My Sweet Lord

Highly Appreciated

MY SWEET LORD

 
“My Sweet Lord”  is a song by English musician and former Beatle George Harrison, released in November 1970 on his triple album All Things Must Pass.  Also issued as a single, Harrison’s first as a solo artist, “My Sweet Lord” topped charts worldwide and was the biggest-selling single of 1971 in the UK.  In America and Britain, the song was the first number 1 single by an ex-Beatle.  Harrison originally gave the song to his fellow Apple Records artist Billy Preston to record; this version, which Harrison co-produced, appeared on Preston’s Encouraging Words album in September 1970.  Harrison wrote “My Sweet Lord” in praise of the Hindu god Krishna, while at the same time intending the lyrics to serve as a call to abandon religious sectarianism through his deliberate blending of the Hebrew word “Hallelujah” with chants of “Hare Krishna” and Vedic prayer.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
 
 
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)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021