The song George Harrison used to make fun of his problems in court: “My expert tells me its ok”
For a while, George Harrison rightfully earned his reputation as the Quiet Beatle. While John Lennon and Paul McCartney behaved like a comedy double act in front of the cameras and provided all the quick wit and flashing smiles necessary to ensure their pop success wasn’t only relegated to the singles charts, Harrison, a few years younger than the rest of the group, shrunk into the background.
It would take years before he grew out of his shell, began experimenting with writing his own songs and, in general, doing what most young men do and “finding himself”. But that he did and by the time The Beatles ended, he was not only considered a prominent songwriter in the group, delivering hits like ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’, but he was also considering his options outside of the band.
In fact, the entire group were, and it wouldn’t be long before the group disbanded. As they did, the expected career trajectory of Lennon and McCartney was stratospheric, while Ringo Starr and Harrison were seen as potentially having bit part roles in the world of music. But they’d have been wrong. As the Fab Four broke up, Harrison triumphed with his greatest contribution to the sonic landscape, his epic album All Things Must Pass.
It was a stellar album that included the titular single and also provided Harrison with one of his most beloved tracks, ‘My Sweet Lord’. It became an instant global sensation, soaring to the top of major charts worldwide and solidifying its place as the musician’s most iconic solo hit. While Harrison revelled in the song’s meteoric success and widespread acclaim, it also brought with it a shadow of controversy, as accusations of plagiarism and legal battles soon followed.
Bright Tunes Music attempted to sue the former Beatle for plagiarism, arguing that ‘My Sweet Lord’ sounded too similar to The Chiffons’ 1963 hit ‘He’s So Fine’. One might have thought Harrison’s former bandmates would have his back in the inevitable PR war, but John Lennon agreed that The Chiffons had been cheated. “Well, he walked right into it,” Lennon said. “He knew what he was doing.” Asked whether he thought Harrison had consciously plagiarised the single, Lennon added: “He must have known, you know, he’s smarter than that. It’s irrelevant, actually — only on a monetary level does it matter.”
The case rumbled on, and Harrison offered settlements to try to close the proceedings down, but to no avail. The trial concluded that Harrison hadn’t intentionally copied the music for ‘My Sweet Lord,’ but he was still found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” in a verdict delivered on August 31st, 1976. Given that ‘My Sweet Lord’ dominated 70% of the airplay from its parent album, the judge ordered Harrison to pay $1.6million in compensation.
It was a huge blow that Harrison, no longer happy staying quiet, wouldn’t take entirely in his stride. He used his favourite medium of songwriting to make his point and ridiculed the court proceedings in his track ‘This Song’.
“My expert tells me it’s OK” he sings with a knowing wink emanating through the speakers, “This song could be…?” he croons before Eric Idle harmonises with “Could be ‘Sugar Pie Honey Bunch’? Naw! Sounds more like ‘Rescue Me!'” The lyrics are clearly directed at the ordeal but, as with Harrison’s general demeanour, delivered with a lighthearted tone usually found in the lines of ‘Que Sera Sera’. While “This tune has nothing Bright about it” makes an obvious reference to Bright Tunes Music.
The video that premiered on SNL when Harrison appeared alongside Paul Simon was equally comic. It featured Harrison sitting in the courtroom docks, seemingly pleading his case.
In the end, the proceedings would not affect Harrison’s career that much, and his wallet stayed nearly permanent. However, it did set a precedent for plagiarism that, to this day, continues to be manipulated for such cases.
