My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Len Rabinowitz

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue The Songs: You Decide He’s So Fine recorded in 1962 Topped US Billboard charts Beatles not big in US in 1962 Song reached number 12 in England in 1963 during a week that the Beatles were number 1 Harrison admitted that he knew the song

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue He’s So Fine languished My Sweet Lord generated in jam session with Billy Preston, 1969- Question of authorship Preston released the song before Harrison- Harrison listed as sole author Song was a huge hit when recorded and released by Harrison Bright Tunes Music- the owner of He’s So Fine- brought suit on February 10, 1971 Billy Preston and George Harrison with President Ford, 1974

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Judge (a musician, but more classically oriented- less improvisational) focused on two phrases of melody Other major differences not considered Harrison knew of earlier song; claimed no intent Harrison found guilty of “subconscious plagiarism” Judge: “Perfectly obvious… the two songs are virtually identical” Upheld on appeal; Intent not necessary for plagiarism Judge’s decision centered on these phrases

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Initial decision came in 1976 Early decision that got musicians thinking about “influence” and “original” Professional digital recording began a few years later Digital audio sampling- artists using phrases from other artists in recordings- was huge issue in the 1980’s for musicians, well before MP3 for consumers This Yamaha recorder allows sampling CD’s into your own recordings

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Ethical Analysis Kant, 1st formulation: “Act only from moral rules that you can at the same time will to be universal moral laws” Can musicians unconsciously borrow from each other? Proposed Rule: Musicians can unconsciously borrow from each other Musicians have always influenced and borrowed each other; Impossible to eradicate influences Universal Rule: Musicians may unconsciously borrow from each other Musicians continue making music as they always have Rule is acceptable; Under this analysis judge got it wrong A stressed-out musician

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Kant, 2nd Formulation “Act so that you treat both yourself and other people as ends in themselves and never only as means to an end” Improvisatory musicians use their influences as means to an end Musicians must consider or cite influences before playing Judge’s decision likely correct under this formulation A musician “fighting the power!”

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue Social Contract Theory Law is a form of social contract Current law recognizes intellectual property and says works are born copyrighted Modern musician’s heavy use of borrowing and influences without citation likely violates social contract of law By this analysis behavior of modern musicians is unethical

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue The Cardinal Virtues: Judgment: Harrison showed poor judgment in writing the song as written. He could have known it was too similar Honesty: Harrison was honest in acknowledging knowledge of the other song Prudence: Writing songs for popular consumption is not a prudent act Courage: Writing songs for popular consumption is courageous Justice: Justice was eventually done for the owner of the song- not necessarily the performer. Harrison was harmed Self mastery: Complex. Harrison could have thought this through more. However, professional songwriting requires considerable focus and determination. On the whole, Harrison’s actions come up short in the cardinal virtues

My Sweet Lord and He’s So Fine: An Early Precursor of A Modern Issue References: The “My Sweet Lord”/”He’s So Fine” Plagiarism Suit. Article written by Joseph C. Self, http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm Accessed on July 12, 2008. George Harrison and The Chiffons. http://www.benedict.com/Audio/harrison/harrison.aspx. Author unknown. Accessed on July 12, 2008.