Better love song: "Something" or "Layla"?

Well, I once listed the 100 greatest Rock songs of all time or something (on that day anyway) on MAR because I was bored af and Layla would never miss on any day and Something would never make it and of course that's our offical list on MAR .......the reason for that, aside from personal taste - is Layla is one of few works of music like The Stones best work - 68-72, and Astral Weeks (I know, you're not a fan of that one) - that reimagines a whole idiom of music without remotely sounding at all like that idiom (the Blues).......

For as much as Rock and Roll uses the Blues - other than say - Slim Slow Slider or Sympathy for the Devil and Layla - and a few others - it actually delivered very few "new versions of the Blues" .....there is not much music that evokes the Blues without copying Blues stylistic devices ......

Layla is a harrowing song that is connected to something far older and primal and frightening - there's a lot going on in that song ........the title alone is rooted in somethng ancient, the "howling" or sweeping parts of it suggest things in older Blues songs but without copying it, Clapton a great guitarist certainly - but never a particularly great singer, much less a Blues singer - sounds anguished......it's a remarkable song, you can actually use to understand a whole genre of other music


Side note: That song also of course - and I think I wrote about this once too (?) - gave mopey dudes so much false hope that the girl they want will eventually come around to loving them - now sure, creating Layla isn't the same as that goofy-ass mix tape or bouquet of flowers you bought for that girl from Math class who won't give you the time of day, but still........the whole "Layla story" is kind of amazing / horrible /wtf-ish

8 votes currently, but no more comments? So far this thread is a Layla lovefest, but here are some things that are great about Something:

- George’s guitar solo is God-tier without being flashy, just wonderfully melodic and precisely phrased with a discernible arc to it.

- Paul’s bass sounds so fucking good, and the bass line itself is also incredibly melodic without drawing too much attention to itself. Instead it just perfectly complements everything around it and adds energy to the song’s verses.

- Features one of my favorite key changes in a song ever in the transition to the song’s bridge, where the main guitar hook overshoots its last note, giving the song a chill-inducing “lift” (at 1:11).

This comparison reminds me of Taylor Swift saying one time that she was so jealous of Pattie Boyd having guys write songs for her like this all the time. The benefits of dating guys with actual songwriting talent, i.e, not Calvin Harris or Harry Styles.

Anyway, Something is one of the greatest songs of all time, although as pacinoyes noted I would not really call it "rock". I'd sooner compare to a great American songbook love song than a power ballad.

To be honest, the piano solo in Layla is gorgeous but other than that it just sounds like standard FM radio classic rock to me which is not what I'm interested in.

Funny, Taylor Swift kind of looks a little like a young Pattie Boyd (to me at least) 

I was once listening to "Something" while tipsy and it legit drew tears out of me with its beauty and simplicity which cuts right to the core of how wonderful love can be.

When I hear "Layla" all I see is dead guys in a garbage truck

Both songs are great but "Something" is just something else.

Hm, that’s interesting, I’ve never had an issue with the song’s balance regarding its contrasting sections, though I guess I can see how someone might feel that way if they just find one half to be significantly better than the other in a way that makes it seem jarring. I love both parts, though like I said in my OP, I do prefer the second half. But the issue of balance doesn’t really enter into how I respond to the song because for me it’s more about the song’s cumulative effect - the way it starts as one thing, transforms, and ends as something quite different in terms of how it sounds, but not completely separate in what it’s expressing (like how movies sometimes unfold).

I don’t see the piano exit as supplanting all that came before, but rather complementing it by adding another emotional dimension to what’s being expressed, resulting in two related but distinct sides of Clapton’s romantic obsession - the anguished, desperate, and pleading side, but also the joyously, deliriously infatuated (and, crucially, wordless) side tinged with heartache and melancholy.

I would say also the balance of Layla is much in keeping with "the modern day Blues" inherent in the songs creation.......ie it's Blues because it's reflective and not immediate.......which is a characteristic of Rock (or Pop)

Layla starts with the title which goes back centuries.....it name drops Robert Johnson's great Blues song Love in Vain which goes back decades.......the ending to Layla is not meant to fit our idea of a Pop song but something else - see what I did there (ahem)

Clapton is saying my love for you started before I ever met you and it will go on after I'm dead, it isn't current - it's eternal......it's poetic really.....by comparison Something is just a Pop song about some dame............j /k

I'd actually say that 2023's very best song Lankum's - Go Dig My Grave - like Layla, a masterpiece - uses the same conceit of length.......by going on and on Layla becomes more harrowing while seemingly "just pretty" in ways it couldn't at just 3 or 4 minutes.......the change and length becomes integral to the songs overall purpose .....