"Wonderful Tonight" Through a Biographical Lens

Throughout the mid-twentieth century, the Beatles and Eric Clapton wrote and performed music that has had a profound impact on radio listeners and the music industry for decades. Being young starlets in Rock ‘n’ Roll’s infancy, the Beatles’ George Harrison and Cream’s Eric Clapton used their fame and talent in the name of British Romanticism to seduce women and fans of their music. However, when the fog of the thousands of easily accessible women was lifted, both Clapton and Harrison fell in love - and fate struck a major emotional rather than musical chord when Harrison and Clapton fell for the same woman, Pattie Boyd. A young model, who met Harrison by chance and entranced Clapton via his close friendship with Harrison – Boyd found herself in the midst of one of the most famous love triangles of the 20th century. Boyd’s autobiography Wonderful Tonight is her personal account of her marriage to Harrison, and then to Clapton – and the turmoil that ensued from two famous rock stars, who happened to also be close friends, falling for her. Boyd’s professional background as a fashion model is apparent in her writing – as her self-involved career based on physical beauty and vanity may have been the main source of powerful bias in her account of the three-way relationship between herself, Harrison, and Clapton.

The term ‘narcissism’ is derived from mythology; Narcissus being so enamored by the beauty of his own reflection, he is unable to shake his gaze. This is used modernly to describe someone who is self-involved, with an overwhelming concern with physical appearance and others’ perceptions of such. (Freud, 1957) Clinically, it was first used in 1898 by Havelock Ellis, to refer to one who has “a tendency for the sexual emotions to be lost and almost entirely absorbed in self-admiration” (Ellis, 1898) Or, when a person has a sexual preoccupation with themselves, leading to self-obsessive behaviors or mentalities. (Raskin & Terry) These behaviors can manifest themselves as feelings of entitlement and privilege in relationships, thoughts of omnipotence, and a suspicious and jealous nature. (Twenge, 2009) Those who are deemed as being narcissistic generally are attention-seeking by nature, generally acting in ways to manipulate situations to be the focus or center of attention; which is easily achievable, as they are typically charming by nature and prone to attracting people. Never being able to pass up the opportunity to ‘mount the podium’ to divulge personal information, or to revel in compulsively engage in extroverted activities that gain attention. Narcissists are likely to dabble in artistic or show business professions that involve an audience – such as comedy, music or fashion modeling. (Meyer, 2007) Sexually, narcissists seek out constant reassurance from the opposite sex for personal validation, and have promiscuous tendencies. (Raskin & Terry) Given the aforementioned clinical information regarding narcissism, and how its symptoms in individuals can manifest – there is no formal diagnosis to base the theory that Pattie Boyd is indeed narcissistic, but the underlying tones and general storyline of her autobiography, Wonderful Tonight show a definite amount of self-involved bias in her accounts.

Standing in at a statuesque 5’7”, there is little debate about how physically beautiful Pattie Boyd was, as a young model in the 1960’s. She begins her autobiographical novel with an account of her early life and childhood, and how her modeling career began. Born in Somerset in 1944, Boyd’s parents divorced in 1952. She was schooled at the St. Michael Covent Boarding School and moved to London, England in 1962 where she worked in a hair salon doing back-bar work, and stylist assisting. From a young age, Boyd’s striking physical appearance was noticed. Her job in the beauty industry made this even more noticeable, working in an environment where women were paying money to achieve physical beauty she asserted in her novel as already possessing to a such an extreme degree that a client at the hair salon suggested that she try her hand at fashion modeling. (Boyd, 2008) The undeniability of Boyd’s physical attractiveness does not make this hard to imagine – that a stranger would make the suggestion of using her physical beauty as a career. What likens this scenario as recounted by Boyd in Wonderful Tonight to narcissistic tendencies, is the implementation of the suggestion. By heeding the advice of the client, and holding herself to such a standard of beauty that she believed was true enough to turn into a career; Boyd was using others’ perceptions of her as validation of her own self-centered vision of herself; shown through her pursuit of a modeling career.

In Wonderful Tonight, Boyd tells of her chance meeting with George Harrison and their lightning speed courtship and love story. On the surface, the story seems to be that of a fairytale. A chance meeting of a young rock star, and a beautiful girl – and from there the rest is of Hans Christian Anderson material. However, to take a closer look at the underlying circumstances surrounding their meeting and love affair, Boyd’s account becomes a more biased story of self-centered tendencies, manifesting itself through sexual validation. In 1964, Boyd was cast in the Beatle’s movie Hard Day’s Night, as a schoolgirl extra. Her modeling career was established at this point in time, and she was seriously dating – and in her own words was “semi-engaged” to photographer Eric Swayne. (Boyd, 2008) When she met Harrison, there was an instant sexual attraction for both parties. Because of her previous engagement, Boyd was unable to pursue any romantic proposals from Harrison. The sexual attraction, and social standing that George Harrison possessed, as a member of the biggest rock group in the world – was enough initiative for Boyd to break off the relationship with Swayne, and pursue romantic relations with Harrison. The behaviors exhibited through Boyd’s writings in this case also can be likened to those of narcissism. The promiscuity, jumping immediately from one serious relationship to the next, and seeking sexual validation are all signs of a narcissistic personality; as cited by the effortless transition Boyd also made from the marriage to Harrison to his good friend, Clapton.

There may not be a direct correlation between fashion models and being afflicted by narcissism as with athletes and narcissism – but in Pattie Boyd’s case, her self-centered tendencies manifested themselves throughout her novel and her life. Her modeling career, and how it was started, and the promiscuity and opposite sex validation, are all signs of narcissism. While the love triangle of Boyd, Harrison, and Clapton may be a riveting story – as told by the woman who self-describes herself as a “muse”, it may be a little one-sided.

References

Raskin, R., & Terry, H. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://rc.vc/files/docs/psychology/raskin.pdf

Meyer, B. (2007). Happiness and despair on the catwalk: Need satisfaction, well-being, and personality adjustment among fashion models. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 2(1), 2-17. Retrieved from http://www.academia.edu/260998/Happiness_and_despair_on_the_catwalk_Need_satisfa ction_well-being_and_personality_adjustment_among_fashion_models

Twenge, J. (2009). The narcissism epidemic living in the age of entitlement. Simon and Schuster.

Boyd, P. (2008). Wonderful tonight: George Harrison, Eric Clapton, and me. Third Rivers Press.

Freud, S. (1957). On narcissism: An introduction. In The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIV (1914-1916): On the History of the Psycho-Analytic Movement, Papers on Metapsychology and Other Works (pp. 67-102).