But it led him into long days of solitary contemplation that left Pattie feeling much ignored. Apparently he found it a good substitute for drugs. George certainly had Pattie at his side when he started on his ‘journey’ into Transcendental Meditation, though it is not true that she initiated it. Still we get a lot of insights into these two undoubtedly talented husbands, each of whom claimed that his greatest song-hit was inspired by Pattie (though I can’t help wondering if one or two other girls might have been told the same). And when George takes his turn at starting a Hare Krishna branch in his mansion, they are found to be worthless groupies and sinister hangers-on. The Maharishi’s ashram on the Indus appears to promise a new start to humanity, until the leader’s cynical materialism is unmasked. Something similar happens when they launch Apple, supposedly to encourage young musicians, but again the office just fills up with dropouts. They visit Haight-Ashbury, hippie capital of California, beacon of the future, but find it just attracts no-hopers and dirty needles. We see a pattern repeating over and over.
This is symptomatic of the general rock scene of the 60’s, of which she was such a central part. And she regrets marrying Eric Clapton for all the intensity of the relationship.īoth husbands were into addiction, with its dark shadow over married life. With hindsight, she says that if she had the time again, she would have stayed with George and made a go of it. Pattie identifies George as the gentle but moody husband, and Eric as the whirlwind, turning easily to thunder. Ideally these would belong in anthologies - the big album of their life and times, rather than her own memoir. About half the book is girlie-gossip that Penny should have edited-out ruthlessly, leaving just two sections, one on each marriage, to George Harrison and Eric Clapton. As with so many autobiographies, the opening section on ancestry, birth and early schooling adds nothing to our understanding of the subject, except that she grew up in a dysfunctional family. These memoirs in their standard form - what I call sequential-diary format - could only be of interest to her inner circle.
But royal biographers are not programmed to question assumptions, and Penny Junor would be the last person to think round corners in this way. It is not immediately clear why Pattie Boyd should have needed a co-author for her memoirs, except as a creative consultant, to point out that memoirs, as such, might be the wrong medium to celebrate her place in history.
0 kommentar(er)
