SuthernJammin

<p>This song was released in 1977.</p><p><br></p><p>This jaunty tune is one of Clapton's biggest American hits. He wrote it in the style of one of his favorite songwriters, the Oklahoma musician J.J. Cale (Clapton said the song was "as close as an Englishman could get to being J.J. Cale). The B-side of the single was Clapton's cover of Cale's song "Cocaine."</p><p><br></p><p>In this song, Clapton tries to convince a girl to hang out with him in bed instead of leaving. The song is not typical of Clapton's work, which is often based on the blues.</p><p><br></p><p>Marcy Levy, one of Clapton's backup singers, wrote this with him and sang on it. She toured with Bob Seger before joining Clapton's band in 1973. In 1988, Levy, using the name Marcella Detroit, joined former Bananarama singer Siobhan Fahey to form Shakespears Sister; their song "Stay" was #1 in the UK for eight weeks in 1992.</p><p><br></p><p>Also getting a songwriting credit on this track is George Terry, who also played guitar on the track. Terry was a member of Clapton's band.</p><p><br></p><p>"Lay Down Sally" is grammatically incorrect, as it would mean taking Sally and actually placing her horizontally. When asking Sally to join him in bed, Clapton's correct grammar would be "Lie Down Sally." He's in good company: Bob Dylan also ignored this rule of grammar in "Lay Lady Lay."</p>