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even if you don't know the verb
you've probably heard their 1997 single
bitter sweet symphony'
it's been used in ads TV shows and films
it was nominated for a Grammy Award for
Best Rock song and remains the verbs
most definitive single it launched the
band into stardom and it's arguably one
of the greatest songs of the last 25
years
it feels grand and that's thanks to its
orchestral elements the verse frontman
Richard Ashcroft was almost ready to
scrap the song until producer Martin
Glover put the strings overtop of it
that's when Ashcroft really got excited
but that's also with the verbs biggest
problem line The Verve Laird nearly 50
tracks of instrumentation to create
bittersweet symphony including a string
sample from Andrew Oldman orchestras
recording of the last time
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the group now had to get permission to
use the sample in their song but it
wasn't that easy the 1960s birthed
orchestral pop producers were inspired
to rearrange popular songs into full
orchestral versions which was the case
with Andrew Oldman and the Rolling
Stones storybook Oldham was the Rolling
Stones manager and mentor at the time
and taking a note from the Beatles
producer George Martin he released a
collection of instrumental versions of
hits from the Rolling Stones including
the last time
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the group is granted a license by Decca
Records to use the five note sample and
release the single in the summer of 97
but the Verve could have released the
record until they had permission from
ABKCO who controlled the publishing
rights for everything the stones
recorded up until 1971 The Verve didn't
think to get permission for the
underlying stones track that inspired
the composition until after their track
was completed and why would they your
Kestrel version was only inspired by the
Rolling Stones track so the verbs
manager jazz summers calls up ABKCO for
the publishing clearance they say no and
so Ken Barry head of EMI records heads
to New York himself to meet with ABKCO
Allen Klein a man who's been called the
music business boogie man he was a
financial auditor who took his skills
into the music world labels feared him
he would review the accounts of artists
and fined them thousands of dollars
still owed to them Paul McCartney
despised him and while he did save the
Beatles from potential bankruptcy his
management of the group was a big reason
for the Beatles breakup and he didn't
just own the Rolling Stones publishing
rights the band didn't even know what
they were signing away when they made
their contract anyways Barry plays Klein
the verbs completed album urban hymns
and outlined how bitter sweet symphony'
would be the obvious lead single and
that it would be essential that they got
the license to use this sample initially
Klein said no that there was no sampling
of our music he simply didn't believe in
it but Klein realized that the band were
in a tight spot and was willing to make
an exception to his rule granting them a
license the verse says the deal was
initially for a 50/50 split but when the
single started to perform well Klein
claimed that the verb broke the License
Agreement and used the larger portion of
the sample than agreed upon Klein ended
up suing the band for plagiarism The
Verve decided to settle out of court
thinking it would be cheaper than
fighting a legal battle that might not
go their way Klein demanded a hundred
percent of royalties and songwriting
credits attributed to Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards so remember that Grammy
nomination had Jagger and Richards name
on the ballot - ouch The Verve lost
everything they couldn't earn money from
their biggest hit they had no control
over the song's use Nike wanted to use
the track in an ad but after the Verve
said no the shoe manufacturer purchased
the license from Klein the last thing
the Verve wanted was their music being
used in commercials Klein and his label
began exploiting the track in ads all
around the world today bittersweet
symphony is one of ABKCO
best earning compositions it also
offered a nice payday for stones members
who had nothing to do with it this
should have been between Oldham and
Ashcroft only and speaking of Oldham he
would later sue the Verve for 1.7
million in mechanical royalties but the
songwriter who arranged Oldham 's
orchestral version of the last time was
a man named David Whittaker who wasn't
even listed as a composer and received
no credit during the whole legal dispute
if anyone was gonna get credit for a
bitter sweet symphony' it should have
been this guy and it gets worse in 1999
Q magazine interviewed Keith Richards
and asked if he believed the result was
fair he said I'm out of whack here
this is serious lawyer if the verb
can write a better song they can keep
the money but even the Rolling Stones
track was inspired by another song
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[Applause]
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and the Staple Singers never got any
royalties from it nor did the stones
offer any it's a traditional song that
goes back in time no one owned the
rights to it anyone could have made
their own rendition and this wasn't
uncommon for classic rock bands to
rework songs by black artists into hits
and then completely locked the track
down with copyrights culture has always
built on the past but it seems like the
past has always tried to control the
future copyright was originally created
to encourage people to create not stop
them in the 2003 book according to the
Rolling Stones Keith Richards said this
about the Staple Singers track it gave
us something to build on
to create the first song that we felt we
could decently present to the band to
play the last time was kind of a bridge
into thinking about writing for the
stones
it gave us a level of confidence a
pathway of how to do it and once we had
done that we were in the game
interesting since they showed no
generosity when someone tried to build
upon their work or rather from an
inspiration of their work to be fair
this wasn't the Rolling Stones fault
this was all Allen Klein's doing and
what any other label executive would
have done in his place maybe not as
extensively but since creativity became
a commodity the money is all that
matters and when I'm listening to
bittersweet symphony
I know I'm listening to the verb
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music you love and tummy do you think
this whole thing was fair did the verb
use too much of the sample and should
have Jagger and Richards have gotten
songwriting credits let me know what you
think in the comments below
and keep listening