With Derek & the Dominos

Since I started playing guitar when I was fifteen, learning to play and sing songs I love has been a big part of my life. I don’t always feel like playing a tune just because I like it. But some tunes haunt me so much that I have to learn to play them no matter how difficult they are.

Song after a Poem

Eric Clapton’s “I Am Yours” is one of those songs. The Persian poet Nizami’s poem below inspired Clapton to write this song to express his love for Pattie Boyd who was married to George Harrison at the time.

I am yours.
However distant you may be,
There blows no wind but wafts your scent to me,
There sings no bird but calls your name to me.
Each memory that has left its trace with me
Lingers forever as a part of me.

I am yours.

Nizami

Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs

The first time I heard this song on “Layla & Other Assorted Love Songs,” I was immediately drawn to it because it evoked my strong longing for a man I secretly loved while married to my first husband.

Eric Clapton recorded this song as a member of Derek & the Dominos with Duane Allman on slide guitar.  

Rumba meets Raga

Along with the Indian raga-like rhythmic structure played by Jim Gordon, Eric’s vocals and non-diatonic chord progression in C major give the song a Rumba feel. The tune floats in an otherworldly realm thanks to Bobby Whitlock’s church organ-like keyboard.

Rumba meets Raga with the romantic and hauntingly beautiful melodies played by 23-year-old Duane Allman. 

Hitting YouTube to learn more about Allman’s solo

For a better understanding of Duane’s solo, I turned to a YouTube video, Duane Allman – Part 3 – I Am Yours, uploaded by VirtualWoodshed.  

In his notes, he succinctly describes the musical complexity of this tune as follows:

For the next installment in our continuing series on the late Duane Allman, we’re going to step away from the blues for a moment to focus on Duane’s melodic sensibilities.  By September of 1970, Duane Allman was a seasoned studio ace having played on dozens of sides by a diverse roster of artists. A quick listen to most of his work up ’til that point reveals Duane’s familiarity with the blues and his ability to cut loose over minor key vamps. 

But when Eric Clapton asked the 23-year-old Allman to sit in with his new band Derek and the Dominos, Duane would be faced with learning some of the most challenging material he had ever played. “I Am Yours” is a haunting up-tempo rhumba ballad that, with the exception of the Robert Johnson intro lick, is well outside the 12-bar blues idiom.  Despite not being able to draw from his usual arsenal of licks, Duane called on his experience as a session player and rose to the occasion with one of the most brilliant performances of his career.  

Though the song resolves to C major, the melody is in A minor.  This presented a unique challenge to Duane who preferred to play slide in open E tuning (low to high E-B-E-G#-B-E.)  Given the jazz-like chord structure of this piece, I think it’s likely that Duane probably sat down and deliberately composed a part that he felt would work over the song. Note the ascending line that follows the melody perfectly and answers the lyrics with a breathtaking response on the high E and B strings.  In fact, much of Duane’s part is played in the very highest register of the guitar which is extremely challenging to do with a slide; even the most subtle movements can cause the notes to go wildly sharp or flat.  

Duane’s uncanny delicacy and expressiveness when playing in this register are on display throughout.  But what I find most amazing is the note selection.  Though a decidedly non-blues composition, the lead guitar is instantly recognizable as Duane Allman by his accent of chord tones.  This is especially evident on the non-diatonic 2 chord (D major) and the turnaround chords of the song (Bmin7b5 to E7.)  Combine all this with Duane’s vocal-like tone and you’ve got a slide guitar piece for the ages. 

VirtualWoodshed

Influence of Jazz on Duane

As mentioned in the quote above, this tune has a unique chord structure, unlike typical Rock or Blues tunes.

In the movie “Song of the South,” I learned that Allman was influenced by jazz musicians like Miles Davis and John Coltrane, which explains why he can write solos like this for a complex tune like “I Am Yours.”

Challenges

Playing to this uniquely staggered Raga-Rumba rhythm by myself is somewhat challenging, though with practice I will pick up the part. 

There’s also a challenging vocal part since it’s sung in close harmony by Clapton and Whitlock in a key that’s quite out of my range. Still, I’d hate to transpose and ruin the feel of the tune. So I hope to find a guitarist and vocalist who will sing and play this song with me one day.

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