The hit song “Layla” by Derek and the Dominoes remains one of Eric Clapton’s crowning achievements. However, for artist Rita Coolidge, it was a reminder of the music industry’s often unfair dealings.
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Coolidge published the memoir Delta Lady in 2016. Within its pages, she revealed her hand in writing the piano part at the end of “Layla.” However, she never got credit or compensation for her composition. For Coolidge, it was a matter of outright theft.
The royalties from the huge hit song were split between Eric Clapton and co-writer Jim Gordon, while Coolidge sat back and watched as the song grew and grew. She was dating Gordon at the time, and the two had previously collaborated on a song that they showed to Clapton. The hope was that he would cover it, but nothing came of their collaboration.
“I remember clearly sitting at the piano at Olympic Studios while Eric listened to me play it all the way through,” Coolidge wrote in her memoir. “Jim and I left a taped cassette of the demo with Eric, hoping of course, that he might cover it. Nothing came of it and I largely forgot about it.”
Rita Coolidge Recalls Her Composition Being Stolen for the End of Eric Clapton’s “Layla”
According to Rita Coolidge, she didn’t realize that something was amiss with “Layla” until she heard it later on the radio. There, at the song’s coda, was her piano composition, a song called “Time (Don’t Let The World Get In Our Way).”
“I was infuriated,” she wrote. “What they had clearly done was take the song Jim and I had written, jettisoned the lyrics, and tacked it to the end of Eric’s song. It was almost the same as the arrangement.”
Coolidge confronted Clapton’s manager, Robert Stigwood, about receiving writing credit on the song. He refused her and ultimately made her feel that she had no other options, according to Coolidge. Rita Coolidge never received writing credit for her arrangement and was allegedly belittled in the process of asking for it.
“You’re going to go up against the Robert Stigwood Organization? Who do you think you are? You’re a girl singer,” Coolidge recalled the interaction with Stigwood in her memoir. She also admitted that the interaction largely haunted her, as she felt betrayed.
“There was no way Jim could have forgotten we’d written the song together,” she said. “And, frankly, I don’t think Eric could have either.”
Rita Coolidge had spoken about the incident before her memoir, and in 2011, Derek and the Dominoes keyboardist Bobby Whitlock supported her story.
“Jim took the melody from Rita’s song and didn’t give her credit for writing it,” said Whitlock in an interview at the time. “Her boyfriend ripped her off. I knew, but nobody would listen to or believe me.”
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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