Remember When: George Harrison Was Found Guilty of “Subconsciously” Plagiarizing His ‘All Things Must Pass’ Hit “My Sweet Lord”

Shortly after the Beatles parted ways in 1970, George Harrison was already well into his third album, a nostalgic retreat into past influences and a new beginning as a solo artist. Harrison’s triple album All Things Must Pass was his first album since the Beatles’ split and became the most successful solo release by a member of the band at the time, going to No. 1 worldwide, including in the UK and on the Billboard 200.

The first single from All Things Must Pass, “My Sweet Lord,” released with the B-Side, and another hit for Harrison, “What Is Life,” met a similar fate, topping the charts and giving Harrison his first No. 1 single as a solo artist. Despite the success of the track, it wouldn’t be long before Harrison found himself in a legal battle over the song and was accused of plagiarizing a 1960s hit.

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Months after the release of “My Sweet Lord,” Bright Tunes Music sued Harrison in 1971, claiming that the song infringed the copyright of the Ronnie Mack-penned “He’s So Fine,” which became a hit for the girl group the Chiffons in 1963.

The lawsuit claimed that “My Sweet Lord” sounded too similar to the Chiffons’ hit and that he “subconsciously plagiarized” the song for his own. Harrison’s former Beatles bandmate John Lennon even concurred that “My Sweet Lord” was lifted from “He’s So Fine.”

In All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Lennon said “Well, he [Harrison] walked right into it. He knew what he was doing.” He must have known, you know, he’s smarter than that.”

Harrison said that he never “consciously” referred to the Chiffons hit but instead used the Christian hymn “Oh Happy Day,” performed by the Edwin Hawkins Singers, as inspiration for “My Sweet Lord.”

Initially, the case was settled on August 31, 1976, and concluded that Harrison didn’t deliberately copy “He’s So Fine” for My Sweet Lord” and was found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism.” The case became more messy by February 1981 when former Beatles manager Allen Klein—who Harrison, Lennon, and Ringo Starr severed ties with in 1973—was now a plaintiff in the case after purchasing Bright Tunes Music under his company ABKCO Music and Records in 1978.

Litigation continued for another decade when Harrison was ordered to pay ABKCO $587,000. The settlement also gave Harrison the rights to “He’s So Fine,” in North America and the UK; Klein retained the rights to the song everywhere else.

Musical Mantras

“My Sweet Lord” was a deeply personal song for Harrison encompassing his Eastern studies, while incorporating the Catholic call of allegiance, “Hallelujah,” and the Hindu mantra “Hare Krishna,” which Harrison considered similar to one another.

“First, it’s simple,” said Harrison in the 2011 documentary The Material World. “The thing about a mantra, you see, mantras are, well, they call it a mystical sound vibration encased in a syllable. It has this power within it. It’s just hypnotic.”

My sweet Lord

My Lord

Mmm, my Lord

I really want to see you

Really want to be with you

Really want to see you, Lord

But it takes so long, my Lord

My sweet Lord

My Lord

My Lord

I really want to know you

Really want to go with you

Really want to show you, Lord

But it won’t take long, my Lord (Hallelujah)

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Before releasing “My Sweet Lord,” Harrison gave it to Apple Records artist Billy Preston to record on his 1970 album Encouraging Words, which the former Beatle also co-produced.

In the years and decades following its release, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis, Peggy Lee, Julio Iglesias, Brian Wilson, Richie Havens, Boy George, and more have covered “My Sweet Lord.” The Chiffons also released their rendition of the song during the litigations in 1975.

“I don’t feel bad or guilty about it”

Harrison performed “My Sweet Lord” at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, and continued making four more albums during the early period of the litigations—Living in the Material World (1973), Dark Horse (1974), Extra Texture (Read All About It) (1975), and Thirty Three & 1/3 (1976).

Despite the legal ramifications around “My Sweet Lord,” which put a strain on Harrison, who took some time between Thirty Three & 1/3 and his self-titled release three years later, the song remains one of the most popular solo recordings by a member of the Beatles and is one Harrison never regretted writing.

“I don’t feel bad or guilty about it,” said Harison of “My Sweet Lord” in his 1980 memoir I Me Mine. “I wasn’t consciously aware of the similarity to ‘He’s So Fine.’ When I wrote the song it was more improvised and not fixed.”

Harrison added, “It saved many a heroin addict’s life. I know the motive behind writing the song in the first place far exceeds the legal hassle.”

Photo: George Harrison performing on stage playing his Fender Stratocaster during his ‘Dark Horse Tour’ in North America. (Steve Morley/Redferns/Getty Images)