ABSTRACT
In the early 1970s ex-Beatle George Harrison had an enormous hit with a song called “My Sweet Lord”. However, it turned out that the tune of this song was very similar to a song called “He’s So Fine” recorded in 1960 by The Chiffons. A prosecution for plagiarism was brought and Harrison had to pay substantial damages to the original writers. However, the judge accepted that, although he must have known the earlier song, his copying had not been deliberate. Instead, it was agreed that Harrison had remembered the song “unconsciously”. In this chapter we will examine evidence that strengthens the idea that we can remember things without realising but, before this, it is necessary to consider fundamental issues about memory organisation. In court, it was accepted that ex-Beatle George Harrison's unconscious memory led him to plagarise The Chiffon's song. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9781315784854/f4c71875-4f19-42cb-a333-5898bcf0dfa2/content/page111_1_B.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
