What Did “Bitter Sweet Symphony” Sample?
Not technically the Rolling Stones recording you probably think it did.
The Verve sampled an orchestral version of the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” recorded by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra.
That distinction produced one of the most famous copyright disputes in British music.
For more than two decades, Richard Ashcroft’s defining song carried songwriting credits for Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Then, in 2019, something extraordinary happened.
They gave the rights back.
What recording is actually sampled?
The Andrew Oldham Orchestra’s orchestral version of “The Last Time”.
Andrew Loog Oldham was the Rolling Stones’ early manager and producer.
His orchestra project created instrumental interpretations of Stones songs.
The Verve found a beautiful string section inside that recording.
You know what happened next.
Those strings essentially became “Bitter Sweet Symphony”.
Did The Verve have permission?
This is where it gets messy.
Permission had been obtained to sample the recording.
But a dispute arose over the underlying composition and the amount of the recording ultimately used.
The resulting legal settlement stripped Ashcroft of the song’s publishing income and added Jagger and Richards to the credits.
For years, Ashcroft joked that it was the best song Jagger and Richards had written in decades.
Understandably.
Why was the settlement so controversial?
Because almost nobody hearing “Bitter Sweet Symphony” thinks:
Rolling Stones cover.
Ashcroft wrote:
the lyrics
the vocal melody
and the structure people actually identify with the Verve song.
But the sample is also fundamental.
Remove those strings and the record changes completely.
That makes it a fascinating copyright question.
How much borrowed music is too much?
What changed in 2019?
Mick Jagger and Keith Richards relinquished their claims to the song, allowing Ashcroft to receive the songwriting royalties again.
Ashcroft publicly thanked them.
It was an unusually happy ending to a music copyright story.
What does “Bitter Sweet Symphony” mean?
Life is simultaneously beautiful and miserable.
That’s the basic idea.
Ashcroft focuses particularly on:
money
routine
work
and feeling trapped inside the structures of everyday life.
People chase money because they need it.
Then discover their lives are organised around chasing money.
Hence:
bitter.
Sweet.
Symphony.
Where was the video filmed?
Hoxton Street in London.
Ashcroft walks down the pavement without moving out of people’s way.
He collides with pedestrians.
Cars.
Daily life.
And simply keeps going.
The concept perfectly matches the song.
Life pushes against you.
You continue forward.
What genre is it?
Britpop is the obvious era label.
But The Verve were never a perfect Britpop band.
Their music also incorporates:
psychedelic rock
alternative rock
space rock
and orchestral pop.
“Bitter Sweet Symphony” arrived in 1997, when Britpop itself was beginning to mutate into something darker and more reflective.
Songs like “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
The Verve – Lucky Man
Oasis – Champagne Supernova
Radiohead – Karma Police
Blur – The Universal
Spiritualized – Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space
Massive Attack – Unfinished Sympathy
Manic Street Preachers – A Design for Life
Embrace – All You Good Good People
Suede – The Wild Ones
Follow the sample backwards
Listen in this order:
The Verve – Bitter Sweet Symphony
Andrew Oldham Orchestra – The Last Time
The Rolling Stones – The Last Time
Three recordings.
One musical family.
And one copyright argument that lasted more than 20 years.