My Sweet Lord – George Harrison

Chart Position: 1

Released Nov 1970

• #31 bestseller for 1971
• #460 on Rolling Stone magazines list of 500 greatest songs
• Written by George Harrison
• Produced by George Harrison and Phil Spector
•  Guitar:  George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland
• Keyboards: Gary Wright and Billy Preston
• Backing vocals: George Harrison and Phil Spector, multi-tracked to sound like a choir
• Harmonium: John Barham
• Recorded in London U.K.
• This is the first post-Beatles #1 for any of the Fab Four
• Harrison later had the very last #1 of any of the former Beatles with ‘I’ve Got My Mind Set On You’ (1987)
• George Harrison debuted his trademark slide guitar work on this song
• Harrison was sued in 1976 by Lonnie Mack over the origins of this song; Mack alleged plagiarism of Chiffon’s ‘He’s So Fine’ (1963), which Mack had written; Harrison lost the lawsuit and had to pay $547,000 to his former manager Allen Klein, who at the time owned the rights to ‘Hes So Fine’
• Originally recorded by Billy Preston (1970)
• The song hit #1 in the U.K. in 1971 and a re-mixed version ‘My Sweet Lord 2000’ later hit #1 in the U.K. after Harrison’s death in Dec 2001
• Harrison redid the song in 2000 because he wanted to improve the slide guitar part
• Later recorded by Andy Williams (1971), Ronnie Aldrich (1971), Homer Louis Randolph III (1971), Ray Conniff (1971), Bola Sete (1971), Johnny Mathis (1971), Edwin Starr (1971), Eddy Arnold (1971), Stu Phillips & Hollyridge Strings (1971), John Holt (1971), Marion Williams (1971), Paul Mauriat (1972), Franck Pourcel (1971), Iva Zanicchi (1972), Nina Simone (1972), Richie Havens (1972), Julio Iglesias (1975), Marjorie McCoy (1973), The Tribe (1972), Violinaires (1973), Chiffons (1975), Leon Patilla (1981), Larry Norman (1977), Stacey Q (1997), Boy George (1992), Wailing Souls (1998), Aretha Franklin (1999), David Young (2000), Crown of Thorns (2002), Girlyman (2003), Little Roy (2005), Les Fradkin (2005), Klaus Voorman (2009), Baha Men (2010) and many others

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