Product Description

An iconic figure of the 1960s and ’70s, Pattie Boyd breaks a forty-year silence in Wonderful Tonight, and tells the story of how she found herself bound to two of the most addictive, promiscuous musical geniuses of the twentieth century and became the most famous muse in the history of rock and roll.

She met the Beatles in 1964 when she was cast as a schoolgirl in A Hard Day’s Night. Ten days later a smitten George Harrison proposed. For twenty-year-old Pattie Boyd, it was the beginning of an unimaginably rich and complex life as she was welcomed into the Beatles inner circle—a circle that included Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, Jeff Beck, and a veritable who’s who of rock musicians. She describes the dynamics of the group, the friendships, the tensions, the musicmaking, and the weird and wonderful memories she has of Paul and Linda, Cynthia and John, Ringo and Maureen, and especially the years with her husband, George.

It was a sweet, turbulent life, but one that would take an unexpected turn, starting with a simple note that began “dearest l.”

I read it quickly and assumed that it was from some weirdo; I did get fan mail from time to time.... I thought no more about it until that evening when the phone rang. It was Eric [Clapton]. “Did you get my letter?”... And then the penny dropped. “Was that from you?” I said....It was the most passionate letter anyone had ever written me.

For the first time Pattie Boyd, former wife of both George Harrison and Eric Clapton, a high-profile model whose face epitomized the swinging London scene of the 1960s, a woman who inspired Harrison’s song “Something” and Clapton’s anthem “Layla,” has decided to write a book that is rich and raw, funny and heartbreaking—and totally honest and open and breathtaking. Here is the truth, here is what happened, here is the story you’ve been waiting for.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3807 in Books
• Published on: 2007-08-28
• Released on: 2007-08-28
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 336 pages

Amazon.com
A Q&A with Pattie Boyd, Author of Wonderful Tonight

Why are you writing the book now?

I have been asked for the last 15 years to write a book, and it is only now that I feel the time is right. My confidence in myself was restored after two successful exhibitions of my photography, and it occurred to me that I was finally ready to take a look at the unique experiences of my life and to share them--including all the ups and downs.

Tell us about the first time you met George Harrison.

Working as a model, I occasionally went for castings, mainly for television commercials. I went for an interview with one of the directors I had worked with in the past, and he cast me in his first movie, A Hard Day's Night, to play the part of a schoolgirl. When I first saw George on the set, I thought he was the best-looking man I'd ever seen. I was so surprised when he asked me out on a date at the end of my first day of filming.

Tell us about the first time you heard George Harrison's song, "Something."

George said he had written a song for me, and he played it on the guitar at home without the words. Then when I heard the song after it had been recorded I couldn't believe how utterly beautiful it was. It was released on a single in October 1969, and I felt so thrilled and flattered.

Tell us about the first time you heard Eric Clapton's "Layla."

Eric invited me to his band's flat one day and played a rough recording of "Layla" on a cassette recorder. I was sitting on a sofa and he on the floor as it played, and he kept looking up at me for a reaction. I was stunned; the intensity, passion and tenderness came across so strongly--I knew, as he said, it was written for me.

Review
"[T]he appeal of Wonderful Tonight is as self-evident as the seemingly simple but brash opening chord of 'A Hard Day’s Night'… a charming, lively and seductive book, and like all good memoirs it also works as a cultural history… The prose is clear and unpretentious, and although she writes candidly about the pain her husbands ’ infidelities caused her…this isn’t a bitter tell-all. There’s an aura of sweetness around Boyd’s approach."
—New York Times Book Review

“A scrumptious memoir…There is exactly one big question for Ms. Boyd to answer here: What made her leave Mr. Harrison for Mr. Clapton, her husband’s close friend? To its credit the book answers that question plausibly and fully.”
—The New York Times

"They say if you can remember the '60s, you weren't really there. Well, Pattie Boyd was there, and she remembers it all." Wonderful Tonight "is a unique gospel of a turbulent time by someone who was in the very eye of the rock 'n' roll hurricane."
—Sydney Morning Herald

"Pattie Boyd married two Sixties legends and inspired three of the era's greatest love songs, but life was far from glamorous. The ex-wife of George Harrison and Eric Clapton speaks out in this compelling autobiography."
—The London Sunday Times

"There are so many wonderful stories in Pattie Boyd's life: Falling in love with a Beatle. Falling in love with another famous rock star, Eric Clapton, and being serenaded with 'Wonderful Tonight' . . . "But there is much that is excruciating in her life story." Boyd "was taught by her parents that she didn't deserve to be loved; she was told by her husbands that she wasn't worth very much, but here she is: not dead, not on drugs, not an alcoholic, but a survivor."
—London Daily Mail

“Will thrill classic-rock buffs with a taste for scandal.”
—Entertainment Weekly

“Boyd finally answers some of those questions [about George Harrison and Eric Clapton]–but on her own terms.”
—USA Today

“Sixties model Pattie Boyd opens up about her rocky relationships with two of music’s most famed performers.”
—Harper’s Bazaar

About the Author
PATTIE BOYD is an acclaimed photographer whose exhibition Through the Eyes of a Muse recently toured two continents. She lives in West Sussex, England.

Customer Reviews

Not Worth The Wait
I have to agree with many other reviewers. Although I was born in 1965, I became a huge George fan and always envied Pattie's life and looks. It was very interesting to read about her childhood and early modeling career but we want to read about her as a Beatle wife and That Triangle. I was pulling my hair out at her jumping from one year to another. one minute a story is a married story, the next is a premarried story, etc. Unlike the official review, I see no "scandals" that I didn't already know. Sure we read about a few drug stories and a cook's meal or two, but what about any explanation for her leaving George for a very seedy-at-the-time Eric? Pattie was always an enviable muse, but when she talked about trying various drugs like LSD because as she writes "I would try anything!" I lost a lot of respect. She speaks about that in such a flippant way as if she's talking about riding a roller coaster or trying calamari. This woman must have 50,000 pages of unknown Beatle stories, and they don't all have to be sordid or hurtful, and we don't read much of anything. We just wanted a book of new things!
I bought the book as a pre-order last fall, and I am sorry to say I cannot remember much else about it. If people had asked her for fifteen years to write her story, this could not possibly be "it."

Pattie Boring!
This woman is so boring it's incredible! How could someone who has lived such a fascinating life write such a horrible book? Her time lines are completely screwed up. Her misery about not being able to conceive is a bore. Some people weren't meant to have children! Her whining and complaining in general is laughable. If you're looking for a book that makes you dislike Harrison and Clapton, this is the book for you! More then that, if you want to HATE Pattie Boyd and all her vapid whining nothingness, buy this book!

Great Perspective, Written Well Enough
This book is written in a plain and understandable way. Not massively insightful but her perspective makes it very meaningful as 60s rock history. Pattie names names like few others so you can launch lots of research from her work. Being a woman's account, she tends to focus on ambience such as the food, the fashions, the wallpaper, the furniture, etc. Her memories benefit from having a diary but her depictions of John, Paul & Ringo as individuals are not very sharp. For instance, John Lennon is hardly mentioned in this book.