Eric Clapton spent much of his early career being revered and routinely labelled as a rock music saviour. It was a label that may well have been justified considering, at the time, he was a pivotal guitar player of his generation. While Clapton’s legacy could be in ruins because of his controversial opinions away from the stage, there’s no denying his impact on the development of contemporary music is a significant one. However, there was one man who always, in Clapton’s own mind, had him beat – the late, great Duane Allman.With that in mind, we’re taking a look more closely at Allman’s integral contribution to the Derek & The Dominoes song from 1970. Clapton’s band, yet another supergroup of sorts, may well have been comprised of some outstanding musicians such as Bobby Whitlock, Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon but it still needed Duane Allman to take the song to the next level. ‘Layla’ has gone down in history as one of Eric Clapton’s finest efforts but the truth is, without Allman, the song was nothing.“I’m very proud of it. I love to hear it. It’s almost like it’s not me,” said Eric Clapton when recalling the iconic song written about his unrequited love for Patti Boyd. “It’s like I’m listening to someone that I really like. Derek and The Dominos was a band I really liked — and it’s almost like I wasn’t in that band. It’s just a band that I’m a fan of. Sometimes, my own music can be like that. When it’s served its purpose to being good music, I don’t associate myself with it any more. It’s like someone else. It’s easy to do those songs then.” It may also help that at the heart of the song lays the searing talent of Allman.

Source: Duane Allman’s isolated guitar on Eric Clapton song ‘Layla’