Bell Bottom Blues (1970 song)
Encyclopedia
"Bell Bottom Blues" is a song
written by Eric Clapton
and performed by Derek and the Dominos
. It deals with unrequited love
and appears on the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
. As a single, backed with "Keep on Growing," the song reached #91 on the Billboard Hot 100
in 1971. A re-release backed with "Little Wing
" reached #78.
"Bell Bottom Blues" was recorded before Duane Allman
joined the recording sessions, so Clapton is the only guitarist on the song. Clapton compensates for this by playing multiple guitar parts, including a sensitive, George Harrison
-style guitar solo and chime-like harmonic
s . The other musicians are Bobby Whitlock
on Hammond organ
, Carl Radle
on bass and percussion and Jim Gordon
on drums, including tabla
and backwards snare
. Whitlock also sings occasional harmony vocals.
Bell-bottoms
are a style of trousers
that were popular at the time. According to Clapton, the song was written for Pattie Boyd
after she requested him to get her a pair of bell bottom blue jeans from the United States. Clapton wrote the song for her, along with many others on the album such as "I Looked Away" and "Layla". During some tours, he has played the song as part of an acoustic set, such as One More Car, One More Rider
. He played the song along with Bobby Whitlock
on Later with Jools Holland
in April 2000.
The lyrics describe a lovers' quarrel. Bill Janovitz
of Allmusic praises both Clapton's guitar playing and his vocal performance on this song, but particularly the latter. He particularly notes the raw anguish in Clapton's voice in the lines:
contrasted with the somber longing expressed in the Clapton's voice for the refrain
that immediately follows:
Author Jan Reid also praised Clapton's singing on the song, noting that his phrasing manages to suggest that despite the pain he is feeling, the woman's antics remind him of the "joy of just being alive."
The initial review of the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in Rolling Stone Magazine by Ed Leimacher called "Bell Bottom Blues" (as well as "Have You Ever Loved a Woman") filler. However, a later review of the album in Rolling Stone praised the song as an epic that "feels as if it's going to shatter from the heat of its romantic agony." The Rolling Stone Album Guide used the song as an example of how Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs transformed the blues
, noting that this song in particular merges the styles of Blind Faith
and Cream
.
Matthew Sweet
and Susanna Hoffs
covered "Bell Bottom Blues" on their 2009 album Under the Covers, Vol. 2
. Bruce Springsteen
borrowed the line "I don't wanna fade away" for his 1980 song "Fade Away
" from "Bell Bottom Blues."
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
written by Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
and performed by Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos
Derek and the Dominos were a blues rock band formed in the spring of 1970 by guitarist and singer Eric Clapton with keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle and drummer Jim Gordon, who had all played with Clapton in Delaney, Bonnie & Friends...
. It deals with unrequited love
Unrequited love
Unrequited love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such, even though reciprocation is usually deeply desired. The beloved may or may not be aware of the admirer's deep affections...
and appears on the album Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs is a blues-rock album by Derek and the Dominos, released in November 1970, best known for its eponymous title track, "Layla"...
. As a single, backed with "Keep on Growing," the song reached #91 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
in 1971. A re-release backed with "Little Wing
Little Wing
"Little Wing" is a song written by Jimi Hendrix. It was first recorded by The Jimi Hendrix Experience on their 1967 album Axis: Bold as Love...
" reached #78.
"Bell Bottom Blues" was recorded before Duane Allman
Duane Allman
Howard Duane Allman was an American guitarist, session musician and the primary co-founder of the southern rock group The Allman Brothers Band...
joined the recording sessions, so Clapton is the only guitarist on the song. Clapton compensates for this by playing multiple guitar parts, including a sensitive, George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
-style guitar solo and chime-like harmonic
Harmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
s . The other musicians are Bobby Whitlock
Bobby Whitlock
Robert Stanley 'Bobby' Whitlock is a songwriter and performer, best known as a member of Derek and the Dominos.- Biography :...
on Hammond organ
Hammond organ
The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, Carl Radle
Carl Radle
Carl Dean Radle was a bass guitarist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s...
on bass and percussion and Jim Gordon
Jim Gordon (musician)
James Beck "Jim" Gordon is an American recording artist, musician and songwriter. The Grammy Award winner was one of the most requested session drummers in the late 1960s and 1970s, recording albums with many well-known musicians of the time, and was the drummer in the blues-rock supergroup Derek...
on drums, including tabla
Tabla
The tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
and backwards snare
Snare drum
The snare drum or side drum is a melodic percussion instrument with strands of snares made of curled metal wire, metal cable, plastic cable, or gut cords stretched across the drumhead, typically the bottom. Pipe and tabor and some military snare drums often have a second set of snares on the bottom...
. Whitlock also sings occasional harmony vocals.
Bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms
Bell-bottoms are trousers that become wider from the knees downward. Related styles include flare, loon pants and boot-cut/leg trousers. Hip-huggers are bell-bottomed, flare, or boot-cut pants that are fitted tightly around the hips and thighs.-Naval origins:Bell-bottoms' precise origins are...
are a style of trousers
Trousers
Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
that were popular at the time. According to Clapton, the song was written for Pattie Boyd
Pattie Boyd
Patricia Anne "Pattie" Boyd is an English model and photographer, and the former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
after she requested him to get her a pair of bell bottom blue jeans from the United States. Clapton wrote the song for her, along with many others on the album such as "I Looked Away" and "Layla". During some tours, he has played the song as part of an acoustic set, such as One More Car, One More Rider
One More Car, One More Rider
One More Car, One More Rider is a double live album by Eric Clapton, released on November 5, 2002 on Warner Bros. Records. The album contains songs performed during Clapton's 2001 world tour. The recordings on this album are from two nights at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, August 18 & 19 of 2001...
. He played the song along with Bobby Whitlock
Bobby Whitlock
Robert Stanley 'Bobby' Whitlock is a songwriter and performer, best known as a member of Derek and the Dominos.- Biography :...
on Later with Jools Holland
Later with Jools Holland
Later... with Jools Holland is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jools Holland. A spin-off of The Late Show, it has been running in short series since 1992 and is a part of BBC Two's late-night line-up, usually at around 11pm to 12 midnight...
in April 2000.
The lyrics describe a lovers' quarrel. Bill Janovitz
Bill Janovitz
Bill Janovitz is best known as the singer and guitarist of the alternative rock band Buffalo Tom.-History:After enrolling at the University of Massachusetts, Janovitz formed Buffalo Tom with fellow students Chris Colbourn and Tom Maginnis. A friendship with J. Mascis of Dinosaur Jr...
of Allmusic praises both Clapton's guitar playing and his vocal performance on this song, but particularly the latter. He particularly notes the raw anguish in Clapton's voice in the lines:
- Do you want to see me crawl across the floor to you
- Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back
- I'd gladly do it because I don't want to fade away
contrasted with the somber longing expressed in the Clapton's voice for the refrain
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
that immediately follows:
- Bell bottom blues
- You made me cry
- I don't want to lose this feeling
- If I could choose a place to die
- It would be in your arms.
Author Jan Reid also praised Clapton's singing on the song, noting that his phrasing manages to suggest that despite the pain he is feeling, the woman's antics remind him of the "joy of just being alive."
The initial review of the Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs in Rolling Stone Magazine by Ed Leimacher called "Bell Bottom Blues" (as well as "Have You Ever Loved a Woman") filler. However, a later review of the album in Rolling Stone praised the song as an epic that "feels as if it's going to shatter from the heat of its romantic agony." The Rolling Stone Album Guide used the song as an example of how Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs transformed the blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, noting that this song in particular merges the styles of Blind Faith
Blind Faith
Blind Faith were an English blues-rock band that consisted of Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker, Steve Winwood and Ric Grech. The band, which was one of the first "super-groups", released their only album, Blind Faith, in August 1969...
and Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
.
Matthew Sweet
Matthew Sweet
Sidney Matthew Sweet is an American alternative rock/power pop musician. He was part of the burgeoning Athens, Georgia music scene in the early and mid-1980s before gaining commercial success during the early 1990s...
and Susanna Hoffs
Susanna Hoffs
Susanna Lee Hoffs is an American vocalist, guitarist and actress. She is best known as a member of the all-female pop band The Bangles.-Early life:...
covered "Bell Bottom Blues" on their 2009 album Under the Covers, Vol. 2
Under the Covers, Vol. 2
Under the Covers, Vol. 2 is the second collaboration between alternative rock artist Matthew Sweet and Bangles singer Susanna Hoffs. Released by Shout! Factory on July 21, 2009, it contains 16 cover versions of favorite songs from the 1970s....
. Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
borrowed the line "I don't wanna fade away" for his 1980 song "Fade Away
Fade Away (song)
"Fade Away" is a 1980 song written and performed by Bruce Springsteen, accompanied by the E Street Band. It was contained on his album The River, and the second single released from it in the United States.-History:...
" from "Bell Bottom Blues."