger. They're just jealous.
To state the most obvious of the obvious, literally speaking (which matters no matter how much one would prefer it not):
One can always be a day older than one is now.
Never a day younger.
That's how it works.
But--trust me!--it can be worse.
Like an Indy post it is.
"I didn't say . . . ."
Does he charge you for every time you do it? Or is it plagiarism of the blog form?
Althouse/Insty = no difference, except for comments.
Comments?!!?!?!??!
Same old nonsense.
TC said...
"This boy Simon says he not a be one a dem dere fudge-packers... but who can tell."
I suppose it's reassuring to discover that I've apparently been subtle enough about my opinion of our hostess' charms that there are at least some denizens of the Althouse blog who remain oblivious to it.
Boyd didn't have a very good structure in her face. Add fat, and she's just a blob.
Older women can still look beautiful, but they have to have had a good structure: high cheekbones, and so on.
Also, I think it helps to be intelligent so that your face looks interesting and thoughtful when you are older. I can't think of any famous women who look this way, but I have seen some women who do look this way. Bank tellers, even, who still have a structure in their face, and who are easy on the eyes.
British women in general are monstrous in their formatting. Britney Spears will look like Patty Boyd in a few years. In some ways she already does. Again, no structure.
I think that the film called The Blob was already about this. It was a horror movie.
I never knew about her. Wasn't really a Beatles or Clapton fan-way before my time.
She was quite beautiful when she was young.
For 63 she looks pretty good-a little doughy though.
I actually like her quite a bit in this video. She seems pretty cool and what an interesting life.
I feel bad I don't know anything about the Beatles. I just read more about them.
For some reason Harrison seemed the coolest to me. And the most attractive.
Did you have a favor Althouse?
Well, Titus, just listen to some of the music, maybe the White Album. I love all the Beatles, especially the whole combination. It was never as good separated as together. I suppose I liked John the best, but I love Paul and George too. And it would be mean not to include Ringo.
I'm glad to see you appreciate the older Pattie. I appreciate the way gay men have a warm bond to older women.
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