The group debuted at the Lyceum Theatre in London on June 14, 1970 where the announcer mispronounced their provisional name of Eric and the Dynamos to Derek and the Dominos, the band decided to take up the new name and undertook a summer tour of England. From late August to early October, working at Criteria Studios in Miami with legendary Atlantic Records producer Tom Dowd, the band recorded Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, a brilliant double album now widely regarded as Clapton's masterpiece. Most of the material, including Layla (which soon became an FM radio staple) was inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Boyd who was married to his best friend George Harrison. Clapton was seeing Pattie secretly at the time and Whitlock was dating her sister. It was not until much later that the affair was open; Boyd moved in with Clapton in 1974 and married him in 1979. However, they were separated in 1985 when Clapton started a relationship with Yvonne Khan Kelly and they divorced in 1988. The two-part song "Layla" was recorded in separate sessions; the opening guitar section was recorded first, with the second section following several months later. The second section was an elegiac piano piece composed and played by drummer Jim Gordon; early on, he objected to it being added onto Layla, but after some arguing among the band's members he finally agreed.
The Layla LP was actually recorded by a five-piece version of the group, thanks to the unforeseen inclusion of slide guitar virtuoso Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band. Clapton recorded most of the album while lying on the floor strung out on drugs. The band was heavily into drugs at this time, but, unlike many artists such as The Beatles, Clapton feels this did not hurt the recording process. A few days into the Layla sessions, Dowd, who was also producing the Allmans, invited Clapton to an Allman Brothers outdoor concert in Miami. The two guitarists who previously knew each other only by reputation, met backstage after the show, and then both bands repaired to the studio to jam (an impromptu session which, happily, was captured on tape). Clapton and Allman "fell in love" with each other's playing and became instant friends, so Allman was immediately invited to become the fifth member of The Dominos. (These studio jams were eventually released as part of the 3-CD 20th-anniversary edition of the album.)
When Allman and Clapton met, The Dominos had already recorded three tracks (I Looked Away, Bell Bottom Blues and Keep On Growing); Allman debuted on the fourth cut, Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out, and contributed some of his most sublime slide-guitar playing to the remainder of the LP. The album was heavily blues-influenced and featured a winning combination of the twin guitars of Allman and Clapton, with Allman's incendiary slide-guitar a key ingredient of the sound. It showcased some of Clapton's strongest material to date, as well as arguably some of his best guitar playing, with Whitlock also contributing several superb numbers, and his powerful, soul-influenced voice.
I Looked Away
Derek and the Dominos Lyrics
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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.
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.
The lyrics of "I Looked Away" by Derek and the Dominos tell the story of a man who has lost the love of his life due to his own mistakes. The opening lines set the scene of the woman trying to make him see that she would always be there for him, but despite her efforts, he looked away and let her go. He is now filled with regret and loneliness as he realizes that he has lost the one person who truly mattered to him.
As the lyrics progress, it becomes clear that the man had somehow betrayed or hurt the woman, leading her to leave him. Although he acknowledges that it was wrong to love another man's woman, he cannot help but continue to love her until the end of his days. This sentiment is reinforced by the repeating chorus of "I looked away and she ran away from me today; I'm such a lonely man."
Overall, the lyrics of "I Looked Away" convey a feeling of heartache and remorse. The man is haunted by his mistakes and can only watch as the love of his life slips away from him.
Line by Line Meaning
She took my hand
She held my hand to show me affection and care.
And tried to make me understand
She attempted to explain something to me, maybe something important about our relationship.
That she would always be there,
She promised to be there for me whenever I needed her support.
But I looked away
I chose not to pay attention to her and her words.
And she ran away from me today;
She left me behind, maybe because I didn't pay attention to her when she needed me the most.
I'm such a lonely man.
I feel very lonely and sad about the situation.
It came as no surprise to me
I wasn't shocked or surprised by her leaving me behind.
That she'd leave me in misery.
I knew she would leave me behind and it would make me feel miserable.
It seemed like only yesterday
It felt like only yesterday that she made promises to never leave me.
She made a vow that she'd never walk away.
She promised to never leave me behind.
And if it seemed a sin
If loving another man's woman was a wrong thing to do.
To love another man's woman, baby,
To be in love with someone who is already in a relationship with another man.
I guess I'll keep on sinning
I'll continue to do what I know is wrong and love her anyways.
Loving her, Lord, till my very last day.
I'll love her for as long as I live.
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BOBBY WHITLOCK, ERIC PATRICK CLAPTON, ROBERT S. WHITLOCK
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