THE CHIFFONS
The Chiffons were an all-girl group originating from the Bronx area of New York in 1960. The Chiffons were one of the top girl groups of the early 1960s. With their trademark tight harmonies, high-stepping confidence, and the hit machine of Goffin and King writing songs such as “One Fine Day”, the Chiffons made music that helped define the girl-group sound of the era. (More from Wikipedia)
The most famous lawsuit that I know of in the rock world involves “My Sweet Lord”, a hit single from George Harrison’s 1970 double-album All Things Must Pass that became the best-selling single in Great Britain in 1971. Bright Tunes Music Corporation – which owns the rights to the Ronnie Mack song, “He’s So Fine”, a major hit for the Chiffons in 1963 – filed suit in February 1971, saying that “My Sweet Lord” plagiarized that song. (If the name doesn’t immediately ring a bell, that’s the song with the background vocals “doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang”). The lawsuit didn’t go to trial for another five years, and the judge ruled that George Harrison had “subconsciously” plagiarized the earlier Chiffons song. (For what it’s worth, the resemblance between “My Sweet Lord” and “He’s So Fine” is much clearer to these ears than is the case with “I Must Run” by Phil and the Frantics and “I Must Move” by the Zombies).
The Chiffons released their own cover of “My Sweet Lord” in 1975 in an attempt to benefit from the controversy.
(August 2012)
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The hit song from the George Harrison triple album All Things Must Pass is “My Sweet Lord”; it was the first #1 hit by an ex-Beatle and was also the biggest selling single in the UK in 1971. The song was addressed to the Hindu God Krishna, though American audiences at least could be forgiven for feeling that Harrison was singing to Jesus. The thrust of the song was calling for an end to sectarianism through the mixing of background chants of “Hare Krishna” with “Hallelujah”. While George Harrison said that the melody was adapted from a Christian hymn “Oh Happy Day” (whose copyright had expired), a court case brought by the writer of a song by the Chiffons called “He’s So Fine” found otherwise. I have written in more detail of this court case previously.
(September 2014)
