'My Sweet Lord' by George Harrison: The making of the ex-Beatles' massive hit

6 June 2025, 13:43

How George Harrison (subconsciously) borrowed a love song from The Chiffons to make something spiritual.

While he always had his fans, it's fair to say that as a singer and songwriter, George Harrison was somewhat overshadowed in The Beatles by Paul McCartney and John Lennon.

Despite writing some of the best songs of the decade, poor George only squeezed 22 songs into the Beatles back catalogue, compared to over 160 by the Lennon-McCartney partnership.

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He made up for that in the immediate aftermath of the split, releasing the TRIPLE album All Things Must Pass in late 1970.

That album was trailed by the single 'My Sweet Lord', which has remained one of the biggest post-Beatles song by any of the band, 55 years after the break-up.

But do you know what track George "subconsciously" borrowed from for the song, or where it got in the charts? Read on for everything you need to know about 'My Sweet Lord'.

Who wrote and played on 'My Sweet Lord'?

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

According to the label on the record, 'My Sweet Lord' was written by George Harrison.

He started writing the song in December 1969 in wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen when he was hanging out with "Fifth Beatles" Billy Preston and Eric Clapton as part of Delaney & Bonnie's European tour.

George was in a spiritual mood, having written 'Hear Me Lord' and co-written 'Sing one for the Lord', as well as producing a Hare Krishna-inspired tracks for the Radha Krishna Temple (London).

Harrison was looking to mashup east and west with a gospel-Krishna tune

Billy Preston helped by bashing out some chords while bandleader Delaney Bramlett offered up some "Oh my Lords" and "Hallelujahs", with George coming up with the words pretty quickly, riffing on the vibe of the Christian hymn 'Oh Happy Day'.

George Harrison - My Sweet Lord

It was produced by Harrison with Phil Spector (who was also co-producing the Plastic Ono Band albums with John Lennon and Yoko Ono).

As well as singing lead and backing vocals, George played guitar and slide guitar on the record, backed by an all-star cast of collaborators.

As was as a clutch of unknown session string players, you had Eric Clapton plus Derek and the Dominoes' Bobby Whitlock, Yes drummer Alan White, Badfinger's Pete Ham and Joey Molland, Peter Frampton, Procul Harum's Gary Brooker.

There was also not just old Beatles associate Klaus Voorman but also actual Beatle Ringo Starr (it's worth noting that both Klaus and Ringo played on Lennon's Plastic Ono Band albums the same year, too).

But back to that writing credit...

What was the plagiarism controversy all about and how did George settle things with The Chiffons?

He's So Fine (Remastered 2000)

When 'My Sweet Lord' started racing up the charts at the start of the 1970s, plenty of people noticed that the melody was a little bit familiar.

The tune bore more than a passing resemblance to 'He's So Fine', a hit for The Chiffons in 1963 written by Ronnie Mack.

Mack died aged just 23 less than a year after 'He's So Fine' was released, but that didn't stop Bright Tunes Music Corporation filing a load of lawsuits against Harrison and some labels on February 10, 1971.

George Harrison on the 'My Sweet Lord' Lawsuit

Complicating things, there were a bunch of concurrent legal wrangling. Namely, Bright Tunes vs Mack's family over royalties, and Allen Klein doing all sorts of Allen Klein things with everyone.

There were plenty of arguments from musicologists back and fort. Jody Miller's cover of 'He's So Fine' that included 'My Sweet Lord'-esque slide guitar probably didn't help George's case.

He's So Fine

But to boil down a very complicated situation to the very end, presiding judge (and occasional classical musician) Richard Owen said:

Did Harrison deliberately use the music of 'He's So Fine'? I do not believe he did so deliberately. Nevertheless, it is clear that 'My Sweet Lord' is the very same song as 'He's So Fine' with different words, and Harrison had access to 'He's So Fine'. This is, under the law, infringement of copyright, and is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished.

Thanks to Allen Klein's shenanigans, the twiddlier bits of the settlement weren't finally settled until 1998.

"I don't feel guilty or bad about it," Harrison later said in his memoir. "I know the motive behind writing the song in the first place and its effect far exceeded the legal hassle."

How did Billy Preston record and release 'My Sweet Lord' before George Harrison?

Billy Preston - My Sweet Lord

As it goes, George Harrison wasn't even the first person to release 'My Sweet Lord'.

When he wrote the song, The Beatles were still (just about) a going concern. Harrison is said to have planned to originally give the song to Edwin Hawkins, before handing it over to pal Billy Preston,.

Billy recorded it with George for his Encouraging Words album in January 1970, which also included the first released version of George's 'All Things Must Pass'.

Billy Preston - My Sweet Lord (Live)

The album wasn't a big hit and Billy's version of 'My Sweet Lord' only scraped into the Billboard Hot 100 at number 90.

Preston and Eric Clapton returned to the song in 2002 when they joined up with George's son Dhani to play the track at the Concert For George a year after the Beatle's death.

What do the lyrics of 'My Sweet Lord' mean?

It was the tune of 'My Sweet Lord' that caused all the controversy. The lyrics had absolutely nothing to do with 'He's So Fine'.

Indeed, years later McCartney noted that it was completely different from the "boy–girl thing" with a strong spiritual message.

"'My Sweet Lord' has got a mantra in there and mantras are – well, they call it a mystical sound vibration encased in the syllable," George said.

"Once I chanted it for like three days non-stop, driving through Europe, and you just get hypnotised."

The song is about stripping down the trappings and forging that direct one-on-one relationship with god, no matter what your religion.

When was 'My Sweet Lord' released and where did it get in the charts?

Billy Preston's version of 'My Sweet Lord' was first available on Encouraging Words on September 11, 1970, with the single following on December 3.

Harrison's version was released first in the US on November 23, 1970. A global release, including the UK, followed when All Things Must Pass was launched just four days later.

A UK single released was a little longer coming, with fan pressure forcing Apple's hand. It came on January 15, 1971.

By then, the song was a number 1 around the world, including the US.

It went on to top the UK chart, too, and wasn't just the first Beatle's solo single to get to number one, but was the biggest selling solo Beatle's single of the 1970s.

It topped the charts again on its re-release in January 2002, two month's after George's tragic passing.

Who has covered 'My Sweet Lord'?

My Sweet Lord

Past the fact that George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord' is technically a cover of Billy Preston's original, the song has been covered by countless artists over the years.

Before we even got to the end of 1972, there were high-profile versions by Johnny Mathis, Andy Williams, Edwin Starr, Peggy Lee, James Last, Tony Christie, Nina Simone and Richie Havens.

After that there were covers by The New Seekers, Julio Iglesias, a cheeky cover by The Chiffons, Dana, Boy George and Clare Maguire.

Brian Wilson (The Beach Boys) - My Sweet Lord Live at George Fest [Official Live Video]

Harrison himself re-recorded the song in 2001 as 'My Sweet Lord (2000)', sharing lead vocals with Sam Brown and featuring his son Dhani on guitar. A demo version of Harrison backed by Klaus Voorman and Ringo Starr emerged a decade later.

A supergroup of Elton John, Sting, James Taylor, Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar played it at the Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert in 2002.

Beatles superfan and Beach Boy Brian Wilson recorded a version live at George Fest, which took place at at the Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles on 28 September 2014.