Pattie Boyd is a beautiful woman who was the inspiration for many great songs. She was married to George Harrison and then to Eric Clapton. The three most well-known songs were Something (Beatles), Layla (Derek and the Dominos…Eric Clapton) and Wonderful Tonight.
Other songs include
I Need You (Beatles)
She’s Waiting (Eric Clapton)
For You Blue (Beatles)
It’s All Too Much (Beatles)
Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad ((Derek and the Dominos…Eric Clapton)
So Sad (George Harrison)
If I Needed Someone (Beatles)
She worked in London, New York, and Paris, side by side with the world’s top models. Boyd appeared in the UK and Italian editions of Vogue magazine, as well as in several commercials. George Harrison met Pattie while filming “A Hard Day’s Night” in 1964 and they married in 1966. George and Patti were a hip couple in 1960’s Swinging London.
By the early seventies, George and Pattie were having problems and it didn’t help that Eric Clapton was pursuing Pattie and that is when Layla was written.
In 1974 Pattie ran off with Eric with George’s blessings. George and Eric remained friends and would visit and work with each other in the future. A quote from Pattie “The first Christmas after I’d left him, in 1974, just as Eric and I were sitting down to lunch, George burst in, uninvited,” Boyd says in her autobiography. “He had some wine and Christmas pudding with us. I couldn’t believe how friendly he and Eric were towards each other.” Pattie and George’s divorce was final in 1977 and George married Olivia Trinidad Arias. They would stay married until George’s death.
George stayed friends with Pattie till the end.
Pattie and Eric were married in 1979. At the reception, Paul, George, and Ringo played together but there is confusion on why John Lennon was not invited other than he lived in America at the time. Later it was reported that John did say he would have loved to be there.
The marriage was a painful one for both. Clapton had a drinking problem through most of the marriage. Pattie left Eric in 1986 after Lory Del Santo had Clapton’s child. Ironically, it was Clapton who once said that his marriage had suffered because he and Boyd couldn’t have children. Practicing with others was clearly not a solution.
Pattie Boyd’s autobiography is an interesting read.
Pattie would say that being married during the Beatles years was not an easy thing. If she went to the concerts she and the other wives and girlfriends would sometimes be chased, kicked, and pushed by jealous fans.
This is part of an interview with Taylor Swift interviewing Pattie Boyd. Read the full interview here.
Taylor Swift: I remember seeing a picture of the house, and Mick Jagger and Marianne Faithfull had spray-painted their names on the wall with the words mick and marianne were here. I read a book about Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor recently, and how there was this crazy frenzy surrounding them. In the book, Elizabeth is quoted as saying, “It could be worse, we could be the Beatles.” You are one of the only people who can say they experienced what Beatlemania was like from the inside. How did that feel for you?
Pattie Boyd: In my first experience, I found it absolutely terrifying. I got to see the Beatles play at a theater in London, and George told me that I should leave with my friends before the last number. So before the last song, we got up from our seats and walked toward the nearest exit door, and there were these girls behind me. They followed us out, and they were kicking me and pulling my hair and pushing us all the way down this long passageway.
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Have you read her book? I have seen it around but haven’t read it- I should. Taylor Swift- The Taylor Swift interviewing Pattie Boyd?…. What Beatles wife was the first to have a song written for her?- my trivia question of the day..
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Yes I read it when it came out… it is interesting to hear her point of view… she has some facts wrong but like Paul said… the fans know more than they do…
You got me on that one! Which one and what song? My guess is Cynthia.
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At her fathers request- Jack Lawrence wrote a song for her called Linda- when Linda Eastman as four years old. .. will have to read the Pattie book just because- it’s a Beatles book. Of course got to read Sir George books first.
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I did not know that thank you… it’s worth a read
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Look at her eyes people are stupid she is a lizard
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that would be an interesting book…I’ll add that one to my list! I’ve often thought , wow,there must be something , some intangible quality about Patti. she is, or at least was, a very attractive young woman, no question, but those guys were surrounded by thousands of those. For her to inspire such passion and crazed desire… she must’ve been “Something”!
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It is an interesting book and it’s a different point of view
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I think I’ll read Patti’s autobiography. For some reason it hadn’t been high on my list. I never knew about the interview Taylor Swift did. That’s really cool. I’ll be reading that, too.
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It is an interesting point of view…of what was happening and how secluded they had to be
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Here’s another one for the list, which I only learned about a couple of nights ago when watching Ronnie Wood interview Pattie on his show on AXS. For years, I only knew the Son Volt version and didn’t know Wood wrote it. Anyway, Ronnie and George did a little wife swap, and as Ronnie said on his show, he wrote this “with Pattie in mind…” Anyway, here’s a clip from the brief existence of the New Barbarians performing it:
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Thanks that is great! One request… when I die can I come back as a 60s – 70s British pop star?
I like what I’ve seen of Ronnie’s show
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This song is really good. Thank you for sharing it.
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Pattie is pretty and all that, but the look in her eyes say I’ll never let anyone into my heart. I can see where that would drive men wild. I’m glad she moved along to Clapton then was gone. George’s 2nd wife was the right one for him, the right mother for Dhani, and she was there to save his life from the maniac.
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Something about the way she looked…wooo…that was almost Something lol! Robbie Robertson I believe remembered her as stunning but yea George ended up with the right person I agree.
Her book isn’t bad…I believe it’s called Wonderful Tonight. She paints George very well…Clapton…not so much.
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I’d be one of those girls at the show trying to pull her hair 😉
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LOL.. I’d be the guy that would say that #$%^ George the luckiest $%^& in the world! lol. Isn’t it enough you are a Beatle?
You know what makes her different? Her front teeth…the small gap. It’s a imperfection that made a lot of her looks.
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Aha! So that’s the secret!
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