Pattie Boyd got a reminder of her place in rock history this week. The former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton revealed on Instagram that she attended a recent intimate concert by Clapton and heard him perform two songs famously written about her: “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Perhaps no woman has inspired as many classic rock songs as Boyd. The former model and actress was the muse behind Harrison’s “I Need You,” “For You Blue” and “Something,” as well as Clapton’s “Bell Bottom Blues,” in addition to “Layla” and “Wonderful Tonight.”
Clapton fell for her while she was married to his friend Harrison and wrote both “Bell Bottom Blues” and “Layla” out of his unrequited love for her. She and Harrison divorced in 1977, and she married Clapton in 1979, but their marriage was over by 1989.
Clearly, time has healed wounds. As Boyd revealed in an Instagram post this week, she took in one of Clapton’s two concerts at G Live in Guildford on Monday, April 20, held as warm-up shows for his 2026 tour.
“Fabulous to see Eric in the relatively intimate G-Live venue in Guildford on Monday evening,” she wrote on Instagram. “Great to hear ‘Old Love,’ ‘Layla’ and ‘Wonderful Tonight’ (amongst others) live again.”
Boyd entered rock history in 1964 when she was cast as a schoolgirl in the Beatles’ debut film, A Hard Day’s Night. She and Harrison began dating as the cameras rolled and were married in 1966.
By then Harrison and Clapton were two years into a friendship that began in December 1964, when the Yardbirds — with whom Clapton was then performing — opened for the Beatles’ Christmas show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. The two men bonded over their shared love of guitar, leading to a close friendship that included Clapton playing on the Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” in 1968.
By 1970, however, Harrison and Boyd’s marriage was strained, and Clapton had become infatuated with her, much to Harrison’s displeasure. Boyd later recounted how the two eventually fought a guitar duel over her, noting that Clapton emerged as the victor.
“George handed him a guitar and an amp — as an 18th-century gentleman might have handed his rival a sword — and for two hours, without a word, they dueled,” Boyd recalled in a 2007 interview. “At the end, nothing was said, but the general feeling was that Eric had won.
“Even when he was drunk, his guitar playing was unbeatable.”
Clearly, Clapton — or at least his guitar playing — still has a hold on her.
Despite their love for Boyd, Clapton and Harrison remained friends throughout it all. Harrison even attended Clapton and Boyd’s wedding reception on May 19, 1979, in England, some two months after they were wed in Tucson, Arizona, on March 27, 1979, and often referred to himself as their “husband-in-law.”
The romantic triangle produced more than a handful of timeless songs. Clapton and Harrison also shared an acoustic guitar — a rare 1913 Gibson Style O acoustic archtop dubbed “Pattie.” The instrument was used to write songs that include Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and Clapton’s “Let It Rain,” as well as “Badge,” the song Harrison and Clapton co-wrote that appeared on Goodbye, Cream’s 1969 farewell album.
The guitar is currently for sale through Heritage Auctions after it failed to sell when previously listed on Reverb. It will be part of Heritage’s May 8 Vintage Guitars & Musical Instruments Auction.
