![]() ![]() “In fact, it saved many a heroin addict’s life. “I don’t feel guilty or bad about it,” he wrote in I Me Mine. And really, Harrison just borrowed a few bricks from a slight pop song and built his Taj Mahal. “God knows I never sued anybody about all the songs of mine that got stolen.”ĭespite the stigma of the court case, it’s My Sweet Lord, not He’s So Fine, that has endured. “The only shame about it was if the writer of He’s So Fine had been alive in the first place, there probably would have never been a lawsuit,” Harrison said. The finer points of penalties and payments were hashed out for years, and by the time the case was closed in 1998, Harrison controlled publishing rights for both songs in the UK and US, while Allen Klein had rights for the rest of the world. In the end, a verdict of “subconscious plagiarism” cost Harrison 1.6 million dollars and set a precedent for similar lawsuits in the decades to come. The highlight was Harrison playing guitar in front of the jury, trying to demonstrate the finer points of how his song differed from He’s So Fine. It was five years before the case was heard in court. “I did the voices singing ‘Hallelujah’ first and then the change to ‘Hare Krishna’,” Harrison said, “so that people would be chanting the Maha Mantra before they knew what was going on.” ![]() It’s one of those moments that I will never ever forget.”Īgainst the wall of layered acoustic guitars, Harrison dropped in two electric slide guitars in harmony, a ragged, beseeching vocal that yearns through the song’s key modulations, plus a lively vocal chorus. ![]() ![]() That thrilling intro is the sound of what Harrison called “one huge guitar”.įrampton recounted the session in a Classic Rock interview: “George called to say: ‘Would you come and play some acoustic? Phil wants like nineteen of everything.’ It was just me and George sitting on two stools with guitars in front of the glass at Abbey Road, and there’s Phil Spector. Released as a single on Apple, it was a minor hit in parts of Europe.įor Harrison’s own version, producer Phil Spector assembled an all-star cast at Trident Studio, including Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Ringo Starr and all four members of Badfinger. Whitfield has both Starr and the session musicians playing as hard and explosive as he can, marking this album out as one of the rawest recordings ever released under the Motown banner.Harrison first gave the song to Billy Preston, who recorded it for his 1970 album Encouraging Words. Reaching #45 R&B and a respectable #178 Involved was guided by legendary Motown producer Norman Whitfield who, along with song writing partner Barrett Strong, contributed the majority of the cuts on this album. Involved was Starr's fifth LP for the Gordy imprint on Motown Records and was released in 1971. More Ric- Tic hits followed before Berry Gordy bought out Starr's contract in 1967 and took him and his music to the fabled Motown imprint, making the James Brown and Stax influenced singer the rawest vocalist on the celebrated label. Edwin Starr hailed from Nashville, Tennessee and is best remembered for his rasping Vietnam protest song War from 1970.Īfter a stint as vocalist for Bill Doggetts touring band Starr was able to secure a solo recording deal with Detroit's Ric-Tic Records in 1965 and immediately gained chart success with his self-penned hit Agent Double-O-Soul (R&B #8/Pop #21). ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |