title: My Sweet Lord

text: Preston's "My Sweet Lord" was a minor hit in Europe when issued as a single there in September 1970, but otherwise, "Encouraging Words" made little impression commercially.<ref name="Eder/AM">Bruce Eder, "Billy Preston "Encouraging Words"", AllMusic (retrieved 13 September 2012).</ref> The album and single releases were delayed for at least two months in the United States. There, "My Sweet Lord" climbed to number 90 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 by the end of February 1971, helped by the enormous success of Harrison's version. Preston's single also peaked at number 23 on "Billboard"s Best Selling Soul Singles chart. In March 1971, he recorded a live version with King Curtis that was released in 2006 on the expanded edition of Curtis's album "Live at Fillmore West".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Five months after the Olympic session, with the Beatles having broken up in April 1970, "My Sweet Lord" was one of 30 or more tracks that Harrison recorded for his "All Things Must Pass" triple album. He was initially reluctant to record the song, for fear of committing himself to such an overt religious message. In "I, Me, Mine", he states: "I was sticking my neck out on the chopping block because now I would have to live up to something, but at the same time I thought 'Nobody's "saying" it; I wish somebody else was doing it.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Principal recording took place at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London, with Phil Spector co-producing the sessions. Phil McDonald was the recording engineer for the basic track. It was taped on 28 May, the first day of formal recording for "All Things Must Pass", after "Wah-Wah". Having assembled a large cast of backing musicians for the sessions, Harrison initially recorded five takes of "My Sweet Lord" with just acoustic guitars and harmonium before changing to a full band arrangement.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The line-up of musicians on the song has been hard to ascertain due to the lack of available studio documentation and conflicting recollections over the ensuing decades. The musicians were requested by Harrison and booked by former Beatles roadie Mal Evans, acting in a role that Beatles scholar Kenneth Womack likens to a stage manager for the project. According to Womack and his co-author Jason Kruppa, Evans' diaries from the period provide the first reliable record of the participants at the "All Things Must Pass" sessions, since Evans paid the musicians and had to justify this expenditure to Apple.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison said that the musicians included "about five" acoustic guitarists, Ringo Starr and Jim Gordon on drums, two piano players and a bassist.<ref name="Harris/ClassicRock">John Harris, "How George Harrison Made the Greatest Beatles Solo Album of Them All", "Classic Rock"/loudersound.com, 27 November 2016 (retrieved 1 November 2020).</ref> Evans' diary entry for 28 May lists the players on "My Sweet Lord" as Harrison, Eric Clapton and Badfinger guitarists Pete Ham and Joey Molland, all on acoustic guitars; Gary Brooker on piano; Bobby Whitlock on harmonium; Klaus Voormann on bass; Starr on drums; and Alan White on tambourine.<ref name="Kruppa/MSL personnel">Kruppa, event occurs at 19:37–20:05.</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison recalled working hard with the other acoustic guitarists "to get them all to play exactly the same rhythm so it just sounded perfectly in sync". To achieve the resonant guitar sound on this and other "All Things Must Pass" tracks, Molland said that he and his bandmates were partitioned off inside a plywood structure.<ref name="Simons/AcousticGuitar">David Simons, "The Unsung Beatle: George Harrison's behind-the-scenes contributions to the world's greatest band", "Acoustic Guitar", February 2003, p. 60 (archived version retrieved 6 May 2021).</ref> McDonald put what he terms a "half soundproof box" around Harrison, to help capture his acoustic guitar.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Take 16 of "My Sweet Lord" was selected for overdubs. From late July onwards, Harrison and Peter Frampton added further acoustic guitars to the song and to other tracks from the album. The chorus vocals were all sung by Harrison and credited to "the George O'Hara-Smith Singers". These contributions, together with Harrison's slide guitar parts and Barham's orchestral arrangement, were overdubbed during the next two months, partly at Trident Studios in central London with engineer Ken Scott.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison experimented with several harmony ideas in his guitar parts, having first applied himself to mastering slide during the 1969 Delaney & Bonnie tour. Scott had to extend the original track, repeating a portion of the final section, to allow for the closing prayer and fadeout. The session for Barham's string arrangement took place on 18 September, involving 22 orchestral musicians.<ref name="Kruppa/MSL strings">Kruppa, event occurs at 31:15–31:30.</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes the completed recording as a "painstakingly crafted tableau" of sound, beginning with a bank of "chiming" acoustic guitars and the "flourish" of zither strings that introduces Harrison's slide-guitar motif. At close to the two-minute mark, after the tension-building bridge, a subtle two-semitone shift in key (from E major to the rarely used key of F major, via a C dominant seventh chord) signals the song's release from its extended introduction. This higher register is then complemented by Harrison's "increasingly impassioned" vocal, according to Inglis, and the subsequent "timely reappearance" of his twin slide guitars, before the backing vocals switch to the Sanskrit mantra and prayer. Leng comments on the Indian music aspects of the arrangement, in the "swarmandal-like" zithers, representing the sympathetic strings of a sitar, and the slide guitars' evocation of sarangi, dilruba and other string instruments. In an interview for Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary "", Spector recalls that he liked the results so much, he insisted that "My Sweet Lord" be the lead single from the album.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: This rock version of the song was markedly different from the "Oh Happy Day"-inspired gospel arrangement in musical and structural terms, aligning Harrison's composition with pop music conventions, but also drawing out the similarities of its melody line with that of the Chiffons' 1963 hit "He's So Fine". Beatles historian Bruce Spizer writes that this was due to Harrison being "so focused on the feel of his record", while "Record Collector" editor Peter Doggett wrote in 2001 that, despite Harrison's inspiration for "My Sweet Lord" having come from "Oh Happy Day", "in the hands of producer and arranger Phil Spector, it came out as a carbon copy of the Chiffons' [song]". Chip Madinger and Mark Easter rue that Spector, as "master of all that was 'girl-group' during the early '60s", failed to recognise the similarities.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Before arriving in New York on 28 October to carry out mastering on "All Things Must Pass", Harrison had announced that no single would be issued – so as not to "detract from the impact" of the album. Apple's US executive, Allan Steckler, surprised him by insisting that not only should Harrison abandon thoughts of paring down his new material into a single LP, but there were three sure-fire hit singles: "My Sweet Lord", "Isn't It a Pity" and "What Is Life". Spector said that he had to "fight" Harrison and the latter's manager, Allen Klein, to ensure that "My Sweet Lord" was issued as the single. Film director Howard Worth recalls a preliminary finance meeting for the "Raga" documentary (for which Harrison would provide emergency funding through Apple Films) that began with the ex-Beatle asking him to listen to a selection of songs and pick his favourite, which was "My Sweet Lord". The song was selected even though Preston's version was already scheduled for release as a single in America the following month.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison was opposed to the release but relented to Apple's wishes. "My Sweet Lord" was issued as the album's lead single around the world, but not in Britain; the release date was 23 November 1970 in the United States. The mix of the song differed from that found on "All Things Must Pass" by featuring less echo and a slightly altered backing-vocal track. Both sides of the North American picture sleeve consisted of a Barry Feinstein photo of Harrison taken through a window at his recently purchased Friar Park home, with some of the estate's trees reflected in the glass. Released as a double A-side with "Isn't It a Pity", with Apple catalogue number 2995 in America, both sides of the disc featured a full Apple label.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Public demand via constant airplay in Britain led to a belated UK release, on 15 January 1971. There, as Apple R 5884, the single was backed by "What Is Life", a song that Apple soon released elsewhere internationally as the follow-up to "My Sweet Lord".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison's version of "My Sweet Lord" was an international number 1 hit by the end of 1970 and through the early months of 1971. It was the first solo single by a Beatle to reach the top, and the biggest seller by any of the four throughout the 1970s. Without the support of any concert appearances or promotional interviews by Harrison, the single's commercial success was due to its impact on radio, where, Harrison biographer Gary Tillery writes, the song "rolled across the airwaves like a juggernaut, with commanding presence, much the way Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' had arrived in the mid-sixties". Elton John recalled first hearing "My Sweet Lord" in a taxi and named it as the last of the era's great singles: "I thought, 'Oh my God,' and I got chills. You know when a record starts on the radio, and it's great, and you think, 'Oh, what is this, what is this, what is this?' The only other record I ever felt that way about [afterwards] was 'Brown Sugar' ..."


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Writing for "Rolling Stone" in 2002, Mikal Gilmore said "My Sweet Lord" was "as pervasive on radio and in youth consciousness as anything the Beatles had produced". The release coincided with a period when religion and spirituality had become a craze among Western youth, as songs by Radha Krishna Temple and adaptations of the Christian hymns "Oh Happy Day" and "Amazing Grace" were all worldwide hits, even as church attendance continued to decline. Harrison's song popularised the Hare Krishna mantra internationally, further to the impact of the Radha Krishna Temple's 1969 recording. In response to the heavy radio play, letters poured into the London temple from around the world, thanking Harrison for his religious message in "My Sweet Lord". According to music historian Andrew Grant Jackson, the single's impact surpassed that of any other song in the era's spiritual revival, and Harrison's Indian-influenced slide playing, soon heard also in recordings by Lennon, Starr and Badfinger, was one of the most distinctive sounds of the early 1970s.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The single was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on 14 December 1970 for sales of over 1 million copies. It reached number 1 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 on 26 December, remaining on top for four weeks, three of which coincided with "All Things Must Pass"s seven-week run atop the "Billboard" albums chart. While "Billboard" recognised both sides of the single in the US, only "Isn't It a Pity" was listed when the record topped Canada's "RPM" 100 chart.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In Britain, "My Sweet Lord" entered the charts at number 7, before hitting number 1 on 30 January and staying there for five weeks. It was the biggest-selling single of 1971 in the UK and performed similarly well around the world, particularly in France and Germany, where it held the top spot for nine and ten weeks, respectively. In his 2001 appraisal of Harrison's Apple recordings, for "Record Collector", Doggett described Harrison as "arguably the most successful rock star on the planet" over this period, adding: My Sweet Lord' and "All Things Must Pass" topped charts all over the world, easily outstripping other solo Beatles projects later in the year, such as "Ram" and "Imagine"."<ref name="Doggett/RecColl p 37">Doggett, p. 37.</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The single's worldwide sales amounted to 5 million copies by 1978, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time. By 2010, according to Inglis, "My Sweet Lord" had sold over 10 million copies. The song returned to the number 1 position again in the UK when reissued in January 2002, two months after Harrison's death from cancer at the age of 58.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Reviewing the single for "Rolling Stone", Jon Landau called the track "sensational". "Billboard"s reviewer described the record as "a powerhouse two-sided winner", saying that "My Sweet Lord" had the "potent feel and flavor of another 'Oh Happy Day, with powerful lyrics and an "infectious rhythm". Ben Gerson of "Rolling Stone" commented that the substituting of Harrison's "Hare Krishna" refrain for the trivial "Doo-lang, doo-lang, doo-lang"s of "He's So Fine" was "a sign of the times"<ref name="Gerson/RS">Ben Gerson, "George Harrison "All Things Must Pass"", "Rolling Stone", 21 January 1971, p. 46 (retrieved 30 March 2014).</ref> and recognised Harrison as "perhaps the premier studio musician among rock band guitarists". In his December 1970 album review for "NME", Alan Smith bemoaned the apparent lack of a UK single release for "My Sweet Lord". Smith said the song "seems to owe something" to "He's So Fine",<ref name="Smith/NME">Alan Smith, "George Harrison: "All Things Must Pass" (Apple)", "NME", 5 December 1970, p. 2; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 30 March 2014).</ref> and Gerson called it an "obvious re-write".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Led by the single, the album encouraged widespread recognition of Harrison as a solo artist and revised views of the nature of the Beatles' creative leadership. Among these writers, Don Heckman of "The New York Times" predicted that "My Sweet Lord" / "Isn't It a Pity" would soon top the US charts and credited Harrison with having "generated some of the major changes in the style and substance of the Beatles" through his championing of Indian music and Eastern religion.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In a January 1971 review for "NME", Derek Johnson expressed surprise at Apple's delay in releasing the single in the UK, and stated: "In my opinion, this record – finally and irrevocably – establishes George as a talent equivalent to either Lennon or McCartney."<ref name="Moore/NMEOrig">Hunt, p. 32.</ref> David Hughes of "Disc and Music Echo" said he had run out of superlatives to describe the two sides. He deemed "My Sweet Lord" "the most instant and the most commercial" track on "All Things Must Pass", adding that the single release was long overdue and a solution for those put off by the high price of the triple LP. Hughes also wrote: "A great rhythm is set up and then comes that superb steel guitar with which he's so fallen in love... [The track] does sound like the old Chiffons' song 'He's So Fine', but that's not a knock, just a cocky observation."


title: My Sweet Lord

text: At the end of 1971, "My Sweet Lord" topped the "Melody Maker" reader's polls for both "Single of the Year" and "World's Single of the Year". It was also voted "Single of the Year" in a poll conducted by Radio Luxembourg. In the US publication "Record World", the song was voted best single and Harrison was named as "Top Male Vocalist of 1971". In June 1972, Harrison won two Ivor Novello songwriter's awards for "My Sweet Lord".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: On 10 February 1971, Bright Tunes Music Corporation filed suit against Harrison and associated organisations (including Harrisongs, Apple Records and BMI), alleging copyright infringement of the late Ronnie Mack's song "He's So Fine". In "I Me Mine", Harrison admits to having thought "Why didn't I realise?" when others started pointing out the similarity between the two songs. By June that year, country singer Jody Miller had released a cover of "He's So Fine" incorporating Harrison's "My Sweet Lord" slide-guitar riffs, thereby "really putting the screws in" from Harrison's point of view. At this time, Bright Tunes were themselves the subject of litigation, as Mack's mother had sued the company over non-payment of royalties. Allen Klein entered into negotiations with Bright Tunes, offering to buy its entire catalogue, but no settlement could be reached before the company was forced into receivership.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Musicologist Dominic Pedler writes that both songs have a three-syllable title refrain followed by a 5-3-2 descent of the major scale in the tonic key (E major for "My Sweet Lord" and G major for "He's So Fine"); respective tempos are similar: 121 and 145 beats per minute. In the respective B sections ("I really want to see you" and "I dunno how I'm gonna do it"), there is a similar ascent through 5-6-8, but the Chiffons distinctively retain the G tonic for four bars and, on the repeat of the motif, uniquely go to an A-note 9th embellishment over the first syllable of "gonna". Harrison, on the other hand, introduces the more complex harmony of a relative minor (C#m), as well as the fundamental and distinctly original slide-guitar motif.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: While the case was on hold, Harrison and his former bandmates Lennon and Starr chose to sever ties with Klein at the end of March 1973 – an acrimonious split that led to further lawsuits for the three ex-Beatles. Bright Tunes and Harrison later resumed their negotiations. His final offer of 40 per cent of "My Sweet Lord" US composer's and publisher's royalties, along with a stipulation that he retain copyright for his song, was viewed as a "good one" by Bright's legal representation, yet the offer was rejected. It later transpired that Klein had renewed his efforts to purchase the ailing company, now solely for himself, and to that end was supplying Bright Tunes with insider details regarding "My Sweet Lord" sales figures and copyright value.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: According to journalist Bob Woffinden, writing in 1981, the case would most likely have been settled privately, as so many had been in the past, had Mack still been alive and had "personal ownership of the copyright" been a factor. In the build-up to the case going to court, the Chiffons recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord" in 1975, with the aim of drawing attention to the lawsuit. Author Alan Clayson has described the plagiarism suit as "the most notorious civil action of the decade", saying that the "extremity" of the proceedings were provoked by a combination of the commercial success of Harrison's single and the intervention of "litigation-loving Mr Klein".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: "Bright Tunes Music v. Harrisongs Music" went to the United States district court on 23 February 1976, to hear evidence on the allegation of plagiarism. Harrison attended the proceedings in New York, with a guitar, and each side called musical experts to support its argument. Harrison's counsel contended that he had drawn inspiration from "Oh Happy Day" and that Mack's composition was also derived from that hymn. The judge presiding was Richard Owen, a classical musician and composer of operas in his spare time.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: After reconvening in September 1976, the court found that Harrison had subconsciously copied "He's So Fine", since he admitted to having been aware of the Chiffons' recording. Owen said in his conclusion to the proceedings:


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Did Harrison deliberately use the music of "He's So Fine"? I do not believe he did so deliberately. Nevertheless, it is clear that "My Sweet Lord" is the very same song as "He's So Fine" with different words, and Harrison had access to "He's So Fine". This is, under the law, infringement of copyright, and is no less so even though subconsciously accomplished.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: With liability established, the court recommended an amount for the damages to be paid by Harrison and Apple to Bright Tunes, which Owen totalled at $1,599,987. This figure amounted to three-quarters of the royalty revenue raised in North America from "My Sweet Lord", as well as a significant proportion of that from the "All Things Must Pass" album. Some observers have considered this unreasonable and unduly harsh, since it underplayed the unique elements of Harrison's recording – the universal spiritual message of its lyrics, the signature guitar hook, and its production – and ignored the acclaim his album received in its own right. The award factored in the royalty revenue raised from "My Sweet Lord" inclusion on the recent "Best of George Harrison" compilation, though at a more moderate percentage than for the 1970 album. In the UK, the corresponding damages suit, brought by Peter Maurice Music, was swiftly settled out of court in July 1977.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: During the drawn-out damages portion of the US suit, events played into Harrison's hands when Klein's ABKCO Industries purchased the copyright to "He's So Fine", and with it all litigation claims, after which Klein proceeded to negotiate sale of the song to Harrison. On 19 February 1981, the court decided that, due to Klein's duplicity in the case, Harrison would only have to pay ABKCO $587,000 instead of the $1.6 million award and would also receive the rights to "He's So Fine" – $587,000 being the amount Klein had paid Bright Tunes for the song in 1978. The court ruled that Klein's actions had been in breach of the fiduciary duty owed to Harrison, a duty that continued "even after the principal–agent relationship ended".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The litigation continued through to the early 1990s as the finer points of the settlement were finally decided. In his 1993 essay on "Bright Tunes v. Harrisongs", Joseph Self describes it as "without question, one of the longest running legal battles ever to be litigated in [the United States]". Music journalist David Cavanagh termed it "the most absurd legal black comedy in the annals of rock". Matters were concluded in March 1998. Harrison retained the rights for both songs in the UK and North America, and Klein was awarded the rights elsewhere in the world.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The ruling set new legal precedents and was a personal blow for Harrison, who said he was too "paranoid" to write anything new for some time afterwards. Early reaction in the music industry saw Little Richard claim for breach of copyright in a track recorded by the Beatles in 1964 for the "Beatles for Sale" album, as well as Ringo Starr credit songwriter Clifford T. Ward as the inspiration for his "Ringo's Rotogravure" song "Lady Gaye".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Shortly before the ruling was handed down in September 1976, Harrison wrote and recorded a song inspired by the court case – the upbeat "This Song". It includes the lines "This tune has nothing 'Bright' about it" and "don't infringe on anyone's copyright". The 1960s soul hits "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" and "Rescue Me", as well as his own composition "You", are all name-checked in the lyrics, as if to demonstrate the point that, as he later put it, "99 per cent of the popular music that can be heard is reminiscent of something or other." In "I, Me, Mine", Harrison says of the episode: "I don't feel guilty or bad about it, in fact ['My Sweet Lord'] saved many a heroin addict's life. I know the "motive" behind writing the song in the first place and its effect far exceeded the legal hassle."


title: My Sweet Lord

text: According to Woffinden, the ruling came as no surprise in the US. "He's So Fine" had been a major hit there, unlike in the UK, and American commentators had been quick to scrutinise "My Sweet Lord" for its similarities. Woffinden nevertheless wrote that "within the context of rock music, it was an unjust decision" and that Owen "clearly understood nothing of rock 'n' roll, or gospel, or popular music" in terms of shared influences. Woffinden commented that, as of 1981, no comparable action over copyright infringement had been launched despite the continuation of this tradition; he cited the appropriation of aspects of Harrison's 1966 song "Taxman" in the Jam's recent number 1 hit "Start!" as an example of the industry's preference for avoiding the courtroom.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: When asked to comment on the decision in a 1976 interview, Starr said: "There's no doubt that the tune is similar but how many songs have been written with other melodies in mind? George's version is much heavier than the Chiffons – he might have done it with the original in the back of his mind, but he's just very unlucky that someone wanted to make it a test case in court." In his 1980 interview with "Playboy", John Lennon expressed doubt about the notion of "subconscious" plagiarism, saying of Harrison: "He must have known, you know. He's smarter than that ... He could have changed a couple of bars in that song and nobody could ever have touched him, but he just let it go and paid the price. Maybe he thought God would just sort of let him off." McCartney conceded that the Beatles "stole a lot of stuff" from other artists; in a 2008 interview, he said the "nick" from "He's So Fine" was validated because Harrison had avoided the "boy–girl thing" and offered an important spiritual message.<ref name="Cavanagh/Uncut">David Cavanagh, "George Harrison: The Dark Horse", "Uncut", August 2008, p. 43.</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: AllMusic's Richie Unterberger says of the song's international popularity: My Sweet Lord' has a quasi-religious feel, but nevertheless has enough conventional pop appeal to reach mainstream listeners who may or may not care to dig into the spiritual lyrical message." Some Christian fundamentalist anti-rock activists have objected that chanting "Hare Krishna" in "My Sweet Lord" was anti-Christian or satanic, while some born-again Christians adopted the song as an anthem. Simon Leng describes the slide guitar motif as "among the best-known guitar passages in popular music". Ian Inglis highlights the combination of Harrison's "evident lack of artifice" and Spector's "excellent production", such that "My Sweet Lord" can be heard "as a prayer, a love song, an anthem, a contemporary gospel track, or a piece of perfect pop".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: According to music historians David Luhrssen and Michael Larson, "My Sweet Lord" "became an early battleground over music as intellectual property" and the ruling against Harrison "opened a floodgate of suits over allegedly similar melodies and chord progressions". In a 2016 "Rolling Stone" article on landmark music copyright cases, the suit is credited with establishing "a precedent of harsher copyright standards" as well as "introducing the phrase 'subconscious plagiarism' into the popular lexicon". Writing in "The New York Review of Books" in 2013, author and neurologist Oliver Sacks cited the case when stating his preference for the word cryptomnesia over plagiarism, which he said was "suggestive of crime and deceit". Sacks added that Owen had displayed "psychological insight and sympathy" in deeming Harrison's infringement to have been "subconsciously accomplished".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Due to the plagiarism suit, "My Sweet Lord" became stigmatised. While acknowledging the similarity with "He's So Fine", music critic David Fricke describes Harrison's composition as "the honest child of black American sacred song". Jayson Greene of "Pitchfork" writes that the court ruling of subconscious plagiarism "could be a good euphemism for 'pop songwriting generally, and the episode was "doubly ironic considering Harrison's intrinsic generosity as an artist". In a 2001 review, Greg Kot of the "Chicago Tribune" said that "My Sweet Lord" serves as the entrance to Spector's "cathedral of sound" on "All Things Must Pass", adding that although Harrison lost the lawsuit, the song's "towering majesty... remains undiminished". Mikal Gilmore calls it an "irresistible devotional". In 2009, pop culture critic Roy Trakin commented that if music fans were in doubt as to Harrison's enduring influence, they should "listen to Wilco's latest album for a song called 'You Never Know', which is even closer to 'My Sweet Lord' than that one was to 'He's So Fine', with its slide guitar lines practically an homage to the original." David Simons of "Acoustic Guitar" magazine says that, further to his contributions to the Beatles' recordings, Harrison "elevated the sound and scope of recorded acoustic guitar" with his debut single.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In their written tributes to Harrison shortly after his death, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards each named "My Sweet Lord" among their personal favourites of all his songs, along with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". In 2010, AOL Radio listeners voted it the best song from Harrison's solo years. According to a chart published by PPL in August 2018, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of Apple Records' founding, "My Sweet Lord" had received the most airplay in the 21st century of any song released by the record label, ahead of Lennon's "Imagine" and the Beatles' "Hey Jude".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: "My Sweet Lord" was ranked 454th on "Rolling Stone"s list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004 and 460th on the magazine's revised list in 2010. According to the website Acclaimed Music, it has also appeared in the following critics' best-song lists and books, among others: "The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000" by author Bruce Pollock (2005), Dave Thompson's "1000 Songs That Rock Your World" (2011; ranked at number 247), "Ultimate Classic Rock"s "Top 100 Classic Rock Songs" (2013; number 56), the "NME"s "100 Best Songs of the 1970s" (2012; number 65), and the same magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" (2014; number 270).


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Since its initial release on "All Things Must Pass", "My Sweet Lord" has appeared on the 1976 compilation "The Best of George Harrison" and 2009's career-spanning "". The original UK single (with "What Is Life" as the B-side) was reissued on Christmas Eve 1976 in Britain – a "provocative" move by EMI, given the publicity the lawsuit had attracted that year for the song. The song appears in the 2017 Marvel Studios film "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2", and it is included on the film's soundtrack.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: To promote the 50th anniversary reissue of "All Things Must Pass" in December 2021, the Harrison estate released a music video for the 2020 mix of "My Sweet Lord".<ref name="Blistein/RollingStone">Jon Blistein, "Ringo Starr Chucks Popcorn at Fred Armisen in Video for George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord, rollingstone.com, 15 December 2021 (retrieved 18 December 2021).</ref> Executive produced by Dhani Harrison and David Zonshine, it was written and directed by Lance Bangs, and stars Mark Hamill, Vanessa Bayer and Fred Armisen as secret agents investigating a mysterious phenomenon around Los Angeles. Much of the video follows Armisen's perspective, from a room filled with books to a large cinema showing a fictional film of George Harrison's home footage, titled "All Things Must Pass". The video features cameos from many celebrities – including Mark Hamill, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, Joe Walsh, Dhani and Olivia Harrison – and ends with Armisen and Bayer's characters solving the mystery by hearing the song for the first time on their car radio.<ref name="MSL video/YouTube">"George Harrison – My Sweet Lord (Official Music Video)", George Harrison/YouTube, 15 December 2021 (retrieved 18 December 2021).</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: On 26 December 1975, Harrison made a guest appearance on his friend Eric Idle's BBC2 comedy show "Rutland Weekend Television", sending up his serious public image, and seemingly about to perform "My Sweet Lord".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: As a running gag in the show, Harrison interrupts the proceedings, hoping for an acting role as "Pirate Bob", dressed in a pirate costume with a parrot on his shoulder. He gets turned down each time by Idle and "RWT" regular Neil Innes, who simply want him to play the part of "George Harrison". At the end, dressed in more normal attire and backed by the house band, Harrison appears on stage strumming the introduction to "My Sweet Lord" on acoustic guitar. Instead of continuing with the song, Harrison takes his chance to play Pirate Bob by abruptly segueing into a sea shanty. Idle, in his role as a "greasy" compère, reacts with horror and attempts to have Harrison removed from the studio.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: This performance is known as "The Pirate Song", co-written by Harrison and Idle, and the recording is only available unofficially on bootleg compilations such as "Pirate Songs". Commenting on the parallels with Harrison's real-life reluctance to play the pop star, Simon Leng writes, "there was great resonance within these gags."


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In January 2001, Harrison included a new version of the song as a bonus track on the remastered "All Things Must Pass" album. Titled "My Sweet Lord (2000)", it features Harrison sharing vocals with Sam Brown, the daughter of his friend Joe Brown, backed by mostly new instrumentation, including acoustic guitar by his son Dhani and tambourine by Ray Cooper. The track opens with a "snippet" of sitar, in Leng's description, to "emphasize its spiritual roots". Harrison said that his motivation for remaking the song was partly to "play a better slide guitar solo". As further reasons, he cited the "spiritual response" that the song had long received, together with his interest in reworking the tune to avoid the contentious musical notes. Of the extended slide-guitar break on "My Sweet Lord (2000)", Leng writes: "[Harrison] had never made so clear a musical statement that his signature bottleneck sound was as much his tool for self-expression as his vocal cords." Elliot Huntley opines that Harrison's vocal was more "gospel inflected" and perhaps even more sincere than on the original recording, "given his deteriorating health" during the final year of his life.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: This version also appeared on the January 2002 posthumous release of the "My Sweet Lord" charity CD single, comprising the original "My Sweet Lord", Harrison's reworking, and the acoustic run-through of "Let It Down" (with recent overdubs, another 2001 bonus track). Proceeds went to Harrison's Material World Charitable Foundation for dispersal to selected charities, apart from in the United States, where proceeds went to the Self Realization Fellowship. For some months after the single release, a portion of "My Sweet Lord (2000)" looped on Harrison's official website over screen images of lotus petals scattering and re-forming. It also appears on the 2014 "Apple Years 1968–75" reissue of "All Things Must Pass".<ref name="Marchese/SecondDisc">Joe Marchese, "Give Me Love: George Harrison's 'Apple Years' Are Collected on New Box Set", "The Second Disc", 2 September 2014 (retrieved 26 September 2014).</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In November 2011, a demo of "My Sweet Lord", with Harrison backed by just Voormann and Starr, was included on the accompanying the British DVD release of Scorsese's "Living in the Material World" documentary.<ref name="Early Takes/AM">Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "George Harrison: "Early Takes, Vol. 1"", AllMusic (retrieved 15 September 2012).</ref> The trio recorded the song at EMI Studios on 26 May 1970, on the first of two days dedicated to taping demos of compositions under consideration for "All Things Must Pass".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Giles Martin, who helped organise Harrison's recordings archive at Friar Park for the film project, described the track as an early "live take". The demo was released internationally in May 2012 on the "" compilation. In his album review for "Rolling Stone", David Frick deemed this version of the song an "acoustic hosanna".


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison performed "My Sweet Lord" at every one of his relatively few solo concerts, starting with the two Concert for Bangladesh shows at New York's Madison Square Garden on 1 August 1971. The recording released on the subsequent live album was taken from the evening show and begins with Harrison's spoken "Hare Krishna" over his opening acoustic-guitar chords. Among the 24 backing musicians was a "Soul Choir" featuring singers Claudia Linnear, Dolores Hall and Joe Greene, but it was Harrison who sang the end-of-song Guru Stotram prayer in his role as lead vocalist, unlike on the studio recording (where it was sung by the backing chorus). The slide guitar parts were played by Eric Clapton and Jesse Ed Davis.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: During his 1974 North American tour, Harrison's only one there as a solo artist, he performed "My Sweet Lord" as the encore at each show. In contrast with the subtle shift from "hallelujah"s to Sanskrit chants on his 1970 original, Harrison used the song to engage his audience in kirtan, the practice of "chanting the holy names of the Lord" in Indian religions – from "Om Christ!" and Krishna, to Buddha and Allah – with varying degrees of success. Backed by a band that again included Billy Preston, Harrison turned "My Sweet Lord" into an extended gospel-funk piece, closer in its arrangement to Preston's "Encouraging Words" version and lasting up to ten minutes.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: Harrison's second and final solo tour took place in Japan in December 1991, with Clapton's band. A live version of "My Sweet Lord" recorded at the Tokyo Dome, on 14 December, was released the following year on the "Live in Japan" album.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: "My Sweet Lord" attracted many cover versions in the early 1970s and was the most performed song of 1971. Its coinciding with a trend for spirituality in rock music ensured it was frequently performed on religious-themed television shows. The song was also popular among supper club performers following recordings by artists such as Johnny Mathis.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: The song was accepted as an authentic work in the gospel tradition; in music journalist Chris Ingham's description, it became a "genuine gospel classic". Many of the Christian cover artists have omitted the mantra lyrics on religious grounds.<ref name="Breihan/Stereogum">Tom Breihan, "The Number Ones: George Harrison's 'My Sweet Lord, "Stereogum", 18 January 2019 (retrieved 21 October 2020).</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: In 1972, Nina Simone released an 18-minute gospel reworking of "My Sweet Lord", performed live at Fort Dix before a group of African-American soldiers. It served as an anti-Vietnam War statement and the centrepiece of her album "Emergency Ward!",<ref name="Dennis/FT">Jon Dennis, "Life of a Song: My Sweet Lord – the song that earned George Harrison a lawsuit", ft.com, 31 July 2018 (retrieved 23 October 2020).</ref> which also included an 11-minute version of Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity". Simone interspersed the song with the David Nelson poem "Today Is a Killer", giving the performance an apocalyptic ending.<ref name="Richardson/AM">Mark Richardson, "Nina Simone "Emergency Ward!"", AllMusic (retrieved 16 June 2009).</ref>


title: My Sweet Lord

text: By the late 1970s, "My Sweet Lord" was the most covered song written and released by any of the former Beatles since the band's break-up. Edwin Starr and Byron Lee and the Dragonaires were among the other artists who recorded it.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: 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. At the Concert for George on 29 November 2002, it was performed by Billy Preston. In 2014, Brian Wilson performed the song with his band (including Al Jardine) at the George Fest concert tribute to Harrison. Tribute recordings have also been released by Jim James (as Yim Yames), on his 2009 EP "Tribute To", and Hurray for the Riff Raff, for "Mojo" magazine's "Harrison Covered" CD in 2011.


title: My Sweet Lord

text: According to Mal Evans' diary (except where noted), the following musicians played on Harrison's original version of "My Sweet Lord".


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Yasiel Puig Valdés ( , ; born December 7, 1990) is a Cuban-born American professional baseball right fielder who is currently a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds, and Cleveland Indians. His nickname is "The Wild Horse", given to him by former longtime Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig previously played for the Cuba national baseball team in the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championship, winning a bronze medal. He defected from Cuba in 2012, and signed a seven-year, $42 million contract with the Dodgers. He made his MLB debut on June 3, 2013. In 2013, Puig hit .319 in 104 games with 19 home runs, and was selected by "Baseball America" to their annual "All-Rookie team". The Dodgers traded Puig to the Reds before the 2019 season, and the Reds traded Puig to the Indians at the 2019 trade deadline.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig did not sign with a team in 2020, and played for El Águila de Veracruz of the Mexican League in 2021. He signed with the Heroes for the 2022 season.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig was born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, the elder of two children of Omar Puig and Maritza Valdés. He has a sister, Yaima. His father was an engineer in a sugar cane factory. He began playing baseball at the age of nine.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig played for the Cuba national baseball team when they won the bronze medal in the 2008 World Junior Baseball Championship. He then played for the Cienfuegos team of the Cuban National Series in the 2008–09 Cuban National Series. He batted .276 with five home runs in his debut season. Puig enjoyed a breakout season in the 2009–10 Cuban National Series, with a .330 batting average, 17 home runs, 47 runs batted in (RBIs), and 78 runs scored in 327 at-bats. Puig also played for the Cuba national team in the 2011 World Port Tournament, where he tried to defect along with teammate Gerardo Concepción. Concepción was successful; Puig was not. He was penalized disciplined by a ban from playing the 2011–12 seasons.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Starting in 2009, Puig tried to defect to Mexico 13 times in order to become a legal resident so he could become eligible to sign a contract in Major League Baseball. The first time, the police pulled over Puig's car. The second time, the boat failed to arrive. The third time, police raided their safe house and detained them for six days. On the fourth try, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter "Vigilant" intercepted their boat near Haiti. The fifth time, he was successfully taken to Mexico by Los Zetas, a murderous Mexican drug cartel involved in cocaine and smuggling. Yunior Despaigne, a boxer who was formerly on the Cuba national team and had known Puig for years through youth sports academies, said:


title: Yasiel Puig

text: "I don't know if you could call it a kidnapping, because we had gone there voluntarily, but we also weren't free to leave. If they didn't receive the money, they were saying that at any moment they might give him a machetazo" — a whack with a machete — "chop off an arm, a finger, whatever, and he would never play baseball again, not for anyone."


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Floridian Raul Pacheco, the 29-year-old president of Miami-based T&P Metal and PY Recycling, allegedly paid smugglers $250,000 to get Puig out of Cuba. In exchange, Pacheco would receive 20% of Puig's future earnings after he signed an MLB contract. Pacheco had previously been arrested in 2009 for attempted burglary and in 2010 for using a fake Bank of America credit card to buy $150,000 worth of beer and having in his possession four other fraudulent credit cards and a fake ID card. He was sentenced to two years’ probation. Puig had also been offered to Los Angeles-based agent Gus Dominguez, starting at $175,000, and New York-based agent Joe Kehoskie, starting at $250,000. "Nobody's going to Cuba and bringing out a guy like Yasiel Puig," Kehoskie said, "and just handing him over to an agent out of the goodness of their heart."


title: Yasiel Puig

text: A month later, the captain of the smuggling boat, Yandrys León, was found dead in Cancún. León was called "one of the most important capos of the Cuban-American mafia" by the United Press International. Cuban boxer Miguel Angel Corbacho Daudinot was sentenced to seven years in prison after Puig allegedly testified against him to the Cuban authorities. In 2013, Corbacho Daudinot's lawyers filed a federal lawsuit against Puig in Miami, claiming that Puig delivered false testimony that led to Corbacho Daudinot's imprisonment under "inhumane" conditions, and in so doing violated the Torture Victim Protection Act; the suit seeks $12 million in damages.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: According to court records, Puig has paid Pacheco over $1.3 million. He also paid $400,000 to $500,000 to Alberto Fariñas, the 49-year-old vice president of Pacheco's T&P Metal company, and $600,000 to Marcos González, a Miami lawyer. He also paid an undisclosed amount to Gilberto Suarez, founder of a start-up company called Miami Sport Management.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Puig on June 28, 2012, to a seven-year deal worth $42 million. Eddie Oropesa and Tim Bravo, a special-education teacher from Las Cruces High School in New Mexico, helped the newly arrived Puig adjust to life in the United States during his first year. The Dodgers placed him on the 40-man roster and assigned him to their Arizona Rookie League team. In nine games, he hit .400 with four homers and 11 RBI.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On August 13, 2012, the Dodgers promoted Puig to the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes of the Class A-Advanced California League. He played in 14 games with the Quakes and hit .327. After the Quakes season, he was scheduled to join the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League, but a staph infection in his right elbow required surgery and sidelined him for several months. After the infection healed, he opted to play winter ball in Puerto Rico to keep his development on schedule.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig had a very strong spring training with the Dodgers in 2013, hitting .526 in Cactus League games and having some in the press speculate that he might break camp with the Dodgers. However, he was optioned to the Chattanooga Lookouts of the Class AA Southern League just before the end of spring training. He hit .313 with eight home runs and 37 RBI for the Lookouts in 40 games.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On June 2, 2013, the Dodgers announced that they had recalled Puig from Chattanooga, and he made his debut on June 3. In his first career at-bat, he singled to left-center off Eric Stults of the San Diego Padres. He was 2-for-4 in the game, and showcased his strong arm by recording an outfield assist on a double play to end the game.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig hit two home runs, doubled, and drove in five runs in his second game. He became the first Dodger ever to have a multi-homer game in one of his first two appearances. In his fourth game, on June 6, 2013, he hit a grand slam off of Cory Gearrin of the Atlanta Braves. Puig was named the National League Player of the Week for the week of June 3–9.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig had 27 hits in his first 15 games, tied with Joe DiMaggio (1936) and Terry Pendleton (1984) for second-most all-time behind Irv Waldron (1901) and Bo Hart (2003) with 28. He also became the first player in major league history to record at least 34 hits and seven home runs in his first 20 games and set Dodger records for most hits through 20 games (one more than Gibby Brack in 1937) and total bases through 20 games (58, four more than Del Bissonette in 1928). Puig finished the month of June with 44 hits, breaking Steve Sax's 1983 team record for most hits by a rookie in one month. That total was also second all-time for rookies in their first month, behind only DiMaggio who had 48. In 26 games in June, Puig hit .436 with a .467 on-base percentage and a .713 slugging percentage. He won both the National League Rookie of the Month Award and the National League Player of the Month Award, the first time someone had won both in their first month in the Majors.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Despite his not making his debut until June, Puig received 842,915 write-in votes from the fans for the 2013 All-Star Game. His name was included among the All-Star Final Vote candidates. Puig received 15.5 million votes, second to Atlanta Braves' first baseman Freddie Freeman who received 19.7 million.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In 2013, Puig hit .319 in 104 games with 19 home runs and 42 RBIs. He was selected by "Baseball America" to their annual "All-Rookie team" and finished second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting to fellow Cuban José Fernández.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On May 17, 2014, Puig had his eighth consecutive game with at least one extra-base hit and at least one RBI, which was a new record for the longest streak by a Dodger, surpassing the marks of Pedro Guerrero (1985), Duke Snider (1954), and Howie Schultz (1944). He was selected as the NL Player of the Week for that week and the National League Player of the Month for May after he hit .398 with eight home runs and 25 RBI. Puig was voted and named a starter for the 2014 All-Star Game, the youngest Dodger starter for an All-Star game since Steve Sax in 1982. Puig participated in the Home Run Derby during the All-Star festivities.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On July 25, 2014, Puig went 4-for-5 with a career-high four extra-base hits, tying the Dodgers' single-game record with three triples, matching Jimmy Sheckard. Puig's teammates Matt Kemp and Dee Gordon each recorded one triple as well, tying the club's single-game triples record of five, set in 1902 and 1921.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig finished the 2014 regular season with 16 home runs and 69 RBI, and a .296 batting average. In the 2014 NLDS against the St. Louis Cardinals, Puig struck out seven times in a row over the first three games of the series. He then hit a triple and scored the Dodgers' only run in a 3–1 loss.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig was selected to travel to Japan after the season with a team of MLB All-Stars playing against All-Stars of Nippon Professional Baseball in the 2014 Major League Baseball Japan All-Star Series.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig began the 2015 season experiencing left hamstring issues that caused him to miss several games. On April 26, Puig was placed on the 15-day disabled list for the first time in his major league career, due to his nagging left hamstring. He rejoined the Dodgers roster on June 6. On August 18, Puig injured his right hamstring, and he was placed on the 15-day disabled list nine days later. He returned on October 3, appearing in the final two games of the season. He played in a total of 79 regular-season games. He batted .255/.322/.436, and he had 11 home runs, 38 RBIs, and three stolen bases — all career lows.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In the 2016 season, Puig was again hampered by hamstring issues which reduced his playing time and production. He hit .260 with seven home runs in 81 games through the end of July. On August 2, he was optioned to the AAA Oklahoma City Dodgers when the Dodgers acquired Josh Reddick in a trade to take over the right field position. ESPN reported that Puig was told by the team on Monday, August 1, the day of the trade deadline not to join the Dodgers on the road since he would either be traded or demoted. He rejoined the team in September and hit .263/.323/.416 on the season in 104 games with 11 home runs and 45 RBIs. He batted .211 (4-for-19) with a run scored in 10 postseason games.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On June 13, 2017. Puig made an obscene gesture at Cleveland Indians fans at Progressive Field after hitting a homerun. The next day, he was suspended for a game, but he appealed the suspension and it was rescinded. He instead was allowed to make a charitable donation. For the season, he batted .263/.346/.487 with 28 home runs (a career high) and 74 RBI, as well as 15 stolen bases. He received the Wilson Defensive Player of the Year Award for his play in right field. He had a strong start to the postseason, hitting .455 in the 2017 NLDS and .389 with a home run in the 2017 NLCS. In the 2017 World Series, he had only four hits in 27 at-bats (.148 average) as the Dodgers lost the series in seven games to the Houston Astros. Two of his four hits were home runs.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On February 7, 2018, Wasserman Media Group announced that it had "terminated its professional relationship" with Puig. He was without representation until April 2018, when he signed with Beverly Hills Sports Council. On April 28, Puig left a game due to left hip soreness. The injury occurred while he was making a catch against the outfield wall. He was placed on the 10-day disabled list the next day. On August 11, Puig hit his 100th career home run off Kyle Freeland of the Colorado Rockies. On August 14, Puig got into an altercation with Nick Hundley at home plate. After fouling off a pitch, Puig threw his bat up and snatched it out of the air in frustration feeling like he had a good pitch to hit. Hundley took exception to Puig's actions and the two had words. Puig then shoved Hundley, causing a bench-clearing brawl. Both Hundley and Puig were ejected. In 2018, he had the lowest fielding percentage among all Major League right fielders. In Game 7 of the NLCS Puig hit a 3-run home run to extend the Dodger lead to 5–1 against the Milwaukee Brewers. In Game 4 of the 2018 World Series, Puig hit a 3-run home run off Eduardo Rodriguez to increase the Dodgers' lead to 4–0.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On December 21, 2018, the Dodgers traded Puig to the Cincinnati Reds, along with Matt Kemp, Alex Wood, Kyle Farmer, and cash considerations in exchange for Homer Bailey, Jeter Downs, and Josiah Gray.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: The three-team transaction sending Puig to the Indians became official the following day on July 31, 2019. The Reds acquired Trevor Bauer from Cleveland, the Indians acquired Scott Moss from Cincinnati and Franmil Reyes, Logan Allen, and Victor Nova from San Diego, and the Padres acquired Taylor Trammell. On August 1, 2019, Puig was suspended for three games due to his role in a brawl during a game against the Pittsburgh Pirates while playing for the Reds. He did not appeal the suspension, which he served starting on August 12, 2019, against the Boston Red Sox.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On July 17, 2020, Puig tested positive for COVID-19, nixing a deal he was expected to sign with the Atlanta Braves.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On April 21, 2021, Puig announced via Twitter that he had signed with El Águila de Veracruz of the Mexican League. In 62 games with the team, Puig batted .312/.409/.517 with 10 home runs and 43 RBIs across 247 plate appearances. He was named as the Defensive Player of the Year following the season.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On December 8, 2021, Puig signed a one-year, $1 million contract with the Kiwoom Heroes of the KBO League.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: Puig created the Wild Horse Children's Foundation in 2016. The foundation's name embraces the nickname Vin Scully gave him as a rookie. According to its website, the foundation aims to inspire children and families in underserved communities by promoting healthier and better-quality lives through education, sports, community development, and health and wellness programs.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On April 19, 2018, Puig and the Wild Horse Children's Foundation announced a collaboration with the City of San Fernando, California to renovate Pioneer Park, as well as refurbish a dilapidated house on-site that had been boarded up for nearly 10 years.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: At a game in New York City in May 2019, Puig met a young fan about to have his 40th surgery, due to hydrocephalus. The following month, Puig treated the fan and his family to a Reds game in Cincinnati.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: On an off-day in New York between two Indians' series (one with the Mets and one with the Yankees) in August 2019, Puig paid for a helicopter trip to Camp Simcha, an orthodox Jewish day camp for kids with cancer. He spent four hours with the children there, and found it difficult to leave. In a tweet afterward, Puig called it "one of the best days of my life", adding, "you are my inspiration".


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In April 2013, Puig was charged with reckless driving and speeding in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when he was caught driving in a zone on Amnicola Highway. The charges were dismissed after he served 12 hours of community service. On December 28, 2013, Puig was again arrested for reckless driving after allegedly driving in a zone, in Naples, Florida. He was taken to the Collier County Jail and released after posting bail. The State of Florida elected to drop the reckless driving charge on January 28, 2014, after concluding that there was insufficient evidence to support it.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In March 2021, ESPN reported that MLB investigators had interviewed a woman who said Puig had sexually assaulted her in a Staples Center bathroom during a Los Angeles Lakers game in October 2018. Puig has denied the allegations, calling them "false and malicious". The woman did not file a police report, but later filed a lawsuit. In October 2021, Puig announced that he had settled his sexual assault lawsuit, and wished to return to MLB in 2022.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: As part of the disclosure from the 2020 lawsuit, Puig's attorneys claimed that Puig was insolvent, and that his earlier wealth from his successful career was nearly completely gone. The latest settlement was for $250,000 — with the accuser paying her own attorney's fees — due to fears that Puig had nothing left to offer had the accuser held out for more.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In December 2021, it was reported in "The Washington Post" that Puig had secretly settled a lawsuit raised by two women who claimed that Puig sexually assaulted them in January 2017. Despite the allegations, Puig had not been put on leave, and the public had not been notified.


title: Yasiel Puig

text: In November 2022, Puig pled guilty to lying to federal law enforcement officers regarding bets that he placed with an illegal sports betting operation. He faces up to five years in prison. Later that month, he changed his plea to not guilty.


title: New Development Bank

text: The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). According to the Agreement on the NDB, "the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments." Moreover, the NDB "shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank."


title: New Development Bank

text: The initial authorized capital of the bank is $100 billion divided into 1 million shares having a par value of $100,000 each. The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50 billion divided into paid-in shares ($10 billion) and callable shares ($40 billion). The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members (Brazil, Russia, India, People’s Republic of China, South Africa). The Agreement on the NDB specifies that every member will have one vote no one would have any veto powers


title: New Development Bank

text: The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The first regional office of the NDB is in Johannesburg, South Africa. The second regional office was established in 2019 in São Paulo, Brazil, followed by GIFT City, India and Moscow, Russia.


title: New Development Bank

text: The idea for setting up the bank was proposed by India at the 4th BRICS summit in 2012 held in Delhi. The creation of a new development bank was the main theme of the meeting. BRICS leaders agreed to set up a Development bank at the 5th BRICS summit held in Durban, South Africa on 27 March 2013.


title: New Development Bank

text: On 15 July 2014, the first day of the 6th BRICS summit held in Fortaleza, Brazil, the BRICS states signed the Agreement on the New Development Bank, which makes provisions for the legal basis of the bank. In a separate agreement, a reserve currency pool worth $100 billion was set up by BRICS nations.


title: New Development Bank

text: The 7th BRICS summit in July 2015 marked the entry into force of the Agreement on the New Development Bank.


title: New Development Bank

text: On 27 February 2016, the NDB signed Headquarters Agreement with the Government of the P.R.C. and the Memorandum of Understanding with Shanghai Municipal People's Government concerning the arrangements in relation to Headquarters of the bank in Shanghai.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to the bank, most of the NDB policies and procedures for all functional areas were approved at the Board of Directors meeting in January 2016.


title: New Development Bank

text: On 19 July 2016, the NDB reported that it successfully issued the bank's first green financial bond with issue size of RMB 3 billion, tenor of 5 years in the China interbank bond market.


title: New Development Bank

text: On 20 July 2016, the first annual meeting of the NDB Board of Governors was held in Shanghai. The participants of the meeting discussed Bank's future work and development and gave a positive assessment to the bank's work. At the meeting, the first green financial bond issuance in Renminbi was highlighted as a milestone event for the NDB.


title: New Development Bank

text: The NDB received AA+ credit ratings from S&P Global Ratings (S&P) and Fitch Ratings (Fitch) in August 2018, which enables the bank to offer full suite of financial products to its public and private sector clients.


title: New Development Bank

text: In April 2020, the New Development Bank established an Emergency Assistance Facility that sought to finance costs related to the fight against the Coronavirus and soften the blow from the economic impact. In addition to committing 5 billion USD to this cause, the NDB targeted to provide up to 10 billion dollars.


title: New Development Bank

text: On March 3rd, 2022, in response to the Russia-Ukraine War, the New Development Bank announced that it put new transactions with Russia on hold. Even though the NDB quickly cut ties with Russia, Fitch Ratings still downgraded the NDB from stable to negative on its Long-Term Issuer Default scale.


title: New Development Bank

text: In May of 2022, the New Development Bank set up a regional office in India in the state of Gujarat with the goal of financing and observing infrastructure projects in both India and Bangladesh.


title: New Development Bank

text: Information about the composition of the NDB Board of Governors is available on the Bank's official website.


title: New Development Bank

text: The NDB President is elected on a rotational basis from one of the founding members, and there are four Vice Presidents from each of the other four founding members.


title: New Development Bank

text: K. V. Kamath, from India, is the first elected president of the NDB. He was replaced as president by Marcos Prado Troyjo from Brazil since 7 July 2020. Marcos Troyjo was elected president of the New Development Bank on 27 May 2020.


title: New Development Bank

text: The New Development Bank has an initial subscribed capital of US$50 billion and an initial authorized capital of US$100 billion. The initial subscribed capital is equally distributed among the founding members. The payment of the amount initially subscribed by each founding member to the paid-in capital stock of the Bank will made in dollars in 7 installments. Each member cannot increase its share of capital without all other four members agreeing. The bank will allow new members to join but the BRICS capital share cannot fall below 55%.


title: New Development Bank

text: The bank aims to contribute to the development plans established nationally through projects that are socially, environmentally and economically sustainable. Taking this into account, the main objectives of the NDB can be summarized as follows


title: New Development Bank

text: The Agreement on the New Development Bank entered into force in July 2015, with the official declaration of all five states that have signed it. The five founding members of the Bank include Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.


title: New Development Bank

text: Bank's Articles of Agreement specify that all members of the United Nations could be members of the bank, however the share of the BRICS nations can never be less than 55% of voting power.


title: New Development Bank

text: Expanding the NDB's membership is considered by some experts to be crucial to its long-term development by helping boost the bank's business growth.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to the Bank's General Strategy: 2017–2021, the NDB plans to expand membership gradually so as not to overly strain its operational and decision-making capacity.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to Articles of Agreement of the New Development Bank, the initial authorized capital of the bank is divided into 1 million shares, having a par value of $100,000. Each founding member of the bank has initially subscribed 100,000 shares, in a total of $10 billion, of which 20,000 shares correspond to paid-in capital, in a total of $2 billion and 80,000 shares correspond to callable capital, in a total of $8 billion.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to the Bank's General Strategy, sustainable infrastructure development is at the core of NDB's operational strategy in 2017–2021, and the Bank will dedicate about two-thirds of financing commitments in its first five years to this area.


title: New Development Bank

text: The New Development Bank is planning to give a priority to projects aimed at developing renewable energy sources. As it was stated by the Bank, it wants to cooperate with other institutions in accelerating ‘green’ financing expansion and promoting environment protection.


title: New Development Bank

text: The NDB has expressed interest in funding projects that conform to high environmental standards, including those in the field of infrastructure, such as energy, railways and highways in the future. At the same time, according to K. V. Kamath, the NDB President, one of the key strategies of the bank will be financing profitable projects (bankable) with return on capital. The NDB wants "to fund projects that are creative and bring benefits to the local people and environment", said Vice President Zhu Xian.


title: New Development Bank

text: The leadership of the member countries task the bank with developing a strong pipeline of projects and responding in a fast and flexible manner to aspirations and interests of its members.


title: New Development Bank

text: As of 6 March 2019, the NDB Board of Directors approved 30 projects with loans aggregating over approx. USD 8 billion.


title: New Development Bank

text: In March 2016, the NDB announced that it will do a bond issue in China to raise funding domestically on the Chinese market. The bond issue is likely to happen in the second quarter of the year 2016, said the NDB Vice President Leslie Maasdorp. He added the bank is starting to finalize the exact size of this bond issue.


title: New Development Bank

text: On 18 July 2016 the NDB successfully issued its first green financial bond with issue size of RMB 3 billion, tenor of 5 years in China onshore interbank bond market. The bond's nominal interest rate is 3.07%. The bank became the first international financial institution that issued a green financial bond in the China onshore bond market. The proceeds of the bond will be used for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in the member countries.


title: New Development Bank

text: In February 2019, the bank successfully placed CNY 3 billion RMB-denominated bond in the China Interbank Bond Market, and it was priced at the lower end of announced pricing range.


title: New Development Bank

text: On May 18th, 2022, the New Development Bank issued a 7 billion RMB - 3 year bond into the Chinese Interbank Bond Market(CIMB), making it the largest bond ever made by foreign issuers. It received an Issuer Rating(IR) of AA+ from both S&P and Fitch.


title: New Development Bank

text: The Articles of Agreement of the bank say that the NDB was established to complement the existing efforts of multilateral and regional financial institutions for global growth and development. Moreover, the NDB is authorized by its founders to cooperate within its mandate with other international organizations, as well as national entities (public or private), in particular with international financial institutions and national development banks.


title: New Development Bank

text: The NDB President K.V.Kamath stresses that the bank regards other international financial institutions, including IMF and World Bank as partners, not rivals.


title: New Development Bank

text: In July 2016, the NDB signed with Asian Development Bank (ADB) a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation. The two institutions expressed willingness to work together through co-financing and knowledge exchanges in areas including sustainable development projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, clean transportation, sustainable water management, and sewage treatment.


title: New Development Bank

text: Although some analysts hypothesise that the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and the NDB would compete with one another, currently there is no evidence of competition among these institutions.


title: New Development Bank

text: Talking about the relations with AIIB, officials from the NDB's member states point out the difference in the member states of the NDB and AIIB as well as a potential to complement in working together to meet development and infrastructural needs.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to a representative of the Bank's management, the NDB and AIIB are sister institutions in many respects. These two banks have complementary mandates and different geographic focuses, with the NDB being more focused on BRICS countries. At the same time, there is a certain overlapping between mandates of the NDB and the AIIB, as both of them are aimed at developing infrastructure and pay a special attention to sustainable development. However, due to the fact that current financing and investment patterns are inadequate in meeting investment needs, there is "space for newcomers", he said.


title: New Development Bank

text: In February 2016, the president of the NDB dismissed concerns over overlapping of interests of China-backed AIIB and the NDB.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to media reports, other multilateral development institutions, including the World Bank Group (WBG), have expressed an intention to work together with the NDB.


title: New Development Bank

text: In September 2016, NDB and World Bank Group signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation and it was announced that the NDB and WBG's cooperative efforts will focus primarily on infrastructure.


title: New Development Bank

text: In July 2014, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz said the NDB marks a "fundamental change in global economic and political power." In his opinion, "The existing institutions just don't have enough resources."


title: New Development Bank

text: Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called the opening of the NDB an "important step forward" in cooperation among BRICS countries. "This is great progress in financial cooperation among developing countries and emerging economies, as well as a helpful supplement to the global financial system," Li Keqiang said at a meeting with K. V. Kamath in Beijing in July, 2015.


title: New Development Bank

text: China Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said that the establishment of the NDB and the Beijing-led AIIB would encourage existing multilateral institutions to do better. At a news conference at the conclusion of the G20 meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Shanghai he added that the New Development Bank could help drive aggregate global demand.


title: New Development Bank

text: 8 July 2015, VTB CEO Andrey Kostin said that the NDB is "important because it's a first institution created by the BRICS countries." "Actually we are talking about the institutionalization of the BRICS process, and that's quite important I think. It's a permanent working instrument which will be working every day and which will be in the heart of BRICS cooperation," he added.


title: New Development Bank

text: According to former Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram Rajan, the NDB "Is a co-operative effort between all BRICS countries." "We have already reached contingency reserve agreement (CRA). This is second. Let's see how it develops. Lots of hopes embedded in it for greater cooperation (among the) BRICS countries," he told reporters in February 2016.


title: New Development Bank

text: The logo of the New Development Bank borrows from the mathematical concept of a Mobius strip that symbolizes the idea of continuous transformation. Its nature is not to disrupt but drive change in the existing system from within.


title: New Development Bank

text: The logo consists of a triangle in motion at one end signifying balanced evolution. The other end, moving in the opposite direction, is a propeller that represents speed and dynamism. These two entities are held together by a wireframe, the skeletal basic of infrastructure. The logo is rendered in gradient of green that symbolizes sustainability. This constant motion symbolizes the values that the bank strives to live by – agility, innovation and continuous transformation.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The Martin B-26 Marauder is an American twin-engined medium bomber that saw extensive service during World War II. The B-26 was built at two locations: Baltimore, Maryland, and Omaha, Nebraska, by the Glenn L. Martin Company.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: First used in the Pacific Theater of World War II in early 1942, it was also used in the Mediterranean Theater and in Western Europe.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: After entering service with the United States Army aviation units, the aircraft quickly received the reputation of a "" due to the early models' high accident rate during takeoffs and landings. This was because the Marauder had to be flown at precise airspeeds, particularly on final runway approach or when one engine was out. The unusually high 150 mph (241 km/h) speed on short final runway approach was intimidating to many pilots who were used to much slower approach speeds, and when they slowed to speeds below those stipulated in the manual the aircraft would often stall and crash.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 became a safer aircraft once crews were re-trained, and after aerodynamics modifications (an increase of wingspan and wing angle-of-incidence to give better takeoff performance, and a larger vertical stabilizer and rudder). The Marauder ended World War II with the lowest loss rate of any U.S. Army Air Forces bomber.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: A total of 5,288 were produced between February 1941 and March 1945; 522 of these were flown by the Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force. By the time the United States Air Force was created as an independent military service separate from the United States Army in 1947, all Martin B-26s had been retired from U.S. service. After the Marauder was retired the unrelated Douglas A-26 Invader then assumed the "B-26" designation which led to confusion between the two aircraft.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: In March 1939, the United States Army Air Corps issued Circular Proposal 39-640, a specification for a twin-engined medium bomber with a maximum speed of , a range of and a bomb load of . On 5 July 1939, the Glenn L. Martin Company submitted its design, produced by a team led by Peyton M. Magruder, to meet the requirement, the Martin Model 179. Martin's design was evaluated as superior to the other proposals and was awarded a contract for 201 aircraft, to be designated B-26. The B-26 went from paper concept to an operational bomber in approximately two years. Additional orders for a further 930 B-26s followed in September 1940, still prior to the first flight of the type.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 was a shoulder-winged monoplane of all-metal construction, fitted with a tricycle landing gear. It had a streamlined, circular section fuselage housing the crew, consisting of a bombardier in the nose, armed with a machine gun, a pilot and co-pilot sitting side by side, with positions for the radio operator and navigator behind the pilots. A gunner manned a dorsal turret armed with two machine guns (the first powered dorsal turret to be fitted to a U.S. bomber), and an additional machine gun was fitted in the tail.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Two bomb bays were fitted mid-fuselage, capable of carrying of bombs, although in practice such a bomb load reduced range too much, and the aft bomb bay was usually fitted with additional fuel tanks instead of bombs. The aircraft was powered by two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp radial engines in nacelles slung under the wing, driving four-bladed propellers. The engines were manufactured at the Ford Dearborn Engine plant in Dearborn, Michigan. The wings were of low aspect ratio and relatively small in area for an aircraft of its weight, giving the required high performance, but also resulting in a wing loading of for the initial versions, which at the time was the highest of any aircraft accepted for service by the Army Air Corps, until the introduction of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress, with the then-astonishing wing loading of (although both would be considered lightly loaded by the standard of combat aircraft of the next decade).


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The first B-26, with Martin test pilot William K. "Ken" Ebel at the controls, flew on 25 November 1940 and was effectively the prototype. Deliveries to the U.S. Army Air Corps began in February 1941 with the second aircraft, "40-1362". In March 1941, the Army Air Corps started Accelerated Service Testing of the B-26 at Patterson Field, near Dayton, Ohio.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26's relatively small wing area and resulting high wing loading required a high landing speed of indicated airspeed depending on load. At least two of the earliest B-26s suffered hard landings and damage to the main landing gear, engine mounts, propellers and fuselage. The type was grounded briefly in April 1941 to investigate the landing difficulties. Two causes were found: insufficient landing speed (producing a stall) and improper weight distribution. The latter was due to the lack of a dorsal turret; the Martin power turret was not yet ready.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Some of the very earliest B-26s suffered collapses of the nose landing gear. It is said that they were caused by improper weight distribution, but that is not likely to have been the only reason. The incidents occurred during low-speed taxiing, takeoffs and landings, and occasionally the strut unlocked. Later the Martin electric dorsal turret was retrofitted to some of the first B-26s. Martin also began testing a taller vertical stabilizer and revised tail gunner's position in 1941.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The Pratt & Whitney R-2800-5 engines were reliable, but the Curtiss electric pitch change mechanism in the propellers required impeccable maintenance, not always attainable in the field. Human error and some failures of the mechanism occasionally placed the propeller blades in flat pitch resulting in an overspeeding propeller, sometimes known as a "runaway prop". Due to its sound and the possibility that the propeller blades could disintegrate, this situation was particularly frightening for aircrews. More challenging was a loss of power in one engine during takeoff. These and other malfunctions, as well as human error, claimed a number of aircraft and the commanding officer of the 22nd Bombardment Group, Colonel Mark Lewis.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The Martin B-26 suffered only two fatal accidents during its first year of flight, from November 1940 to November 1941: a crash shortly after takeoff near Martin's Middle River plant in Maryland (cause unknown, but engine malfunction strongly suggested) and the loss of a 38th Bombardment Group B-26 when its vertical stabilizer and rudder separated from the aircraft at altitude (cause unknown, but the accident report discussed the possibility that a canopy hatch broke off and struck the vertical stabilizer).


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: As pilots were trained quickly for the war, relatively inexperienced pilots entered the cockpit and the accident rate increased. This occurred at the same time as more experienced B-26 pilots of the 22nd, 38th and 42nd Bombardment Groups were proving the merits of the bomber.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: For a time in 1942, pilots in training believed that the B-26 could not be flown on one engine. This was disproved by several experienced pilots, including Colonel Jimmy Doolittle, who flew demonstration flights at MacDill Army Air Field, which featured take offs and landings with only one engine. Also, seventeen Women Airforce Service Pilots were trained to demonstrate the B-26, in an attempt to "shame" male pilots into the air.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: In 1942, aviation pioneer and company founder Glenn L. Martin was called before the Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program, (or also known as the "Truman Committee"), which was investigating defense contracting abuses. Senator Harry S Truman of Missouri, the committee chairman (and future Vice President and 33rd President of the United States in 1945-1952), asked Martin why the B-26 had problems. Martin responded that the wings were too short. Senator Truman curtly asked why the wings had not been changed. When Martin replied that the plans were too close to completion, and his company already had the contract, Truman's testy response was quick and to the point: In that case, the contract would be canceled. Martin corrected the wings. (By February 1943, the newest model aircraft, the B-26B-10, had an additional of wingspan, plus uprated engines, more armor and larger guns.)


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Indeed, the regularity of crashes by pilots training at MacDill Field — up to 15 in one 30-day period — led to the exaggerated catchphrase, "One a day in Tampa Bay." Apart from accidents occurring over land, 13 Marauders ditched in Tampa Bay in the 14 months between 5 August 1942 and 8 October 1943.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: B-26 crews gave the aircraft the nickname "Widowmaker". Other colorful nicknames included "Martin Murderer", "Flying Coffin", "B-Dash-Crash", "Flying Prostitute" (so-named because it was so fast and had "no visible means of support," referring to its small wings) and "Baltimore Whore" (a reference to the city where Martin was based).


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: According to an article in the April 2009 edition of "AOPA Pilot" on Kermit Weeks' "Fantasy of Flight", the Marauder had a tendency to "hunt" in yaw. This instability is similar to "Dutch roll". This would make for a very uncomfortable ride, especially for the tail gunner.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 is stated by the 9th Air Force to have had the lowest combat loss rate of any US aircraft used during the war. Nevertheless, it remained a challenging aircraft to fly and continued to be disliked by some of its pilots throughout its military career. In 1944, in answer to many pilots complaining to the press and their relatives back home, the USAAF and Martin took the unusual step during war of commissioning large articles to be placed in various popular publications to educate the public and defend the flying/accident record of the B-26 against "slanders". One of the longest of these articles was in the May 1944 issue of "Popular Mechanics".


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 Marauder was used mostly in Europe, but also saw action in the Mediterranean and the Pacific. In early combat, the aircraft took heavy losses, but was still one of the most successful medium-range bombers used by the US Army Air Forces. The B-26 was initially deployed on combat missions in the South West Pacific in early 1942, but most of the B-26s subsequently assigned to operational theaters were sent to England and the Mediterranean area.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: By the end of World War II, it had flown more than 110,000 sorties, dropped 150,000 tons (136,078 tonnes) of bombs and had been used in combat by British, Free French and South African forces in addition to US units. In 1945, when B-26 production was halted, 5,266 had been built.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 began to equip the 22nd Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Virginia, in February 1941, replacing the Douglas B-18 Bolo, with a further two groups, the 38th and 28th, beginning to equip with the B-26 by December 1941. Immediately following the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, the 22nd BG was deployed to the South West Pacific, first by ship to Hawaii, then its air echelon flew the planes to Australia. The 22nd BG flew its first combat mission, an attack on Rabaul which required an intermediate stop at Port Moresby, New Guinea, on 5 April 1942.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: A second group, the 38th, began receiving B-26s in November 1941 and began transitioning into them at Patterson Field, Ohio. There, the 38th continued the testing of the B-26, including its range and fuel efficiency. Immediately after the entry of the United States into World War II, plans were tentatively developed to send the 38th BG to the South West Pacific and to equip it with B-26Bs fitted with more auxiliary fuel tanks and provisions for carrying aerial torpedoes. Three 38th BG B-26Bs were detached to Midway Island in the buildup to the Battle of Midway, and two of them, along with two B-26s detached from the 22nd BG, carried out torpedo attacks against the Japanese Fleet on 4 June 1942. Two were shot down and the other two were so badly damaged that they were written off after the mission. Their torpedoes failed to hit any Japanese ships, although they did shoot down one Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter and killed two seamen aboard the aircraft carrier "Akagi" with machine-gun fire. The crew of one B-26, "Susie Q", after dropping their torpedo were pursued by fighters; seeking an escape route, they flew directly along the length of the "Akagi", braving anti-aircraft fire – although the pursuing Japanese fighters had to hold fire temporarily, to avoid hitting the flagship. Another, after being seriously damaged by anti-aircraft fire, didn’t pull out of its run, and instead headed directly for "Akagi"s bridge. The aircraft, either attempting a suicide ramming, or out of control due to battle damage or a wounded or killed pilot, narrowly missed crashing into the carrier's bridge, before it cartwheeled into the sea.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: From approximately June 1942, B-26 squadrons of the 38th BG were based in New Caledonia and Fiji. From New Caledonia, missions were flown against Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands. On one occasion, a B-26 was credited with shooting down a Kawanishi H6K flying boat. In 1943, it was decided that the B-26 would be phased out of operations in the South West Pacific Theater in favor of the North American B-25 Mitchell. Nevertheless, the 19th Bombardment Squadron of the 22nd BG continued to fly missions in the B-26. The B-26 flew its last combat mission in the theater on 9 January 1944.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Two more squadrons of torpedo armed B-26s equipped the 28th Composite Group and were used for anti-shipping operations in the Aleutian Islands Campaign, but there are no records of any successful torpedo attack by a USAAF B-26.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Comedian George Gobel famously joked about being an instructor for this aircraft at Frederick Army Airfield (now Frederick Regional Airport) during the Pacific battles, boasting that "not one Japanese aircraft got past Tulsa".


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Three Bombardment Groups were allocated to support the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942. They were initially used to carry out low-level attacks against heavily defended targets, incurring heavy losses with poor results, before switching to medium level attacks. By the end of the North African Campaign, the three B-26 groups had flown 1,587 sorties, losing 80 aircraft. This was double the loss rate of the B-25, which also flew 70% more sorties with fewer aircraft. Despite this, the B-26 continued in service with the Twelfth Air Force, supporting the Allied advance through Sicily, Italy and southern France. Air Marshal Sir John Slessor, Deputy Commander-in-Chief Mediterranean Allied Air Forces, wrote of "the astonishing accuracy of the experienced medium bomber groups – particularly the Marauders; I think that the 42nd Bombardment Group in Sardinia is probably the best day-bomber unit in the world." Slessor in fact meant the 42nd Bomb Wing—17th, 319th and 320th Bomb Groups—but a US 'wing' equated roughly to a British 'group', and vice versa.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 entered service with the Eighth Air Force in England in early 1943, with the 322nd Bombardment Group flying its first missions in May 1943. Operations were similar to those flown in North Africa with B-26s flying at low level and were unsuccessful. The second mission, an unescorted attack on a power station at IJmuiden, Netherlands, resulted in the loss of the entire attacking force of 11 B-26s to anti-aircraft fire and "Luftwaffe" Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Following this disaster, the UK-based B-26 force was switched to medium altitude operations, and transferred to the Ninth Air Force, set up to support the planned invasion of France.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Bombing from medium altitudes of and with appropriate fighter escort, the Marauder proved far more successful, striking against a variety of targets, including bridges and V-1 launching sites in the buildup to D-Day, and moving to bases in France as they became available. The Marauder, operating from medium altitude, proved to be a highly accurate aircraft, with the 9th Air Force rating it the most accurate bomber available in the final month of the war in Europe. Loss rates were far lower than in the early, low-level days, with the B-26 stated by the 9th Air Force as having the lowest loss rate in the European Theater of Operations at less than 0.5%.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: The B-26 flew its last combat missions against the German garrison at the Île d'Oléron on 1 May 1945, with the last units disbanding in early 1946.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: In 1942, a batch of 52 B-26A Marauders (designated Marauder I by the RAF) were offered to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease. Like the earlier Martin Maryland and Baltimore, these aircraft were sent to the Mediterranean, replacing the Bristol Blenheims of No. 14 Squadron in Egypt. The Squadron flew its first operational mission on 6 November 1942, being used for long range reconnaissance, mine-laying and anti-shipping strikes. Unlike the USAAF, 14 Squadron made productive use of the equipment for carrying torpedoes, sinking several merchant ships with this weapon. The Marauder also proved useful in disrupting enemy air transport, shooting down considerable numbers of German and Italian transport aircraft flying between Italy and North Africa.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: In 1943, deliveries of 100 long-wingspan B-26C-30s (Marauder II) allowed two squadrons of the South African Air Force, 12 and 24 Squadron to be equipped, these being used for bombing missions over the Aegean Sea, Crete and Italy. A further 350 B-26Fs and Gs were supplied in 1944, with two more South African squadrons (21 and 30) joining No 12 and 24 in Italy to form an all-Marauder equipped wing, while one further SAAF squadron (25) and a new RAF squadron (39 Squadron), re-equipped with Marauders as part of the Balkan Air Force supporting Tito's Partisans in Yugoslavia. A Marauder of 25 Squadron SAAF, shot down on the unit's last mission of World War II on 4 May 1945, was the last Marauder lost in combat by any user. The British and South African aircraft were quickly scrapped following the end of the war, the United States not wanting the return of the Lend-Lease aircraft.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: Following Operation Torch, (the Allied invasion of North Africa), the Free French Air Force re-equipped three squadrons with Marauders for medium-bombing operations in Italy and the Allied invasion of southern France. These B-26s replaced Lioré et Olivier LeO 451s and Douglas DB-7s. Toward the end of the war, seven of the nine French "Groupes de Bombardement" used the Marauder, taking part in 270 missions with 4,884 aircraft sorties in combat. Free French B-26 groups were disbanded in June 1945. Replaced in squadron service by 1947, two lingered on as testbeds for the Snecma Atar jet engine, one of these remaining in use until 1958.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: In the immediate post-war years, a small number of Marauders were converted as high-speed executive transports, accommodating up to fifteen passengers. The specifications of the individual conversions differed considerably. The example shown in the image was completed in 1948 and had streamlined nose and tail fairings and windows inserted in the rear fuselage. It served United Airlines before being sold to Mexico. It was purchased by the Confederate Air Force and restored to wartime markings for air display purposes before being lost in a fatal crash in 1995.


title: Martin B-26 Marauder

text: With the exception of the B-26C, all models and variants of the B-26 were produced at Martin's Middle River, Maryland manufacturing plant. The B-26C was built at the Martin plant in Omaha, Nebraska


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In Greek mythology, the lotus-eaters () were a race of people living on an island dominated by the lotus tree, a plant whose botanical identity is uncertain. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic, causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy. After they ate the lotus, they would forget their home and loved ones, and only long to stay with their fellow lotus-eaters. Those who ate the plant never cared to report, nor return.


title: Lotus-eaters

text: Figuratively, 'lotus-eater' denotes "a person who spends their time indulging in pleasure and luxury rather than dealing with practical concerns".


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In English, the lotus-eaters (, "lōtophágoi"), are also referred to as the lotophagi or lotophaguses (singular "lotophagus" ) or lotophages (singular "lotophage" ).


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In Homer’s epic poem the "Odyssey" Book IX, Odysseus tells how adverse north winds blew him and his men off course as they were rounding Cape Malea, the southernmost tip of the Peloponnesus, headed westwards for Ithaca:


title: Lotus-eaters

text: Herodotus, in the fifth century BC, was sure that the lotus-eaters still existed in his day, in coastal Libya:


title: Lotus-eaters

text: Polybius identifies the land of the lotus-eaters as the island of Djerba (ancient Meninx), off the coast of Tunisia. Later, this identification is supported by Strabo. Pseudo-Scylax mentions lotus-eaters in area of northern and central Dalmatia ("namely the Iaderatenai and Boulinoi").


title: Lotus-eaters

text: Because the Greek word λωτός : "lōtós" can refer to several different plants, there is some ambiguity as to which "lotus" appears in the "Odyssey". Some of the proposed species, based in part on Herodotus' assertion, include:


title: Lotus-eaters

text: It is the last of these, or another member of the genus "Ziziphus", that is traditionally taken to be the plant meant in the "Odyssey".


title: Lotus-eaters

text: The British romantic composer Edward Elgar set to music the first stanza of the "Choric Song" portion of Tennyson's poem" The Lotos-Eaters" for a cappella choir in 1907-8. The work, "There is Sweet Music" (op. 53, no. 1), is a quasi double choir work, in which the female choir responds the male choir in a different tonality. Another British romantic composer, Hubert Parry, wrote a half-hour-long choral setting of Tennyson's poem for soprano, choir, and orchestra.


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In the song "Blown Away" by Youth Brigade, lines from the poem are used, such as "Death is the end of life; ah, why/Should life all labour be?/Let us alone. Time driveth onward fast" and "let us alone; what pleasure can we have to war with evil? is there any peace". The poem inspired, in part, the R.E.M. song "Lotus". "There’s the great English poem about the lotus eaters, who sit by the river and — I guess it’s supposed to be about opium — never are involved in life. Maybe there’s a bit of that in there," said Peter Buck.


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In the book "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" by Rick Riordan and the novel's , the three protagonists find themselves in the Lotus Hotel and Casino, in which they must escape from forgetting everything about themselves, Annabeth states "Of course! It was the lair of the lotus-eaters, they've been trapping mortals since ancient times."


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In the 1978 film Revenge of the Pink Panther Valerie Leon plays a character named "Tanya - The Lotus Eater", which is presumably due to the fact that Clouseau's apartment has been turned into a brothel by Kato (hence referring to the pleasure aspect of the Lotus Eater term).


title: Lotus-eaters

text: In episode 5 of HBO's series" The White Lotus", Armond recites Choric Song IV of Tennyson's poem. The episode is named "The Lotus-Eaters".