Talk:Bell Bottom Blues (Derek and the Dominos song)

Single release
Anyone know anything about BBB's release as a single? I haven't been able to find anything except this page, which includes a picture of a Bell Bottom Blues/Keep On Growing single. It'd be great if we could use that photo; I'm not sure how the copyright of the cover and the copyright of the photographer work together. The site does have an e-mail address provided, so I may contact him/her to see about it. Deltabeignet 06:19, 11 November 2005 (UTC)
 * I was bold and uploaded it. I'm almost completely sure the cover copyright overrides the photographers copyright. Deltabeignet 06:22, 27 December 2005 (UTC)

I have just made some changes to the formatting of this page. The content is good; I hope I have made some 'visual' improvements, and that what I have done is okay.MJ Digs 11:53, 7 July 2007 (UTC)

Song Background
Eric Clapton explains the history of the song in his autobiography. The current explanation of the song is pretty far off the mark - the song is actually about his unrequited love for Patty Boyd. I'll try and find the specific passage that explains the story behind the song, but yeah, the current history - while an interesting story - isn't true. SeligErasmus 20:39, 19 October 2007 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Bell bottom blues.JPG
Image:Bell bottom blues.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 07:52, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Fair use rationale for Image:Bell bottom blues.JPG
Image:Bell bottom blues.JPG is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to ensure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images lacking such an explanation can be deleted one week after being tagged, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.

BetacommandBot (talk) 23:36, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

Not unrequited love
The song might have been inspired by Clapton's feelings for Patti Boyd, but the lyrics speak of a different relationship. It's about a breakup. The key line: "Do you want to hear me beg you to take me back?"

Roy Croft (talk) 15:46, 9 August 2011 (UTC)

Alternative history
According to Bobby Whitlock he co-wrote the song after Clapton began it in France. Also it was not about Patti Boyd but a non-English speaking temporary girl friend: The band was in France when the inspiration for this song hit. Says Whitlock: "Eric met this girl, she was like a Persian princess or something, and she wore bell bottoms. She was all hung up on him - he gave her a slide that Duane (Allman) had given him and he wrapped it in leather and she wore it around her neck. She didn't speak a word of English and they had to date through an interpreter. That relationship did not last but a week. He started the song over there, then when we got back to England, we finished it up in his TV room in Heartwood Edge."

Whitlock points to a dispute over the credits due to the number of songs he wrote on Layla and other love songs: Whitlock did not get a songwriting credit for this, but has no hard feelings: "That's part of the ego thing. Had I been credited on 'Bell Bottom Blues,' that would have meant I had more songs on the Layla album than Eric. At that time he had a massive ego trip going. In 2000, Eric played with me on a show. We did 'Bell Bottom Blues' and a couple of other songs. We actually played with all the other bands that night; Giants is the DVD that's out of that show. I didn't say anything to anyone about me having written 'Bell Bottom Blues,' I think it's just something everybody knows. They did an interview at the piano and Jools Holland said, "How did you and Eric come about writing 'Bell Bottom Blues?' In front of like 50 million people, I told the story. I said, 'The rest of it, you'll have to ask Eric,' and the camera pans over to Eric and he's shaking his head like I'm absolutely right. Eric wasn't looking after his business back then. He had management to do that. He was playing. It was no business stuff - nobody was into publishing or that whole thing. It was more of an ego trip with that thing." This is from the website:

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=18

Saorlab (talk) 07:11, 24 August 2011 (UTC)Martin Brennan


 * Whitlock's claims are contradicted by the article. Bell-Bottom Blues was recorded before Duane Allman joined the band, and Clapton and Allman met for the first time during the recording of the album, so it can only have been written before Clapton met Allman. The story of Clapton writing it for a girl he had a brief relationship with in France, who he gave a slide Allman had given him, can't possibly be true.


 * The song is officially credited to Clapton alone. Whitlock's claim of having co-written it is just that - a claim - not an established fact (and the site it's quoted from is not a reliable source). I have removed it from the article. --Nicknack009 (talk) 20:58, 15 August 2015 (UTC)


 * Also, here's the interview with Jools Holland. Neither of them say half of what Whitlock claims they said. --Nicknack009 (talk) 21:07, 15 August 2015 (UTC)


 * I've added a brief "songwriting credit" section addressing Whitlock's claim to have co-written the song, stripping it down to what I can justify based on reliable sources. I've removed reference to the Jools Holland interview as per my previous comment. Does anybody have a reliable source saying Clapton has acknowledged Whitlock as co-writer - I've found reference online to Whitlock claiming that, but I think we'd need something actually quoting Clapton to that effect to put that in. Jan Reid's book on the album is cited - perhaps someone with access to the book could check what it says, and we can perhaps expand it based on that? --Nicknack009 (talk) 08:04, 16 August 2015 (UTC)


 * user:Steve Proctor, your reinsertion of the disputed material has the same problem it's always had: it's what Bobby Whitlock says, but as yet we can find no official confirmation. As User:Richhoncho says on the Songs WikiProject, BMI still lists the song as being written by Clapton alone. So until we get a better cite, Whitlock's claims are treated as claims. --Nicknack009 (talk) 14:49, 21 September 2015 (UTC)
 * Just to reiterate what Nicknack009 says, we can't change a songwriting credit based on a claim – even if that claim might be supported by the likes of Eric Clapton in this instance. The issue regarding "Bell Bottom Blues" has come up at Layla, Derek and the Dominos, and Bobby Whitlock of course. Not to take anything away from the fabulous Mr Whitlock – but an official songwriting credit is just that, and there are many examples of a co-writer being subsequently acknowledged yet not officially credited. JG66 (talk) 15:30, 21 September 2015 (UTC)


 * Even the claim that Clapton has acknowledged it only comes, so far, from Whitlock. If we could find a source with Clapton saying so it'd be on a much stronger footing, but so far nobody has. --Nicknack009 (talk) 18:41, 21 September 2015 (UTC)


 * My apologies. I now know to check the talk page before changing Wiki information. I will try to find a satisfactory reference. (Steve Proctor (talk) 20:06, 22 September 2015 (UTC))


 * The BMI website now credits both writers. I think we have reliable confirmation now, and have changed the article accordingly. --Nicknack009 (talk) 17:07, 17 March 2016 (UTC)

Tedeschi Trucks Band should be added to adaptation ?
This song as with many others (eg Keep on Growing) has been adopted by Derek (named after Derek as in Dominos) Trucks and his wife Susan (Born on the day Layla was released) Tedeschi (both as TTB) notably at the London Palladium 6th November 2022. Derek is ex Allman Brothers... I strongly feel there should be a mention of them in the "adaptations" section - especially as their version is F-brilliant... just saying 92.1.65.238 (talk) 20:02, 9 November 2022 (UTC)