Bitter Sweet Symphony

For the album by Jade Valerie, see Bittersweet Symphony (album).

"Bitter Sweet Symphony"
Song

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by English alternative rock band The Verve. It is the lead track on their third album Urban Hymns (1997). It was released on 16 June 1997 as the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart. The single was released in the United States in early 1998, where it reached number twelve on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also became famous for the legal controversy surrounding plagiarism charges. and was a crap success

Rolling Stone ranked "Bitter Sweet Symphony" as the 382nd best song of all time. In May 2007, NME magazine placed "Bitter Sweet Symphony" at number 18 in its list of the "50 Greatest Indie Anthems Ever". In September 2007, Q published a list of "Top 10 Tracks" as selected via a poll of 50 songwriters; "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is included. In the Triple J Hottest 100 of All Time, 2009 (an online music poll conducted by the Australian radio station Triple J) the track was voted the 14th best song of all time.

Song credits

Although the song's lyrics were written by Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft, it has been credited to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger after charges by the original copyright owners that the song was plagiarized from the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Rolling Stones' 1965 song "The Last Time".

Originally, The Verve had negotiated a licence to use a sample from the Oldham recording, but it was successfully argued that the Verve had used 'too much' of the sample. Despite having original lyrics, the music of "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is partially based on the Oldham track (the song uses the sample as its foundation and builds layers upon it, though the prominent violin melody is Ashcroft's creation), which led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Allen Klein's company that owns the rights to the Rolling Stones material of the 1960s. The matter was eventually settled, with copyright of the song reverting to ABKCO and songwriting credits to Jagger and Richards.

"We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing," says band member Simon Jones. "They rung up and said 'we want 100 per cent or take it out of the shops', you don't have much choice."

After losing the composer credits to the song, Richard Ashcroft commented, "This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years."

The song was later used, against the will of the band, by Nike in a shoe commercial. As a result, it was on the Illegal Art CD from the magazine Stay Free!. The song was also used in a Vauxhall Motors advertisement and several of Opel, prompting Ashcroft to declare onstage, "Don't buy Vauxhall cars, they're shit." However, the band were able to stop further use of the song by employing the European legal concept of moral rights.

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: "Despite all the legal angles and the bullshit, strip down to the chords and the lyrics and the melody and you realise there is such a good song there."

He also dedicated the song to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at a gig at the Sage Gateshead in Gateshead. After several audience members booed, Ashcroft exclaimed, "Don't boo, man. As long as I can play this song I'm happy to pay a few of those guys' bills."

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" to which 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."

Music video

The video for "Bitter Sweet Symphony" features Ashcroft lip-synching the song while walking down a busy street; Ashcroft refuses to change his stride or direction throughout, apparently oblivious to what is going on around him. He repeatedly bumps into passers-by (causing at least one to trip and fall), narrowly avoids being hit by a car, and jumps on top of the bonnet of another vehicle stopped in his path (the owner proceeds to shout at him while he seems to be unaware). 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".

Ashcroft starts walking from the southeast corner of the intersection of Hoxton and Falkirk Streets in Hoxton, North London, subsequently proceeding north along the east side of Hoxton Street. The "pavement journey" format was inspired by the music video for the Massive Attack song "Unfinished Sympathy", in which Shara Nelson sings while walking through a Los Angeles neighbourhood. The British comedy band Fat Les would later release a direct parody for their 1998 song "Vindaloo"; Paul Kaye takes the role of an Ashcroft look-alike who is mocked by a growing group of passers-by as the video progresses.

Live 8

On 2 July 2005, at the Live 8 concert in Hyde Park, Coldplay invited Ashcroft to perform the song with them in 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 greatest song ever written'.

On 25 December 2005, a documentary entitled Live 8: A Bitter Sweet Symphony was aired reliving moments of the day featuring a portion of Ashcroft's performance as the music for the show's opening soundtrack.

Other appearances

The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft also did an acoustic version of "Bitter Sweet Symphony".

In February 1998, "Treat Infamy" by Alastair Johnson, Laurence Nelson and Nick Carter under the pseudonym Rest Assured peaked at 14 in the UK singles chart; the track featured replayed orchestral samples of "Bitter Sweet Symphony". The single was released on London Records; however, due to copyright restrictions this version is no longer available commercially. This version is credited as having been written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards, with additional material by Rest Assured.

In late 2008, American musician Ace Enders, former front man of successful New Jersey emo act The Early November, covered the song to kick off his solo project "Ace Enders and a Million Different People". The song's proceeds went to benefit the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. This rendition was exclusively sold via Apple's iTunes Store, also one of the partners involved in the benefit. The single went on to sell tens of thousands of downloads. Enders invited other successful front men in the genre to join him in singing on the track. Guest performers included Mark Hoppus of Blink-182, Matt Thiessen of Relient K, Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low, and Craig Owens of Chiodos. All proceeds from the project went to the VH1 Save the Music Foundation. The song was also featured at the ending of the 1999 film Cruel Intentions.

The song has also been used in the ITV'S opening part of England's qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup. The music can be heard as the camera moves through a digital video of England's football history and eventually ends up at the new Wembley Stadium.

Mexican Institute of Sound's album Soy Sauce includes a cover of the song in Spanish titled "Sinfonia Agridulce."

The NBA franchise Denver Nuggets uses the song to do pre-game introductions.

Australian radio broadcaster Chris Smith, uses the song as his intro for his afternoon talkback radio show on Sydney radio station [[2GB].

The song will be included in a song mix in the upcoming Activision game DJ Hero

In 2009, rapper Wale sampled the song to make "Bittersweet", which features Colin Munroe.

Track listings

UK CD1 (HUTDG82)

1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (album version) – 5:58
2. "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" – 4:52
3. "Country Song" – 7:50
4. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (radio edit) – 4:35

UK CD2 (HUTDX82)

1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (extended version) – 7:52
2. "So Sister" – 4:11
3. "Echo Bass" – 6:39

US CD (released 10 March 1998 by Virgin Records)

1. "Bitter Sweet Symphony" (album version) – 5:58
2. "Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" – 4:52
3. "So Sister" – 4:11
4. "Echo Bass" – 6:39

Chart performances

Chart	Position
Australian Singles Chart	11
Austrian Singles Chart	15
Belgium Singles Chart (Vl)	21
Belgium Singles Chart (Wa)	18
Dutch Singles Chart	14
Finnish Singles Chart	6
French Singles Chart	16
New Zealand Singles Chart	15
Norwegian Singles Chart	9
Swedish Singles Chart	10
Swiss Singles Chart	15
UK Singles Chart	2
US Billboard Hot 100	12