“Layla” – Derek and the Dominos
(Words/music: Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, available on Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, Polydor 1970)

I’m not going to question Eric Clapton’s guitar chops; I can only dream of one day being half as good at something as Eric Clapton is at playing the guitar. He’s a pretty good vocalist, and a decent songwriter too. That being said, “Layla” doesn’t become an immortal song without Jim Gordon’s piano coda. The opening song runs on a killer riff and his desperate declaration of love for George Harrison’s wife. It would be a solid song on its own – Clapton delivers an impassioned vocal performance (clearly drawing on his real-life inspiration) over Duane Alman’s lead riff, but it’s the piano coda that cement’s the song’s legacy. Gordon’s section of the song puts on the breaks, shifting the tone away from desperation to melancholy. Producer Tom Dowd spliced together the two movements, but both parts seemingly needed each other. Clapton’s desperation benefits from the slowed tempo, and Gordon’s piano riff feels more heartfelt after Clapton’s overt declaration of (what seemed like) unrequited love. On their own, each part could do well (and Gordon’s piano solo worked exceptionally well as a montage piece in Goodfellas), but together each part takes what it needs from the other.