Don’t Miss This: Clapton’s Layla is now a Sanskrit Shloka

Layla becomes Leele; the rock song gets a Sanskrit remaster.

In a celebration of Sanskrit and its shlokas, a few musicians got together to rejig Eric Clapton’s acoustic version of Layla – calling it लीले (Leele).

Layla features high in rock music’s hall of fame. The song is said to be inspired by The Story of Layla and Majnun, a copy of which was gifted to Clapton. Its story of unrequited love – of a man who goes crazy because he cannot marry the woman he loves, moved Clapton, according to his autobiography. The song is also inspired by Clapton’s own obsession with Pattie Boyd, wife of close friend George Harrison.