Wonderful Tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Me

My used copy came in excellent condition and I was happy to finally read it.<b>Sad and Interesting Life</b>Pattie Boyd by her own admission, led an interesting life. She was the muse for two very talented and famous musicians that ultimately took its toll on her.In an excerpt from the book that says: “Being the muse of two such extraordinarily creative musicians, and having such beautiful and powerful love songs written about me, was enormously flattering, but it put the most tremendous pressure on me to be the amazing person they must have thought I was- and secretly knew I wasn’t. I felt I had to be flawless, serene, someone who understood every situation, who made no demands, but was there to fulfill every fantasy; and that someone with not much of a voice.”This book was both fascinating and sad, and I could see where the young woman was caught up in the world of rock ‘n’ roll and lost to it, and the men who played it. I can see where she lost herself, and tolerated a great deal more than someone with what she had to offer should have. When George Harrison started to lose interest, and she was courted by Eric Clapton, she could see that Eric was an alcoholic. Yet she succumbed to his romantic advances, when instead, she should’ve simply left Harrison and decided whether or not her marriage should’ve continued.This is a book worth reading if you’re interested in the life of the rich and famous, but don’t expect to read about joyful and wonderful things. The rich and famous suffer, sadness and setbacks, the same as everybody else, and in fact possibly more. This was a five star read, but not the romance I expected. Pattie was ultimately just another woman in the shadows of the men she lived with.

Pattie Boyd was probably one of the most beautiful rock women during her 60s heyday. She snagged a Beatle after only one meeting on a movie set, inspired Clapton to create the anthem "Layla" and was the avowed idol of many a young girl. Yet her book, in contrast to some of the other "rock wife" and "rock groupie" books out there, is noticeably devoid of ego, or bitterness towards the famous men who let her down. At times she comes off as almost self-effacing to the degree that you'd just like to tell her, "Pattie! Wake up and realize you're awesome!"Even though I'd read many Beatles books in the past, I hadn't realized the degree to which Pattie was a cipher in those books. (By contrast, some of them contain Yoko Ono's entire life history pre-Lennon.) It turns out Pattie had a very interesting childhood, having been raised in a poor and somewhat dysfunctional family in Africa. Eventually, pre-teen Pattie moves to England and starts a modeling career just as the Beatles are hitting the big time. She meets George and has a fairy-tale romance ending in marriage. Unfortunately, George ends up cheating on her - with Ringo's wife Maureen of all people (I had also never heard this story before). When George isn't cheating he's distancing himself to concentrate on his meditation or inviting meditation groups to come live in his and Pattie's house. Living with this type of stress, it's easy to see why Pattie eventually succumbed to the repeated and persistent advances of George's friend Eric Clapton, who claimed that her initial rejection of him led him into years of heroin addiction.After Pattie marries Eric, his addictions and erratic behaviors disturb any peace she might have hoped for. This section of the book seems choppy and less complete than Pattie's recounting of her life with George, and you sense something else may be lurking below the surface of Eric and Pattie's troubled relationship. (It is rumored that she left his worst excesses, such as physical abuse, out of the book.) Eric seems not so much heartless as just not emotionally sensitive enough to have a decent relationship. For example, he fathers children outside the marriage even though Pattie has desperately tried, and failed, to have a child of her own and she is devastated by it. By the time the book gets to the end of the Pattie and Eric story, Pattie, for all her money and her exciting life, truly seems beaten down and victimized, emotionally if not also physically. It's hard to read this book along with Clapton's recent biography where he seems much less affected by the entire breakup and unremorseful for his extramarital affairs.The end of the book has Pattie getting her life together with the help of her friends, achieving some measure of inner peace, and dealing with the death of George, to whom she still feels a loving bond. By this point Pattie's life has become so rarified (jetting off to this and that exotic destination) that she seems removed from the mere mortals on earth, but her emotions still seem very human.The most interesting, fun and complete part of the book is the first half dealing with Pattie's early life, her modeling career and her marriage to George. The Eric sections seem very sad by comparison (as well as choppy) and I found myself really wishing, as Pattie also seems to wish at times, that she and George had gotten back together, or never broken up. My one major complaint with the book and its subject is that Pattie does seem very passive and at times like she has no life or motivation of her own - she just exists to bask in whatever love these powerful men might choose to dole out to her. Perhaps this is due to her having an unhappy childhood and then marrying one of the biggest rock stars in the world at a very young age, but I do hope she's able to grow a little bit more of an assertive spine.

Pattie Boyd's story would indeed be very nice if it weren't so easy to read between the lines. I found it very detailed on certain superficial issues, but suspiciously flippant and vague on other more weighty topics. The first problem for me was the constant jumping back and forth in time. Often I had to read back a few pages to make sense of it. I also immediately grew tired of all of her name dropping in reference to expensive designer clothes, food, wines and travel destinations. She definitely seems to have been quite enamoured with the lifestyle she married into. Particularly telling is her whining about George becoming "obsessed" with meditation, wanting to live a more spiritual life and withdraw a bit from all of their partying and socializing. The reality was that she had turned him onto meditation. George ended up taking it very seriously and it became life-changing for him, but it was obviously just another passing fad for Pattie. Apparently she was oblivious to or unconcerned about the obvious trauma he suffered through the years of Beatlemania. I imagine she thought complete and total lack of privacy, dangerous mob scenes, death threats and bullet-riddled airplanes had been great fun for him. Her only concern seemed to be her own boredom and lack of social life. After having read Pattie’s book as well as a number of biographies about George, I’ve come to the conclusion that the dissolution of their relationship had more to do with her lack of depth than George’s excessive spirituality. Although she has obviously lived quite a charmed life compared to most, Ms. Boyd seemed to portray herself as the ever-hapless victim of others' bad behaviours - always trying to save them from themselves. I was a bit incredulous about the fact that she allowed herself to be dragged into so much drinking and partying, but never went into detail about her own unhealthy relationship with alcohol. By contrast, the addiction problems of others were given a great deal of attention. The fact that she was involved with one addictive personality after another speaks volumes. It seems all too clear to me that she became dependent on the money and privilege that were the products of their artistic talents.While I did enjoy reading about the "Swinging 60's" London scene of which the Beatles were a huge part, I found the book overall as superficial as many of the author's memories and observations.

Adquiri o livro da Pattie Boyd sem grandes expectativas e, curiosamente, ele chegou hoje, no dia 25 de fevereiro, coincidindo com o aniversário de George Harrison. Em poucas horas, mergulhei na leitura, sentindo como se fosse um sinal do destino haha! A narrativa é envolvente, divertida e cativante, transportando o leitor para os cenários glamorosos e excitantes que Pattie descreve com maestria.É fácil idealizar e reverenciar nossos ídolos como seres perfeitos, mas Pattie Boyd habilmente nos apresenta o lado humano, real e nem tão glamuroso de George e Eric Clapton, bem como o seu próprio. Para quem está na dúvida sobre adquirir o livro, eu diria: vá em frente! Cada capítulo é uma jornada fascinante por histórias e experiências verdadeiramente interessantes.

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Viene en perfecto estado, excelente compra

I well remember as a nine year old standing in a long line of people waiting to get into the Cinema to watch a Hard Days Night,i only liked John Wayne war films and in truth could not make head nor tail of the film,my parents took me to London,Swinging London on week long holidays throughout the mid sixties,i asked if i could have a red Palace Guard red uniform jacket,i thought i would look really cool in one of those,my dad said yes so of we went to Carnaby street,none would fit as my dad no doubt knew in advance so i never did get to dress as a Palace Guard,I remember London of that time as being just as it is in the now aging films,very sunny,very safe and very nice night or day.This era is of course sinking back into history,the first world war has gone out of living memory the second rapidly doing the same,so the age of the invention of the teenager beginning in the 1950s to the revolution of the 1960s is moving onto the history stage.The reaction to the war in Vietnam coupled to the music and movements of the era did create a true revolution one that changed the world and was perhaps overdue,enough has survived to the present day to make a difference and nothing since has had anything like the effect not even Punk Rock.Pattie Boyd is part of that history,her book begins with her childhood a mix of happy and unhappiness common to most children i suppose regardless of class or wealth,moving to her appearance in the Beatle film in school uniform with another Girl who it is hard to find anything about other than her name and catching the eye of George Harrison is amusing and well told.Accusations of gold digging do not hold water as both she and her sister were well known models of the day and part of the Swinging London set (swinging in the current age has a different meaning) her marriage to George Harrison lasted considering the stresses involved for a long time,it was a true love and George comes over as a fine man with a good heart but beset as all the Beatles were to differing levels by what had happened to them,a well known American actor has said everyone should be rich and famous for a time so they can know it is not the answer.Her story covers the love triangle between her ,George and Eric Clapton is also well covered,Eric has since said that he did not truly love her,to me a man who wrights songs about a woman as he did is most certainly in love with her,Pattie became the wife of two very creative people and this is the Fairy Tale and Greek Tragedy,Eric has told his own story very truthfully,a man who has had great success and suffered tragedy that no human being should ever have to suffer,many people see them as sort of Gods but they are just people,in reading her book i got the feeling she loved maybe still does George and Eric,perhaps having fonder memories of George,at no point does she demonise anyone nor does she put herself on a pedestal.Happily today she leads a happy life and is a renowned photographer,appearing to have no bitterness for some of the bad fortune and hurt she has endured,something she has had a fair share of and not all down to the men who chased her and chase her they did,no she looks back at her life and celebrates the times she lived through and the people she got to mix with,if the book has one fault it is not enough Photographs although the ones included are very good,i wonder if she is aware that five decades on lots of girls on line show you how to do your make up the Pattie Boyd way or just want to look like her,more than a good read it is a fascinating insight into the lives of some of the most famous people of the day and how it was a bit different to what people may have thought,a Fairy Tale,Greek Tragedy and i think told from the heart.

An interesting read. I always loved George but not so sure now.