George Harrison Once Fined Over Plagiarism Case: Did The Beatles Member Really Do It?

George Harrison had a fruitful and successful career after The Beatles' breakup. However, his fame led him to hit a legal battle.

After the 1970 split of The Beatles, its members went on to pursue their individual endeavors. For Harrison's part, he dropped multiple solo albums that sold millions of copies worldwide.

In the same year, he released his best-known and most successful album, "All Things Must Pass." He dropped his first single, "My Sweet Lord," in November 1970, but it hit a glitch despite its success.

After the single received overwhelming support, Harrison received plagiarism charges as he was accused of creating it as a rip-off of The Chiffon's 1933 song, "He's So Fine."

The track's publisher, Bright Tunes Music, filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ronnie Mack, the song's writer, as he died in 1963 shortly after the track became a hit song. It alleged that he copied the song as evidenced by the similarities of Mack's "I don't know how I'm gonna do it" with Harrison's "I really want to see you."

During the trial, Harrison said he was familiar with it.

He ended up paying $587,000 (around $2 million based on adjustments) in 1981.

George Harrison Defended Himself Before Death

In his autobiography "I Me Mine," Harrison spoke up about the stress the lawsuit caused his life.

The musician admitted that he did not know about "My Sweet Lord" and "He's So Fine" similarities. He then said that his song's popularity made him a target of the lawsuit.

"Although when my version of the song came out and started to get a lot of airplay, people started talking about it, and it was then I thought, 'Why didn't I realize?'" he said. "It would have been very easy to change a note here or there, and not affect the feeling of the record."

Despite his belief, the judge found that "it is perfectly obvious to the listener that in musical terms, the two songs are virtually identical."

Reacting to Harrison's shortcoming, Ringo Starr told Melody Maker that his The Beatles co-star was very unlucky. Still, he noted that Harrison's version is much heavier than Chiffon's song.

Harrison soon re-recorded the track and removed the key elements noted in the ruling.