Michael Jackson and George Harrison discuss music in 1979
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Former member of The Beatles Harrison released his hit song My Sweet Lord in 1970 through the band’s label, Apple. The song was his first ever single as a solo artist and was a great success. In both the UK and the USA it was the first number-one single from an ex-Beatle. The track was also the best-selling single in 1971. It did come with a massive amount of controversy, however. On this day, February 19, 1981 Harrison was ordered to pay more than half-a-million dollars for subconsciously plagiarising it.
The song was compared to The Chiffons’ 1963 hit single He’s So Fine.
On February 10, 1971 the publisher of He’s So Fine, Bright Tunes, filed a lawsuit against the Beatle for copying the song.
The legal battle raged on for more than two years before Harrison offered to provide Bright Tunes with a 40 percent share of My Sweet Lord’s royalties.
Shortly after this offer the song’s rights were bought by former manager of The Beatles, Allen Klein.
Klein was particularly sour about The Beatles after he was fired by John Lennon, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.
The legal battle continued until 1976 where Harrison was deemed guilty for subconsciously copying the original track.
The court then took a further five years to determine how much the international star ought to pay Klein in damages.
Klein initially called for more than $1.6 million in damages before the court made its decision.
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On February 19, 1981 Harrison was ordered to pay $587,000 in damages to Klein.
This was the sum Klein originally paid for the song when he bought its right during the legal proceedings.
Speaking about the decade-long legal battle in his autobiography I, Me, Mine, Harrison said: “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.”
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Harrison later said: “Why didn’t I realise? It would have been very easy to change a note here or there, and not effect the feeling of the record.”
He also wrote: “I don’t feel bad or guilty about it.
“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.”
Lennon commented on the situation in 1980 during an interview with Playboy.
Lennon said: “[Harrison] must have known, you know. 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. Maybe he thought God would just sort of let him off.”
He also said: “Music is everybody’s business. It’s only the publishers who think people own it.”
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