George Harrison’s Hit “My Sweet Lord” Was Originally Written for This R&B Singer

On December 26, 1970, George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” became his first No. 1 single following the Beatles’ dissolution. Consequently, we most commonly associate this folk-rock pseudo-hymn with the former “Quiet Beatle.” But Harrison wasn’t the first artist to release this song. That accolade belongs to the R&B singer for whom Harrison originally wrote the song.

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The R&B singer, once dubbed “the fifth Beatle,” might not have received the most critical acclaim for his version of “My Sweet Lord.” But fortunately for him, that also meant he didn’t bear the brunt of the subsequent copyright lawsuit that found Harrison guilty of “subconscious plagiarism.”

George Harrison Wrote “My Sweet Lord” For Billy Preston

Although many Beatles fans’ first encounter with Billy Preston was during the 1969 Get Back sessions, the R&B singer and keyboardist had been a part of the Fab Four’s social circles for years by that point. George Harrison and Preston developed a particularly close relationship that would continue after the Beatles broke up. In late 1969, Harrison, Preston, and Eric Clapton accompanied folk-rock duo Delaney & Bonnie on their winter European tour.

Specific accounts of how Harrison came up with the song vary. According to Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, Harrison asked the duo to describe what made a good gospel song. Per Preston, the Bramletts naturally started singing gospel refrains like “Oh my Lord” and “Hallelujah” unprompted while Preston improvised on a backstage piano during their tour.

In either case, it didn’t take long for Harrison to write “My Sweet Lord,” The cross-denominational folk-rock tune referenced Christianity and Hinduism, playing to both Harrison and Preston’s preferred faiths. Preston later said the song was a spur-of-the-moment creation that neither artist predicted would be a hit.”

In Preston’s case, it never was. Preston included his version of “My Sweet Lord” on his September 1970 release, Encouraging Words, but the album was commercially unsuccessful. The opposite was true for Harrison. When the former “Quiet Beatle” released “My Sweet Lord” as a single in November of that same year, it took just over a month for the song to top the charts. It was Harrison’s first No. 1 single since breaking up with the Beatles, which would be a blessing and a curse not long afterward.

Harrison Was Found Guilty Of Subconscious Plagiarism

Billy Preston might not have been the one to boast a No. 1 single with his rendition of “My Sweet Lord,” but that also means he wasn’t the most high-profile name in the subsequent copyright lawsuit between Harrison’s publishing company and Bright Music Corporation. Harrison’s legal battle lasted for years, causing emotional, financial, and musical disruption so severe that the former Beatle would later say he struggled to write for quite a while after the experience was over.

Bright Music Corporation sued Harrisongs for copyright infringement of the Chiffons’ “She’s So Fine,” which the plaintiffs alleged Harrison was stealing for “My Sweet Lord.” Harrison later said, “I wasn’t consciously aware of the similarity when I wrote the song. But once I started to get a lot of airplay, people started talking about it, was then I thought, ‘Why didn’t I realize?’ It would have been very easy to change a note here or there and not affect the feeling of the record.”

Harrison’s former bandmate, John Lennon, concurred. “He must have known,” Lennon told Playboy. “He’s smarter than that— he could have changed a couple of bars in that song, and nobody could ever have touched him. But he just let it go and paid the price.”

Photo by Steve Morley/Redferns