"My Sweet Lord" is a song by the English musician George Harrison, released in November 1970 on his triple album All Things Must Pass. It was also released as a single, Harrison's first as a solo artist, and topped charts worldwide; it was the biggest-selling single of 1971 in the UK. In the United States and Britain, the song was the first number-one 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,Newport, p. 70. while intending the lyrics as a call to abandon religious sectarianism through his blending of the Hebrew word hallelujah with chants of "Hare Krishna" and Vedic prayer.Leng, pp. 71, 84. The recording features producer Phil Spector's Wall of Sound treatment and heralded the arrival of Harrison's slide guitar technique, which one biographer described as "musically as distinctive a signature as the mark of Zorro". Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Gary Brooker, Bobby Whitlock and members of the group Badfinger are among the other musicians on the recording.
Later in the 1970s, "My Sweet Lord" was at the centre of a heavily publicised copyright infringement suit due to its similarities to the Ronnie Mack song "He's So Fine", a 1963 hit for the New York girl group the Chiffons. In 1976, Harrison was found to have subconsciously plagiarised the song, a verdict that had repercussions throughout the music industry. Rather than the Chiffons song, he said he used the out-of-copyright Christian hymn "Oh Happy Day" as his inspiration for the melody.
Harrison performed "My Sweet Lord" at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, and it remains the most popular composition from his post-Beatles career. He reworked it as "My Sweet Lord (2000)" for inclusion as a bonus track on the 30th-anniversary reissue of All Things Must Pass. Many artists have covered the song, most notably Edwin Starr, Johnny Mathis and Nina Simone. "My Sweet Lord" was ranked 454th on Rolling Stones list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004 and 460th in the 2010 update and number 270 on a similar list published by the NME in 2014. It reached number one in Britain again when re-released in January 2002, two months after Harrison's death.
Background and inspiration George Harrison began writing "My Sweet Lord" in December 1969, when he, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton were in Copenhagen, Denmark,Clayson, George Harrison, p. 280. as guest artists on Delaney & Bonnie's European tour.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 180.John Harris, "A Quiet Storm", Mojo, July 2001, p. 70. By this time, Harrison had already written the gospel-influenced "Hear Me Lord" and, with Preston, the African-American spiritual "Sing One for the Lord".Andy Davis, Billy Preston Encouraging Words CD, liner notes (Apple Records, 2010; produced by George Harrison & Billy Preston). He had also produced two religious-themed hit singles on the Beatles' Apple record label: Preston's "That's the Way God Planned It" and Radha Krishna Temple (London)'s "Hare Krishna Mantra".Inglis, p. 21. The latter was a musical adaptation of the 5,000-year-old Vaishnava Hindu mantra, performed by members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), colloquially known as "the Hare Krishna movement".Andy Davis, The Radha Krsna Temple CD, liner notes (Apple Records, 2010; produced by George Harrison; reissue produced by Andy Davis & Mike Heatley). Harrison wanted to fuse the messages of the Christian and Gaudiya Vaishnava faiths into what musical biographer Simon Leng terms "gospel incantation with a Vedic chant".Leng, p. 71.
The Copenhagen stopover marked the end of the Delaney & Bonnie tour, with a three-night residency at the Falkoner Theatre on 10–12 December.Miles, p. 362. According to Harrison's 1976 court testimony, "My Sweet Lord" was conceived while the band members were attending a backstage press conference and he had ducked out to an upstairs room at the theatre.Bright Tunes Music v Harrisongs (p. 179), UC Berkeley School of Law (retrieved 17 September 2012). Harrison recalled vamping chords on guitar and alternating between sung phrases of "hallelujah" and "Hare Krishna".Huntley, p. 130. He later took the idea to the others, and the chorus vocals were developed further.
Band leader Delaney Bramlett's later version of events is that the idea originated from Harrison asking him how to go about writing a genuine gospel song, and that Bramlett demonstrated by scat singing the words "Oh my Lord" while wife Bonnie and singer Rita Coolidge added gospel "hallelujah"s in reply.Leng, pp. 66–67. Music journalist John Harris has questioned the accuracy of Bramlett's account, however, comparing it to a fisherman's "It was this big"–type bragging story. Preston recalled that "My Sweet Lord" came about through Harrison asking him about writing gospel songs during the tour. Preston said he played some chords on a backstage piano and the Bramletts began singing "Oh my Lord" and "Hallelujah". According to Preston: "George took it from there and wrote the verses. It was very impromptu. We never thought it would be a hit."Lois Wilson, "The Fifth Element", Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970), Emap (London, 2003), p. 80.
Using as his inspiration the Edwin Hawkins Singers' rendition of an eighteenth-century Christian hymn, "Oh Happy Day",Greene, p. 181. Harrison continued working on the theme.George Harrison, p. 176. He completed the song, with help from Preston, once they had returned to London.
Composition The lyrics of "My Sweet Lord" reflect Harrison's often-stated desire for a direct relationship with God, expressed in simple words that all believers could affirm, regardless of their religion.Inglis, p. 24.Huntley, p. 54. He later attributed the song's message to Swami Vivekananda,Harry, p. 238. particularly the latter's teaching: "If there's a God, we must see him. And if there is a soul, we must perceive it."Kahn, p. 539. Author Ian Inglis observes a degree of "understandable" impatience in the first verse's line "Really want to see you, Lord, but it takes so long, my Lord". By the end of the song's second verse, Harrison declares a wish to "know" God alsoLeng, p. 84.Allison, p. 6. and attempts to reconcile the impatience.
Following this verse, in response to the main vocal's repetition of the song title, Harrison devised a choral line singing the Hebrew word of praise, "hallelujah", common in the Christian and Jewish religions. Later in the song, after an instrumental break, these voices return, now chanting the first twelve words of the Hare Krishna mantra, known more reverentially as the Maha mantra:Allison, p. 46.
These Sanskrit words are the main mantra of the Hare Krishna faith, with which Harrison identified,Lavezzoli, p. 195.Leng, pp. 58–59. although he did not belong to any spiritual organisation.Clayson, George Harrison, p. 267.Olivia Harrison, "A Few Words About George", in The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 10–11. In his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison says that he intended repeating and alternating "hallelujah" and "Hare Krishna" to show that the two terms meant "quite the same thing", as well as to have listeners chanting the mantra "before they knew what was going on!"MacFarlane, p. 79.
Following the Sanskrit lines, "hallelujah" is sung twice more before the mantra repeats,Tillery, p. 88. along with an ancient Vedic prayer. According to Hindu tradition, this prayer is dedicated to a devotee's spiritual teacher, or guru, and equates the teacher to the divine Trimurti – Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (or Maheshvara) – and to the Godhead, Brahman.Greene, p. 182.
Religious academic Joshua Greene, one of the Radha Krishna Temple devotees in 1970, translates the lines as follows: "I offer homage to my guru, who is as great as the creator Brahma, the maintainer Vishnu, the destroyer Shiva, and who is the very energy of God."Greene, pp. ix, 182. The prayer is the third verse of the Guru Stotram, a fourteen-verse hymn in praise of Hindu spiritual teachers.Swami Atmananda (trans.), "Guru Stotram (Prayerful glorification of the Spiritual Teacher)" , chinmayatoronto.org (retrieved 11 September 2012).
Several commentators cite the mantra and the simplicity of Harrison's lyrics as central to the song's universality.Lavezzoli, p. 186. In Inglis's view, "[The] lyrics are not directed at a specific manifestation of a single faith's deity, but rather to the concept of one god whose essential nature is unaffected by particular interpretations and who pervades everything, is present everywhere, is all-knowing and all-powerful, and transcends time and space ... All of us – Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Jew, Buddhist – can address our gods in the same way, using the same phrase ['my sweet Lord']."
Billy Preston's versions
With the Beatles still together officially in December 1969, Harrison had no plans to make a solo album of his own and reportedly intended to offer "My Sweet Lord" to Edwin Hawkins.Madinger & Easter, p. 428.Spizer, p. 211. Instead, following the Delaney & Bonnie tour, he decided to record it with Billy Preston, for whom Harrison was co-producing a second Apple album, Encouraging Words.Leng, pp. 70–71.Spizer, pp. 211, 340. Recording took place at Olympic Studios in London, in January 1970, with Preston as principal musician, supported by the guitarist, bass player and drummer from the Temptations' backing band.Badman, p. 203. The Edwin Hawkins Singers happened to be on tour in the UK as well, so Harrison invited them to participate.
Preston's version of "My Sweet Lord" differs from Harrison's later reading in that the "hallelujah" refrain appears from the start of the song and, rather than the full mantra section, the words "Hare Krishna" are sung only twice throughout the whole track. With the Vedic prayer also absent, Leng views this original recording as a possible "definitive 'roots' take of the song, citing its "pure gospel groove" and Hawkins' participation. In his review of Encouraging Words, Bruce Eder of AllMusic describes "My Sweet Lord" and "All Things Must Pass" (another Harrison composition originally given to Preston to record)Clayson, George Harrison, p. 281. as "stunning gospel numbers ... that make the Harrison versions seem pallid".Bruce Eder, "Billy Preston Encouraging Words", AllMusic (retrieved 13 September 2012).
It was stated in February 1970 that "My Sweet Lord" would be Preston's next single, and was later confirmed that it would be released in the UK on 4 September. However, the single was withdrawn prior to release. Following the release of Encouraging Words in the US in November, "My Sweet Lord" was released as a single there in December. It climbed to number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 by the end of February 1971,Spizer, p. 340. helped by the enormous success of Harrison's version.Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 90, 91, 95, 352. Preston's single also peaked at number 23 on Billboards Best Selling Soul Singles chart.Rodriguez, p. 323. In March 1971, he recorded a live version with King Curtis that was released in 2006 on the expanded edition of Curtis's album Live at Fillmore West. In November 2002, at the Concert for George, held by the Royal Albert Hall, he performed the song that was included on the live albumInglis, p. 155 and in David Leland's concert film from the event.Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "Original Soundtrack: Concert for George", AllMusic (retrieved 8 August 2012).
Recording Basic track