[Slowhand] Wonderful Tonight / Farm or at Home

[Shanahan]

>Saw EC on a BBC4 special last night about Ronnie Lane, who was in The Faces

>with Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood. The ARMS show was a benefit for MS, which

>Ronnie Lane suffered from. Anyway, it was an interesting show, but one

thing

>that EC said has confused me. Part of the show was about a farm that RL had

>and how all his mates (including EC) would hang out there and play. EC said

>that he wrote Wonderful Tonight there with RL. I always thought that EC

>wrote that song at home while waiting for Pattie to get ready.

>




I'm well aware of both these versions, and completely agree with DelatNick
on Eric's inconsistent stories over the years.  However on this occasion
they are both partly correct.

I remember reading an article in an obscure film magazine many years ago
regarding Howard Hawks stating that he could make a successful movie from
Hemmingway's least memorable offering, namely 'To Have And Have Not' (a
1940s Bogart/Bacall movie).  Well, he succeeded and the movie was a huge
hit.  The story then went off on a slight tangent relating similar
circumstances in other fields; sport, politics and music.

Now it has been more than 15 years since I read this and I forget most of
the other info, but the crux of the music section was this:

Eric, Ronnie, Pete Townshend and Glyn Johns were at Ronnie's farm for one of
the usual drinking nights (this was when Eric and Ronnie 'plonk' Lane were
seriously into drinking).  There had been talk about filler album tracks and
below-par material released by the record companies.  The upshot of all this
was  Eric making a drunken boast that he could write some trite and syrupy
lyrics with a simple melody, and it would not only pass for album material,
but he could probably get away playing it for at least two tours.

Eric writing the song while Pattie was getting ready probably did happen in
their home.

So as much as us disliking WT being played infinitum, it probably irks Eric
ten fold to have to keep playing such a crowd favourite, considering its
rather ignominious beginning.

Tone




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