Bitter Sweet Symphony

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"Bittersweet Symphony" redirects here. For other uses, see Bittersweet Symphony (disambiguation).

"Bitter Sweet Symphony"
A man looking through a lens
Single by the Verve
from the album Urban Hymns
B-side
  • "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know"
  • "Country Song"
Released16 June 1997 (1997-06-16)
RecordedJanuary–March 1997
StudioOlympic, London[1]
Genre
Length
  • 5:58 (album version)
  • 4:33 (radio edit and video version)
  • 7:50 (extended version)
Label
Songwriter(s)Richard Ashcroft[3]
Producer(s)
The Verve singles chronology
"History"
(1995) 		"Bitter Sweet Symphony"
(1997) 		"The Drugs Don't Work"
(1997)
Music video
"Bitter Sweet Symphony" on YouTube
Audio sample
  • file
  • help

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song recorded by English rock band the Verve as the lead track on their third studio album, Urban Hymns (1997). The song was released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart and remaining in the chart for three months.[4] It is based on a sample from the Andrew Loog Oldham orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time" and involved some legal controversy surrounding a plagiarism charge. As a result, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were added to the songwriting credits, and all royalties from the song went to former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein. In April 2019, Jagger and Richards ceded their rights to the song to the Verve's songwriter Richard Ashcroft.[3]

Acclaimed in music publications, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was named Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year for 1997 and is considered one of the defining songs of the Britpop era. The accompanying music video features Ashcroft walking down the busy pavement of Hoxton Street in Hoxton, East London, oblivious to his surroundings and refusing to change his stride or direction throughout.[5][6] At the 1998 Brit Awards, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" was nominated for Best British Single. The song was released in the US as a single in March 1998 by Virgin Records America, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100,[7] and the music video was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video, and Best Alternative Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.[8][9] In 1999, the song was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.[10]

Production[]

Producer Youth said: "This was certainly the most successful track I've done. I think Richard had actually cut a version with John Leckie but, by the time I came on board, he didn't want to do the song. I persuaded him to have a go at cutting a version but at first he wasn't really into it. It was only once we'd put strings on it that he started getting excited. Then, towards the end, Richard wanted to chuck all the album away and start again. What was my reaction? Horror. Sheer horror. All I could say was, I really think you should reconsider."[11]

Credits dispute[]

See also: List of songs subject to plagiarism disputes

The strings riff that runs through the entire song is based on a sample from the 1965 Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time". The Andrew Oldham Orchestra riff was arranged and written by David Whitaker.[12][13] The Rolling Stones' song was itself strongly inspired by "This May Be the Last Time" by the Staple Singers.[14] The Verve negotiated rights to use a five-note sample of the riff from the recording's copyright holder, Decca Records, but they did not obtain permission from former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein, who owned the copyrights to the band's pre-1970 songs, including "The Last Time".[15][16][17] Although "Bitter Sweet Symphony" had already been released, Klein refused to grant a licence for the sample.[15] This led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Klein's holding company, which was settled out of court. The Verve relinquished all royalties to Klein, the songwriting credits were changed to Jagger–Richards, and Ashcroft received $1,000 for completely relinquishing rights.[18][15]

Verve bassist Simon Jones explained, "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."[19] Ashcroft sarcastically said, "This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years,"[20] noting it was the Rolling Stones' biggest UK hit since "Brown Sugar".[19]

Asked in 1999 whether he believed that the result was fair, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards said: "I'm out of whack here, this is serious lawyer shit. If the Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money."[21][22] In 1999, Andrew Oldham sued for royalties after failing to receive the mechanical royalties that he claimed that he was owed.[23] After receiving his royalties, Oldham joked that he bought "a pretty presentable watch strap" compared to the watch that Jagger and Richards would purchase with the money. In an interview with Uncut, he said: "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."[24]

In May 2019, Ashcroft received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. At the ceremony Ashcroft revealed that following negotiations with Klein's son, Jody, and the Rolling Stones' manager Joyce Smith, the dispute had been settled,[3][25] stating:

As of last month, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed over all their publishing for "Bitter Sweet Symphony", which was a truly kind and magnanimous thing for them to do. I never had a personal beef with the Stones. They've always been the greatest rock and roll band in the world. It's been a fantastic development. It's life-affirming in a way.[3]

Music video[]

A screenshot at the beginning of the music video showing vocalist Richard Ashcroft standing on a pavement in Hoxton, east London
Hoxton Street and Falkirk Street, London N1, UK. Pictured in 2002
Route scheme in the music video

The music video was directed by Walter A. Stern[26] and was released on 11 June 1997.[26] The video is a homage to the single continuous shot docu-fiction music video for Massive Attack's "Unfinished Sympathy" and shows Richard Ashcroft miming the lyrics while walking down a busy London pavement, without changing his stride or direction throughout, except for one instance when he is forced to stop for a moving car and views his reflection in the car's tinted window.[6] He narrowly avoids being hit by a car as he starts his walk, repeatedly bumping into passersby (causing one young woman to lose balance and fall), and he also jumps on top of the bonnet of another vehicle stopped in his path (the driver gets out of her car and proceeds to confront him, while he continues unflinchingly). At the end of the video, the rest of the Verve join Ashcroft, and the final shot sees them walking down the street into the distance. This then leads into the beginning of the video for "The Drugs Don't Work".[27] The music video received heavy rotation on music channels and was nominated for a number of awards, including three MTV Awards at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards.[9]

Ashcroft starts walking from the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoxton and Falkirk Streets in Hoxton in the East End of London,[28] subsequently proceeding north along the east side of Hoxton Street until he reaches Hoxton Gardens. He then crosses to the corner of Purcell Street and walks back toward his starting point before being joined by the rest of the band at the corner of Crondall Street, across the street from where he had started. The British comedy band Fat Les would later release a direct parody for their 1998 song "Vindaloo", an alternative anthem for England at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, in which Paul Kaye takes the role of an Ashcroft lookalike who is mocked by a growing group of passersby as the video progresses.[29] In 2016, The Telegraph named Hoxton Street in its list of the 54 locations that defined the Britpop era.[30] English journalist Francesca Perry of The Guardian included the video in a list of the best music videos about city life.[31]

In an alternate version of the video, Ashcroft stops walking when he bumps into three men who then beat him. With blood on his face, Ashcroft stands up and continues to walk. The video cuts to nighttime and ends when Ashcroft walks up to a fence, stops, leans to peer through a gap and slowly extends a finger to touch it.[32]

Live 8[]

On 2 July 2005 at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, London, Coldplay invited Ashcroft to perform the song with them during their set. They played it after only one rehearsal in Crystal Palace. Ashcroft was introduced by Chris Martin as "the best singer in the world" and he described the song as "probably the best song ever written."[33][34] On 25 December 2005, a documentary entitled Live 8: A Bitter Sweet Symphony was aired, reliving moments of the day and featuring a portion of Ashcroft's performance as the music for the show's opening soundtrack.[35]

Accolades and legacy[]

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is built on a slow-rolling fat beat, a pomp and circumstance violin loop and singer "Mad" Richard Ashcroft's elliptical, snake-swallowing-its-tail lyrics. It is an infectious, glorious piece of pop music.

—Gil Kaufman writing for MTV, September 1997[36]

Regarded as the band's signature song and one of the defining tracks and music videos of the Britpop era, "Bitter Sweet Symphony" has been featured in a number of best-ever song lists and polls. It was named Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year for 1997. In 1998, BBC Radio 1 listeners voted it the third on the Best Track Ever list.[37] That same year, it was named the third-best single of 1997 by New York City weekly The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop annual critics' poll. In a 2005 Channel 4 poll, the music video was ranked eighth on a list of the 100 Greatest Pop Videos.[38]

In 2007, NME magazine placed the song at number 18 in its list of the "50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever".[39] In September 2007, a poll of 50 songwriters in Q magazine placed it in a list of the "Top 10 Greatest Tracks."[40] In the Australian Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009, the track was voted the 14th-best song of all time.[41] Pitchfork Media included the song at number 29 on its "Top 200 Tracks of the 90s" list.[42] The publication also included it in its collection of The Pitchfork 500.[43] In 2011, NME placed it at number 9 on its "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years" list.[44] Despite the fact that the Verve have several hit singles, the song was placed at number one in Paste magazine's poll of its 25 "awesome one-hit wonders of the 1990s."[45] In 2015, Rolling Stone readers voted it the third greatest Britpop song in a poll (after "Common People" by Pulp and "Don't Look Back in Anger" by Oasis).[46] In 2004, it was ranked at number 382 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,"[47] and was re-ranked at 392 in 2010. According to Acclaimed Music, it is the 59th most-celebrated song in popular music history.[48]

Track listings[]

Charts[]

Certifications[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[100] Gold 35,000^
France (SNEP)[101] Gold 250,000*
Germany (BVMI)[102] Gold 250,000double-dagger
Italy (FIMI)[103] Platinum 50,000double-dagger
United Kingdom (BPI)[104] 2× Platinum 1,276,209[3]
United States (RIAA)[105] Gold 500,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
double-dagger Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history[]

Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref.
United Kingdom 16 June 1997 (1997-06-16)
  • 7-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
[106]
United States 11 November 1997 (1997-11-11) Contemporary hit radio [107]
10 March 1998 (1998-03-10)
  • CD
  • cassette
 [108]

References[]

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