My Sweet Lord - Cover Versions

Cover Versions

• Andy Williams covered "My Sweet Lord" on his 1971 Love Story album, backed by members of the choir of the Wee Kirk o' the Valley of Reseda, California.
• Ronnie Aldrich, British easy listening pianist, covered the song, as well as Harrison's "What Is Life", on his 1971 album, also entitled Love Story (after the equally popular theme song to the 1970 movie Love Story, by Francis Lai).
• Homer Louis Randolph III recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord" for his eponymous 1971 album.
• Peggy Lee recorded "My Sweet Lord" in April 1971 for her album Where Did They Go, arranged by Don Sebesky; it was issued on CD in 2008.
• Phil Allen covered the song on his 1971 album The Happy Hammond Goes Pop.
• Ray Coniff's version was released on another 1971 album titled Love Story.
• Johnny Mathis covered "My Sweet Lord" on his Love Story album.
• Edwin Starr recorded a version in 1971, produced by Norman Whitfield, which was released as a single and appeared on his Involved album.
• A version by Eddy Arnold appeared on his 1971 album Welcome to My World.
• Also in 1971, John Holt recorded a reggae version of "My Sweet Lord", without the background chorus of "hallelujahs" and Krishna references.
• Another 1971 easy listening version of "My Sweet Lord" was recorded by Stu Phillips & The Hollyridge Strings, for their Beatles tribute album The George, John, Paul & Ringo Songbook.
• Marion Williams covered "My Sweet Lord" on her 1971 album Standing Here Wondering Which Way to Go; the song was later released on Daytrippers: Songs of the Beatles.
• French orchestral leader Franck Pourcel recorded the song for his Friends album in 1971.
• The Top of the Poppers' 1971 cover was released on their album The Best of Top of the Pops '71 (and more recently on the 2002 compilation When They Was Fab – A Tribute to the Solo Beatles).
• Another French orchestrator, Paul Mauriat, recorded "My Sweet Lord" for his 1972 album Le Grand Orchestre de Paul Mauriat Joue Les Beatles.
• Italian singer Iva Zanicchi covered the song on her album Fantasia n. 2: The Beatles in 1972.
• Nina Simone performed an 18-minute gospel reworking of "My Sweet Lord" at Fort Dix before a group of African-American soldiers, a version released on her 1972 album Emergency Ward! (along with her cover of Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity"). She interspersed the song with the David Nelson poem "Today Is a Killer", at the end of which, God is accused of being a killer, giving the otherwise exuberant atmosphere of the performance an apocalyptic ending. No references to Krishna appear in Simone's version.
• Richie Havens covered the song on his 1972 live album Richie Havens on Stage, a version later released on the 1987 album Sings Beatles and Dylan.
• Also in 1972, The Tribe recorded the song for an album titled Bangla Desh, which included cover versions of other highlights from The Concert for Bangladesh.
• In 1973, The Violinaires covered "My Sweet Lord" on their album Groovin' with Jesus.
• Marjorie McCoy released her version of the song on the 1973 album The Other Side.
• In 1975, Julio Iglesias covered the song on his album El Amor, singing it in English even though the song was retitled in Spanish as "Mi Dulce Señor (My Sweet Lord)".
• The Chiffons' version of the song was released as a non-album single in 1975.
• Larry Norman covered "My Sweet Lord" on his 1977 album Streams of White Light into Darkened Corners, and like John Holt, omitted the "hallelujah" refrains and references to Krishna.
• On her 1978 Christmas TV special, Dolly Parton performed the song as part of a spiritual medley, with guest Cher and a choir, with only "hallelujah" being chanted.
• The song was briefly included in Stars on 45's medley of songs, released as a single in May 1981.
• For his 1981 Don't Give In album, Leon Patillo recorded a heavily revised version of "My Sweet Lord". (Among other things, because this was a Christian release, the entire background "hallelujah" section is replaced with the refrain "Jesus".)
• Five Thirty covered the song for the anti-poll tax album Alvin Lives (in Leeds), released in 1990.
• Boy George recorded a version of the song in 1992 for the Ruby Trax: The NME's Roaring Forty compilation album.
• Spanish house music band PCA released their version of "My Sweet Lord" as a single in 1995.
• Stacey Q covered "My Sweet Lord" on her 1997 album Boomerang.
• Swedish band Brainpool recorded the song as a medley with "He's So Fine" and released it as a single in 1997, titled "My Sweet Lord (She's So Fine)".
• In December 1997, Megadeth played the song live (with modified lyrics) at their concert at the Centro Cultural Recoleta in Buenos Aires.
• The Wailing Souls covered "My Sweet Lord" for their 1998 album Psychedelic Souls.
• In 1999, an instrumental version of "My Sweet Lord" was included on Aretha Franklin's Amazine Grace: The Complete Recordings collection, a repackaging of her bestselling album Amazing Grace, recorded live in a Los Angeles Baptist church in January 1972.
• David Young recorded the song for his 2000 covers album Songbook.
• At the American Music Awards in January 2002, soul singer Luther Vandross performed a medley of "Something" and "My Sweet Lord" in tribute to Harrison, among others who died in 2001.
• In April 2002, Elton John, Sting, James Taylor, Ravi Shankar, Anoushka Shankar and others performed "My Sweet Lord" to close the Harrison-tribute opening portion of the Rock for the Rainforest benefit concert, held at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
• Crown of Thorns covered this track on their 2002 album Karma.
• Richard Clayderman recorded a cover of "My Sweet Lord" for his 2002 album Everybody Loves Somebody Sometime.
• At the Concert for George on 29 November 2002, the song was performed by Billy Preston, with Sam Brown joining on backing vocals.
• In 2003, Brazilian artist Emmerson Nogueira included a cover of "My Sweet Lord" on his album Versão Acústica 3.
• BeBe Winans recorded a version with specifically Christian, additional verses (and without Krishna references) on his album My Christmas Prayer.
• Girlyman also covered this song, released on their 2003 album Remember Who I Am.
• Danny Colfax Mallon included "My Sweet Lord" on his album George: Harrison's Compositions Interpreted on Piano in 2004.
• Reggae artist Little Roy (Earl Lowe), a Rastafarian, recorded the song for his 2005 album Children of the Most High, replacing the background chorus with sung references to Rastafari.
• Les Fradkin's cover was released in 2005 on his Something for George tribute album, featuring guest appearances from Richie Furay and former Apple recording artist Lon Van Eaton.
• Joel Harrison covered "My Sweet Lord" on his album Harrison on Harrison: Jazz Explanations of George Harrison, released in October 2005.
• Nina Hagen recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord" (with Loka Nunda) in 2008.
• John Mayer performed the song live throughout 2008, notably during his performance at that year's Glastonbury Festival.
• A version by Gary Christian & Desa Basshead appeared on the 2008 charity album Liverpool: The Number Ones Album.
• Osibisa covered this track on their 2009 album Osee Yee.
• Jim James (under the name Yim Yames) covered six of Harrison's songs, including "My Sweet Lord", on his 2009 EP Tribute To.
• Klaus Voormann, who had played bass on Harrison's studio version and on the Concert for Bangladesh performance of the song, included a cover of "My Sweet Lord" on his 2009 solo album A Sideman's Journey; Bonnie Bramlett supplied lead vocals on the track.
• Kevin Max has covered this song, with no references to Krishna, for Christian audiences.
• Elliott Smith performed "My Sweet Lord" live with Grandaddy.
• Jose Feliciano has also played this song live.
• In 2010, a cover version was released by The Baha Men.
• Hurray for the Riff Raff contributed "My Sweet Lord" to Harrison Covered, a tribute CD accompanying the November 2011 issue of Mojo magazine.