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 most famous lawsuit that I know of in the rock world involves “My Sweet Lord”, a hit single from George Harrison’s 1970 triple-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).
At that point, the case took a bizarre twist: The hearing to determine damages in the case was delayed for another five years (to the month, as with the original delay in the lawsuit); but by then, George Harrison’s one-time manager Allen B. Klein had purchased Bright Tunes, so he was now the plaintiff. Klein arranged a settlement whereby Harrison himself would purchase the Bright Tunes company for the same price that Klein had paid – $587,000 – and that would be the end of it. Although litigation would continue for more than 10 additional years, this decision was eventually upheld.
George Harrison released the fairly bitter “This Song” about his experience during the lawsuit; it became a minor hit as the first single from his 1976 album Thirty-Three and a 1/3. 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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Items: My Sweet Lord
