I read many books that are collections of songwriter interviews. I enjoy being a “fly on the wall” witnessing a first person discussion about what makes a Songwriter tick. Expanding on that, my guilty pleasure are biographies by those close to a Songwriter where I can get another more, voyeuristic glimpse. It was from one of these books where I found the the spark that would bring this song to life. In Patti Boyd’s autobiography, “Wonderful Tonight” there is a section where she writes...

“One evening when John Hurt, the actor, was with us, Eric was due to come over and George decided to have it out with him. John wanted to make himself scarce but George insisted he stay. He remembers George coming downstairs with two guitars and two amplifiers, laying them down in the hall, then pacing restlessly until Eric arrived - full of brandy, as usual. As Eric walked through the door, George handed him a guitar and amp - as an eighteen-century man might have handed his rival a sword - and for two hours, without a word, they dueled. The air was electric and the music exciting. At the end nothing was said but the general feeling was that Eric had won. He hadn't allowed himself to get riled or to go in for instrumental gymnastics as George had. Even when he was drunk, his guitar-playing was unbeatable”.

....and how could THAT scene NOT produce a song?!?!

Once I had the spark, it only made sense that I build the song around references to the classic songs that were inspired by Patti Boyd, “Wonderful Tonight”, “Something” and “Layla”  being the most obvious.