TL;DR:
- George Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” didn’t impress the singer as much as another song from the same era.
- George associated the other song with Bob Dylan.
- “My Sweet Lord” was huge in multiple countries.
George Harrison‘s “My Sweet Lord” was popular, but George preferred another song from the same album. He revealed Bob Dylan sang the other song to him when they were hanging out. In addition, George liked when another band played on the track.
George Harrison preferred ‘I’d Have You Any Time’ to ‘My Sweet Lord’
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters includes an interview from 1977. In it, George said his album All Things Must Pass was a huge deal for him. He was asked if “My Sweet Lord” was one of his favorite tracks from the album. “No, not particularly,” he said. “I like different songs for different reasons.”
George praised another track from All Things Must Pass. “I like the first song that was on the album, ‘I’d Have You Any Time,’ and particularly the recording of it,” he said. “Because Derek and the Dominoes played on most of those tracks and it was a really nice experience making that album, because I was really a bit paranoid, musically. Having this whole thing with The Beatles had left me really paranoid.” George felt his songs weren’t that great.
George Harrison said he eventually gained confidence in himself as a musician
The “All Those Years Ago” singer discussed gaining confidence in his songs. “I remember having those people in the studio and thinking, ‘God these songs are so fruity! I can’t think of which song to do,’” he recalled. “Slowly I realized, ‘We can do this one’ and I’d play it to them and they’d say, ‘Wow, yeah! Great song!’
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“And I’d say: ‘Really? Do you really like it?’” George added. “I realized that it was OK, that they were sick of playing all that other stuff. It’s great to have a tune, and I liked that song, ‘I’d Have You Any Time’ because of Bob [Dylan].” George recalled Dylan singing “I’d Have You Any Time” once when they were hanging out around Thanksgiving.
‘My Sweet Lord’ became a huge hit in the United States and the United Kingdom
While George wasn’t a huge fan of “My Sweet Lord,” the song was huge. The tune was released alongside “Isn’t It a Pity?” and topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks, staying on the chart for 14 weeks in total. All Things Must Pass was even bigger, topping the Billboard 200 for seven weeks, remaining on the chart for 41 weeks in total.
According to The Official Charts Company, “My Sweet Lord” reached No. 1 for a whopping six nonconsecutive weeks. The song lasted on the chart for 31 weeks altogether. On the other hand, All Things Must Pass was No. 1 for eight of its 32 weeks on the chart.
“My Sweet Lord” is great and it became a lot more famous than “I’d Have You Any Time.”
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