Derek and the Dominos – I Looked Away

This is the album’s opening track, and it doesn’t so much kick down the door as quietly invite you in. If you only know the Layla album for the title track, you might miss how the whole journey begins with this two-and-a-half-minute sigh of regret.

Unlike Clapton’s past work in Cream or Blind Faith, this wasn’t about ripping incredible riffs. The melody flows with a natural grace, closer to something from The Band than the psychedelic guitar Clapton had been known for.

Derek and the Dominos was a band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton, along with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon. All four musicians also worked with George Harrison on his All Things Must Pass album. Clapton didn’t want his name in the title and had hoped to keep his involvement as low-key as possible. 

The album peaked at #16 in 1970 on the Billboard 100. Although Derek and the Dominos were poised to record a follow-up album in 1971, because of tensions and drug abuse among the band members, along with the tragic death of Duane Allman later that year, this remained their sole album.

This song and Bell Bottom Blues are my two favorites off the album. Everyone knows Layla, but these other songs are great as well. Eric Clapton and Bobby Whitlock wrote this song. As with most of the songs on this album, Patti Harrison was the main inspiration. 

I Looked Away

She took my hand
And tried to make me understand
That she would always be there,
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.
It came as no surprise to me
That she’d leave me in misery.
It seemed like only yesterday
She made a vow that she’d never walk away.
First Verse
And if it seemed a sin
To love another man’s woman, baby,
I guess I’ll keep on sinning
Loving her, Lord, till my very last day.
But I looked away
And she ran away from me today;
I’m such a lonely man.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

32 thoughts on “Derek and the Dominos – I Looked Away”

  1. I remember the day I found “Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: On Tour with Eric Clapton” in a record store cut-out bin. I thought “who are these guys?” having never heard of Delaney and Bonnie, but I knew who their friends were. Soon their friends became Derek & The Dominos. I just checked that album. The price sticker is still on it – $1.

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    1. I just love how this song flows…a nice song. Oh…I accidently published a post that I had originally meant for tomorrow…but I think I pulled it back in time….I gather you didn’t see it.

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  3. Pingback: Derek and the Dominos – I Looked Away – MobsterTiger

  5. I had this in my project but inexplicably skipped over it. As you said, it’s a more subdued song, quietly letting you in. But once you’re in, it’s a warm and cozy place — and by the end of your stay, you get Clapton belting out that frickin’ magnificent solo. Great selection, Max

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  6. Freud argued that many men become aroused if they can embroil themselves in a relationship with either a married woman, or with a taboo, off-limits woman because, in doing so, the man will derive some secret, unconscious, pleasure from the fact that people will be hurt, whether the cuckolded husband, whether the cheating man’s wife, or the unfaithful man himself, who runs the risk of being hated by all concerned. 

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      1. Freud’s close relationship with his sister-in-law, who never married and who lived with the Freud family for almost 50 years, has long been a subject of speculation by scholars.

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  7. Oh that Patti…
    Sounds pretty good, I really only know the two hits from them, which are both pretty great. The toning down of Clapton & his fondness for (thus inspiration from) The Band was a great thing to my ears.

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      1. they had talent aplenty. It was only when I got into doing this blog semi-seriously that I realized they were a ‘band’… I’d always been led to believe they were just an alias of Eric Clapton alone, and songs like ‘Layla’ were on his Best of albums, so it surprised me to find there were other talented and important members

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      2. Oh yea…and the drummer Jim Gordon…who we know what happened to him. Whitlock just passed away this year.
        They appeared on the Johnny Cash show…some good video there. Oh….they were a true band…they invited Duane Allman to join…I wish he would have Dave…you never know…his death might not have happened.

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      2. I’m with you man…I do the same thing. I’ll check it out because I didn’t listen to the complete album. This one I’ve been wanting to post forever.

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  13. Great song, Max. And, you’re absolutely right, while “Layla” is a gem, there’s more to “Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs.” In addition to “Bell Bottom Blues,” I also dig “Tell the Truth” and their rendition of “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out.”

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