The 1971 Derek And The Dominos song is officially listed as having been written by Clapton and Jim Gordon, her then-boyfriend. She argues that she and Gordon had written a track called Time (Don't Get In Our Way) the previous year, then played it to Slowhand.

Coolidge says in her memoir Delta Lady (via the Miami Herald): "We played the song for Eric Clapton in England. I remember sitting at the piano in Olympic Studios while Eric listened to me play it. Jim and I left a cassette of the demo, hoping of course that he might cover it."

She "largely forgot about it" after that - until she heard Layla after she and Gordon had split up. "I was infuriated," she remembers.