coworker was talking about this song last week... interesting background from
wiki:
Song credits[edit]
Although the song's lyrics were written by Verve vocalist
Richard Ashcroft, its distinctive passage for strings was
sampled from the 1965
Andrew Oldham Orchestra symphonic recording of "
The Last Time", arranged and written by
David Whitaker, inspired by the 1965
Rolling Stones' song of the same title.
[8][9]
Originally, The Verve had negotiated a licence to use a five-note
sample from the Oldham recording, but former Stones manager
Allen Klein (who owned the copyrights to the band’s pre-1970 songs) claimed that The Verve broke the agreement and used a larger portion.
[10][11] Despite its original lyrics and string intro (by Wil Malone and Ashcroft), the music of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was sampled from the Oldham track, which led to a lawsuit with
ABKCO Records, Klein's holding company, and eventually settled out of court. The Verve relinquished all of their royalties to Klein, owner of ABKCO Records, whilst songwriting credits were changed to
Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft.
[12]
The Verve bassist
Simon Jones said, "We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing. They rung up and said we want 100 percent or take it out of the shops, you don't have much choice."
[13] After losing the composer credits to the song, Ashcroft commented, "This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years",
[14] noting it was their biggest UK hit since "
Brown Sugar".
[13] On Ashcroft's return to touring, the song traditionally ended the set list. Ashcroft also reworked the single for
VH2 Live for the music channel
VH1, stripping the song of its strings. Ashcroft is quoted as saying during the show: "It's very interesting stripping that song down and actually taking away all the strings, and just taking it down to the chords and my lyrics and my melody, and doing that kinda version it becomes much more bluesy. Also shows that ultimately take away the dressing, take away the strings, take away the sample, there's an actual song there."
[15]
In a Cash for Questions interview with
Q magazine published in January 1999,
Keith Richards was asked if he thought it was harsh taking all The Verve's royalties from "Bitter Sweet Symphony". He replied, "I'm out of whack here, this is serious lawyer shit. If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money."
In an interview with
Uncut Magazine, Oldham stated, "As for Richard Ashcroft, well, I don't know how an artist can be severely damaged by that experience. Songwriters have learned to call songs their children, and he thinks he wrote something. He didn't. I hope he's got over it. It takes a while."
[16]