Don't worry, be happy
Urban Dictionary:
gouranga
A word that appears on moterway bridges in north west UK. It's only purpose to annoy drivers who are left with a nagging curiosity for the rest of their day until the next day when it ceases to become important ever again.
And then there's a Grand Theft Auto news and resource site. I don't know why. [Read on.]
Actually, I do know why. Because WebWench at Resplendently Pedestrain said so.
Reading through my Gmail box today, I randomly check my Spam folder, just in case someone gets accidently stuck there (I once saw a butterfly get stuck to flypaper - getting stuck in the spam folder is kinda like that).
Today, this is what I found. I'm not PRECISELY sure it's spam, but I'm not precisely sure it's not.
Call out Gouranga be happy!!! Gouranga Gouranga Gouranga .... That which brings the highest happiness!! (Neateye: NitaiGouranga@aol.com)
So WebWench found a German explanation.
Who is Gouranga?
In 2004 and 2005 we received several spams....We didn't have a clue what it was supposed to mean and got annoyed enough about it that we sent abuse complaints to the provider used for sending the spam.
After another recent spam of this type in January 2005 we did some research. Here is what we found:
Gauranga (Gouranga) was a nickname of Sri Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a monk in India who 500 years ago founded the branch of Hinduism that during the 20th century was brought to the west by ISKCON (International Society for Krishna Consciousness, better known as the "Hare Krishna" sect).
Years ago the name Gouranga appeared on motorway bridges in the North of England and on various stickers, causing people to wonder what it was all about. It has been rumoured that the Scottish branch of ISKCON has been trying to spread the name of their spiritual ancestor through a guerilla-type campaign. We have no idea if there is any substance to these rumours. It's equally plausible that this is just somebody's sense of humour. Hare Krishna-related jokes in popular culture are not unkommon, such in the movie "Airplane" or the "Gouranga" references in the Playstation videogame "Grand Theft Auto".
See? I know why now. [Read off?]
And for all of us old people who sang "Krishna, Krishna," here's the scoop:
The story starts in 1962, when "He's So Fine" was recorded. It was composed by Ronald Mack, recorded by the Chiffons, and was owned by Bright Tunes Music Corp. in 1971 (the opinion does not say if the song was originally published by Bright; however, as Paul McCartney can tell you, ownership of song copyrights can be transferred from one publishing company to another). It was a big hit in the United States, hitting the top of the Billboard charts for five weeks....
In December, 1969, George was playing in Copenhagen, Denmark, with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends. Billy Preston was part of that group. Harrison told the court that the song that became "My Sweet Lord" was conceived when he slipped away from a press conference and began "vamping" some guitar chords, fitting the chords to the words "Hallelujah" and "Hare Krishna."...
The [Billy] Preston recording was issued by Apple Records, and a "lead sheet" containing the melody, words and harmony was submitted for the United States copyright application.
However, it was not the version recorded and released by Billy Preston that led to two decades of litigation. George Harrison recorded a version of "My Sweet Lord" for his album, "All Things Must Pass," and released MSL as the first single from that album. It was released on November 28, 1970 in the United States and was a number one hit shortly thereafter.
On February 10, 1971, before it even completed its fourteen-week run on the chart, Bright Tunes filed suit against George, his English and American companies, (Harrisongs Music, Ltd. and Harrisongs Music, Inc., respectively), Apple Records, BMI, and Hansen Publications....
The trial on the issue of liability was conducted on February 23-25, 1976. At that trial, the judge was called upon to make an analysis of the music of both HSF and MSL....Both sides called expert witnesses to support their contentions, and Harrison himself testified about the process that occurred in writing MSL. After hearing the testimony and considering the evidence, the judge found MSL did indeed infringe upon HSF's copyright....
With all the evidence pointing out the similarities between the two songs, the judge said it was "perfectly obvious . . . the two songs are virtually identical". The judge was convinced that neither Harrison nor Preston consciously set out to appropriate the melody of HSF for their own use, but such was not a defense.
Harrison conceded that he had heard HSF prior to writing MSL, and therefore, his subconscious knew the combination of sounds he put to the words of MSL would work, because they had already done so. Terming what occurred as subconscious plagiarism, the judge found that the case should be re-set for a trial on the issue of damages....
[T]he judge's figures for the total gross earnings of MSL were $2,152,028. This sum was reduced to $2,133,316 by the court allowing an offset for some agent's fees which Harrison had paid. However, before ordering that the entire earnings from MSL was due to Bright Tunes, the judge pointed out that there were some other factors present in this case. Harrison was an internationally known artist and he did provide a new lyric for the song. Had he been guilty of intentional plagiarism, even of the melody alone, the entire $2,133,316 would have been awarded to Bright.
After considering all the factors in the case, and conceding that this was not an area where precise measurement could be made, the judge found that three-fourth's of the success of MSL was due to the plagiarized tune, and one-fourth of that success was due to Harrison's name and the new words to the tune. The judge found that the introductory musical passage (the "hook") was a minimal factor in the popularity of this song, and pointed out that this unique melody had already demonstrated its appeal when it carried an otherwise unexceptional love song to the top of the charts in 1963. Therefore, the trial judge concluded that $1,599,987 of the earnings of MSL were reasonably attributable to the music of "He's So Fine"....
And suffice it to say that Allen Klein is...Allen Klein. We'll leave it at that. No we won't:
"Eventually, George is ready to talk business, but not before he's voiced a concern of his own. He has a complaint about the various groupies sitting outside the building that houses the ABKCO office. 'Allen, can't you get rid of those ABKCO scruffs?' he asks politely. 'They're bad for our image. They don't have the class of Apple scruffs'. Allen Klein is stumped for words, a very rare occurrence".
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