Harrison single gets January release

Proceeds from My Sweet Lord will go to charity

George Harrison's biggest solo hit My Sweet Lord is to be re-released on 14 January, his record company has decided.

The song, which was originally number one on both sides of the Atlantic in 1971, will therefore not be rushed to shops in time for Christmas as some had expected.

The song is taken from the All Things Must Pass album

The new release will act as a tribute to the former Beatle after his death last month after a long battle with cancer.

It will also raise money for charity, although a spokesman for record company EMI did not know which charity would benefit.

Making it a contender for the Christmas number one spot could have looked distasteful, the spokesman said.

"It takes time to get a record out," he said. "Rushing it out in time for Christmas could have been seen as bad taste."

My Sweet Lord made Harrison the first former Beatle to have a solo number one - and it was his only song to top the UK chart, staying there for five weeks in January and February 1971.

Sales of Harrison albums rose after his death

But it was also the source of a court battle in which Harrison was successfully sued for plagiarism by the publishers of The Chiffons' 1964 hit She's So Fine.

My Sweet Lord was taken from Harrison's acclaimed solo album All Things Must Pass, which was remastered and re-released last year and has seen sales rise since Harrison's death.

His other solo hits included Bangla Desh and Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth).

Fans in India waited for his ashes to arrive

Secrecy and confusion about what had happened to his body and his ashes followed his death.

On Tuesday, fans who had hoped to see his ashes scattered into the River Ganges in India, ended their vigil.

Members of the Hari Krishna movement still say the ashes will be scattered in the river, but now admit they do not know when.

Harrison was 58 when he who died of lung cancer in Los Angeles on 29 November.

He was cremated dressed in traditional Indian robes as two of his closest friends, both Hare Krishna devotees, chanted at his side.