My Sweet Lord: When Dhani Harrison, Billy Preston and Eric Clapton said goodbye at the Concert For George

It was a fitting tribute to a true visionary.

During his time with The Beatles, George Harrison’s incredible talents were often overlooked.

Perhaps understandable when the group’s driving force was the songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The pair wrote 180 songs for The Beatles across the band’s eight year existence, many of which charted and many of which became number one singles.

Commercial success is one thing, but their music changed the hearts and minds of millions around the world, and continues to do so today.

George possessed immense talent himself. But it wasn’t until he went solo that his reputation flourished, as the people that knew he had more astounding songs within him could finally hear them.

That proved to be the case with his debut solo single ‘My Sweet Lord’, the first song he released as a solo artist which also became his biggest hit.

After George’s death on 29th November 2001, it proved to be the perfect song for his former bandmates and dear friends to pay tribute to him a year later.

Despite writing several of The Beatles’ most beloved songs in ‘Something’, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, George’s contributions were usually pushed out in favour of the Lennon-McCartney songwriting machine.

His first album as a solo artist, All Things Must Pass, featured many of the songs that didn’t make the final cut for any of The Beatles albums.

Released in 1970, the album was a triple album – a obvious indication of how many songs George had in the vault begging to be heard.

It was ‘My Sweet Lord’ that George decided to release as a first single to signify a new era of his music career.

Written about the Eastern religions that George had become fascinated by, it was the first number one single from any of The Beatles after the band broke up.

At the Concert For George, George’s son Dhani, Billy Preston, Eric Clapton and a host of other close friends performed the celestial song in fitting tribute.

Organised by his widow Olivia and Dhani, his only son, Concert For George was held on the first anniversary of George’s death and took place at the Royal Albert Hall.

All profits from the one-off event went to the Material World Charitable Foundation, the charity launched by Harrison in 1973 alongside his album Living In The Material World.

It was his close friend and frequent collaborator Eric Clapton who took on musical direction duties.

Though it wouldn’t have been difficult to assemble a star-studded roster of artists who wanted to pay tribute to George given his stature, Clapton put together an impressive list of music greats on the night.

Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Ravi Shankar and his daughter Anoushka, Procol Harum’s Gary Brooker, the ‘fifth Beatle’ Billy Preston, Jools Holland, Monty Python members Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, Tom Hanks, Ringo Starr and even Paul McCartney all took to the stage.

But when Billy took up the microphone for a warming version of ‘My Sweet Lord’, he illuminated the entire venue.

Staying faithful to the arrangement, Billy in fact wrote the song with George after a show in Copenhagen, Denmark in 1969.

These details came to light after George was sued for copyright infringement in 1971, who revealed that Billy helped him compose the song around the two words “Hallelujah” and “Hare Krishna”.

Billy and George recorded a version of ‘My Sweet Lord’ for Preston’s album Encouraging Words which was released after All Things Must Pass, and remained an album cut with little fanfare.

But Billy knew the very tapestry of the song and what George was communicating, so he pushed every sinew of soul he had into the performance.

With the concert being filmed for DVD release, the camera consistently cuts to shots of the crowd clapping in unison as though they were at gospel.

It was a perfect way for George’s friends and family to commemorate his spirit, his success, and his incredible legacy.