Layla is a song written by Eric Clapton and Jim Gordon, originally recorded by Derek and the Dominos on their only studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs (1970). Its contrasting movements were reportedly composed separately by Clapton and Gordon. 

The song was inspired by a love story that originated in 7th-century Arabia and later formed the basis of The Story of Layla and Majnun by the 12th-century Persian poet Nizami Ganjavi. The book moved Clapton profoundly, because it was the tale of a young man who fell hopelessly in love with a beautiful young girl, went crazy and so could not marry her. The song was further inspired by Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Boyd, the wife of his friend and fellow musician George Harrison of the Beatles.

This cover was recorded by Quartus in his Stanford studio during July 2021.

Layla

I was privileged to be a teenager during the seventies, a time in history when the best music was written, recorded and performed by the best musicians on the planet. Bands such as Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones, Queen, Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, Fleetwood Mac and Pink Floyd, to name but a few, were ruling the record stores and airwaves. And, oh boy, there was a lot of them and I ate it all up! I had an insatiable appetite for it all. Apart from being a qualified geologist during my working career, the subject matter I had the most knowledge about have always, and will always be, seventies music. I never learned it, I lived it.

I grew up in South Africa, a very conservative society at the time, and where music, amongst other things, was strictly censored. However, if ever you want to risk waving a red flag in front of a bull, you just have to tell a teenager not to do this or listen to that. Amongst these banned songs were Spanish Train by Chris De Burg and Sugarman by an unknown artist called Jesus (Sixto) Rodrigues - or something; nobody was sure but we were going to listen to it.

My generation was part of what happened to Rodrigues and his music in South Africa during the late seventies and is the stuff legends are made off. The full story was beautifully portrayed in the 2012 documentary film Searching for Sugarman, written and directed by Malik Bendjelloul.

The collection of Rodrigues songs I have recorded here will never compete with the originals by Sixto, neither was it the intention. I am retired now and have the time to indulge in doing the things I like to do. This is just my way to, and in my own style, re-kindle a past when music was great, but mostly to pay homage to one of the greatest song writers of our time. 
-	Quartus Snyman
        September 2023

Sounds of Sugarman

I Wonder

Hate Street Dialogue

Rich Folks Hoax

Like Janis

Inner City Blues

I Think of You

Crucify Your Mind

Hoekom was written and recorded by Quartus in his Stanford studio on June 19, 2024.

Hoekom

"High Hopes" is a song by English rock band Pink Floyd, composed by guitarist David Gilmour with lyrics by Gilmour and Polly Samson. The song is mostly in the key of C minor, and features the sound of a church bell chiming a 'C' throughout, except for a short section in the middle where the song briefly modulates into E minor for a guitar solo. The lyrics refer to the band's early days in Cambridge, specifically before they started making music. It references landmarks such as "Long Road" and "The Cut", as well as Cambridge as a location for "magnets the miracles". Gilmour has said that the song is more about his early days and leaving his hometown behind than about the seeds of division supposedly planted in Pink Floyd's early days. This version was recorded by Quartus and Lara in October 2025 in their Stanford studio.

High Hopes

"Is There Anybody Out There?" is a song from the eleventh Pink Floyd album, The Wall. It is largely an instrumental, containing few lyrics and mainly consists of a classical guitar solo. David Gilmour has said that he tried to perform it and was not satisfied with the result ("I could play it with a leather pick but couldn't play it properly fingerstyle"). Accordingly, session musician Joe DiBlasi was brought in to record the album part. This version, played with cello and guitar, was arranged and recorded by Quartus and Lara in October 2025 in their Stanford studio.

Is There Anybody Out There

Golden Heart is the title track on the début solo album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 26 March 1996.

Golden Heart

Cover of the haunting Strawbs melody The Winter Long by Quartus. Recorded with Taylor guitars and Beatbuddy drum pedal. The Winter Long was written by Dave Cousins and originally recorded by English band Strawbs on their 1974 album Hero and Heroine.
Cover art by Nadezhda Iliena - The First Snow


The Winter Long

Delta blues composition by Quartus. Recorded using Fender guitars and a Beatbuddy drum pedal. Cover art  “Goodbye Delta Blues” by PK4only.

Delta Melta

"The Actor" is a 1968 song by the progressive rock band, The Moody Blues. Written by band member Justin Hayward, it was first released on their 1968 album In Search of the Lost Chord. "The Actor" is one of Justin Hayward's signature love ballads. The song's lyrics tell the story of a young woman who falls in love with an actor. However, this love is unrequited, since she only sees the actor once when "The Curtain rises". In this cover version Quartus plays all instruments and does all vocals. The mellotron sound, an instrument that was widely used by the Moody Blues,  is reproduced using a MEL9 guitar pedal.

The Actor

"Amsterdam" is a song by Jacques Brel. It combines a powerful melancholic crescendo with a rich poetic account of the exploits of sailors on shore leave in Amsterdam.

Brel worked on the song at his house overlooking the Mediterranean at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, the house he shared with Sylvie Rivet, a publicist for Philips; a place she had introduced him to in 1960. "It was the ideal place for him to create, and to indulge his passion for boats and planes. One morning at six o'clock he read the words of Amsterdam to Fernand, a restaurateur who was about to set off fishing for scorpion fish and conger eels for the bouillabaisse. Overcome, Fernand broke out in sobs and cut open some sea urchins to help control his emotion.

This version was recorded by Quartus- (vocals and guitar) and Lara (accordion and cello).

Port Of Amsterdam

Speedway at Nazareth written by Mark Knopfler is recorded here by Quartus (all guitars and vocals) and Mia (violin). Drums done with BeatBuddy pedal.

Speedway At Nazareth

The Wind
"The Wind" is a song written and performed by English singer-songwriter Cat Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) on his 1971 album Teaser and the Firecat. In this song, Stevens examines spirituality and fate. His philosophical quest led him to convert to Islam in 1977.
This rendition was recorded by Quartus in June 2018.
Quartus: Guitar and vocals
Cover art: Modern sculpture titled "Love Alone" by George Holloway on the Hermanus cliffs in South Africa

The Wind

"In the Pines", also known as "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?" and "My Girl", is a traditional American folk song originating from two songs, "In the Pines" and "The Longest Train", both of whose authorship is unknown and date back to at least the 1870s. The songs originated in the Southern Appalachian area of the United States in the contiguous areas of Eastern Tennessee and Kentucky, Western North Carolina and Northern Georgia.[1][2] 

Versions of the song have been recorded by many artists in numerous genres, but it is most often associated with American bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and American blues musician Lead Belly, both of whom recorded very different versions of the song in the 1940s and 1950s.
 
This cover was recorded by Quartus in his Stanford studio during May 2020.

Where Did You Sleep Last Night

"Landslide" is a song written by Stevie Nicks and performed by British-American music group Fleetwood Mac in 1975. Nicks says she wrote this song while contemplating going back to school or continuing on professionally with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. She wrote the song while visiting Aspen, Colorado, sitting in someone's living room "looking out at the Rocky Mountains pondering the avalanche of everything that had come crashing down on us ... at that moment, my life truly felt like a landslide in many ways.

This cover was recorded by Lara (vocals) and Quartus (Guitar) in August 2020 at their studio in Stanford, Western Cape.

Cover photo by Izak van der Walt.

Quartus

Popular tracks