“My Sweet Lord” George Harrison, 1970
My sweet lord; Hmm, my lord; Hmm, my lord
I really want to see you
Really want to be with you
Really want to see you lord
But it takes so long, my lord
My sweet lord; Hmm, my lord; Hmm, my lord
I really want to know you
Really want to go with you
Really want to show you lord
That it won’t take long, my lord (hallelujah)
My sweet lord (hallelujah)
Hmm, my lord (hallelujah)
My sweet lord (hallelujah)
I really want to see you
Really want to see you
Really want to see you, lord
Really want to see you, lord
But it takes so long, my lord (hallelujah)
My sweet lord (hallelujah)
Hmm, my lord (hallelujah)
My, my, my lord (hallelujah)
I really want to know you (hallelujah)
Really want to go with you (hallelujah)
Really want to show you lord (aaah)
That it won’t take long, my lord (hallelujah)
Hmm (hallelujah)
My sweet lord (hallelujah)
My, my, lord (hallelujah)
Hmm, my lord (hare krishna)
My, my, my lord (hare krishna)
Oh hmm, my sweet lord (krishna, krishna)
Oh-uuh-uh (hare hare), etc., etc…..
——————————–
***********************************
This solo hit by ex-Beatle George Harrison was released in November of 1970. It went to the top of the charts around the world, becoming the bestselling single of 1971.
I remember this was a significant song for me when I was in high school. Religion was very important to me, and I was trying to figure out what to believe. It was encouraging to know that one of the most famous musicians in the world was not embarrassed to be singing about his Lord. I remember it gave me some confidence in my search for faith.
I still like the song because it acknowledges the need to base one’s life on a more solid foundation than self, which is more than one can say about many songs. Harrison sings of wanting to ‘know the Lord, see the Lord, and be with the Lord.’ We do need to reach out to something beyond ourselves, and Harrison sings about this in a winsome and positive way. Harrison had a lifelong openness to and quest for the spiritual side of life. And I am with George on all of that.
But I do have some questions on some of the other lyrics in My Sweet Lord. I am all for wanting to be with the Lord– but I want to know who this Lord is, and what he is like, and where I can find out about him, and what is he going to do to me or for me? The refrain, which continues on and on at the end, goes back and forth between the Hebrew and Christian Hallelujah, and the Hindu Hare Krishna. As a kid, I paid no attention to that, but now I wonder what it means.
George Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001 at the age of 58. He had for many years been devoted to Hinduism and his ashes were scattered in the Ganges River in India according to Hindu tradition. What did he mean 31 years earlier when he was singing both the Judeo-Christian Hallelujah and the Hindu Hare Krishna?
One biographer says that in putting the two praises side by side in the same song, Harrison was implying that all religions are equally true and useful. And who wants to be against that? Why can’t we just pick and choose whatever works for us as individuals, forgetting all the arguments about what is true and what is false? Why can’t everyone be right? Or, to quote a John Lennon song, just take hold of “whatever gets you through the night.”
But does it ‘work’ to just look for ‘whatever works?’ I think there has to be more to it than that, and I discuss this in many other meditations. But here, I will simply close with the story of someone who tried that approach, and it didn’t ‘work’ for them.
I was searching, and I got into Tai Chi and Yoga, and then into things like Buddhism and meditation and all different kinds of spirituality. I was just taking all the nice bits of all the different kinds of religion, and they really do– all of them– speak into your life and the issues that you have. I wanted to do more of that, so I went to an inter-faith seminary where you learn about all five of the major religions, and you try and put them all together, and see if we can all live nicely together. And that was great.
While I was there, I made a friend. Then she got breast cancer and was dying. She asked me to help do her funeral, so we got together to think about that. She wanted the funeral to say something to her family about her spirituality and what that meant to her and where she was going. So, we started thinking about how we would put that all together. But then we realized that we had Jesus taking her to heaven, and then as a Hindu and a Buddhist she was being reincarnated and having another life here on this earth, and as a Taoist she was going to become some sort of a spirit– and we just couldn’t make it hang together. It didn’t work.
Five days before you die is no time to realize that you don’t know what’s happening.
**************************************
John 14:1-6 — (Jesus said), “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
***********************************************
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a poor sinner.
–Ancient Jesus Prayer
Related Posts
