The Verve | Bitter Sweet Symphony
The Verve's "Bitter Sweet Symphony" - how a looped four-bar sample, 24 orchestral players, and a legal battle stripped songwriting credits but couldn't kill the song.
Story Behind “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
The Four-Bar Loop That Nearly Never Released
Richard Ashcroft heard Andrew Loog Oldham’s 1965 orchestral version of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” and immediately knew he’d found something potent. As he later told Rolling Stone, he heard it and thought it could be “turned into something outrageous.” But transformation required risk. Ashcroft and The Verve looped just four bars of the sample, then added dozens of new recordings on top: strings, guitar, percussion, multiple layers of vocals—creating a wall of sound so completely their own that the original source became almost irrelevant.
The strings were where the magic solidified. String arranger Wil Malone, who’d worked with Massive Attack and Depeche Mode, took the melody from the sample and expanded it with what he described as added “bounce” and “jump.” Twenty-four orchestral players recorded Malone’s arrangements at Olympic Studios, creating the sweeping, cinematic foundation that holds the entire track. Producer Youth was initially skeptical about the track’s potential as a single, but once Malone’s strings were layered in, Ashcroft’s excitement became contagious.
Yet the creative triumph almost collapsed before release. Allen Klein, the notorious Rolling Stones manager and head of ABKCO Records, initially refused clearance for the sample entirely, claiming he didn’t believe in sampling as a concept. It took EMI’s President Ken Berry personally playing the song for Klein to change his mind. Klein listened and gave permission—but on his terms: 50% of all royalties in exchange for using the sample. The Verve accepted. It seemed settled. It wasn’t.
The Album That Wasn’t, Then Was
Urban Hymns almost never happened. After breaking up in August 1995, The Verve reformed two weeks later, but guitarist Nick McCabe wasn’t part of the reunion. Richard Ashcroft was determined to create something significant, and he demo’d material at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios in Bath before attempting to record with producer Owen Morris at Rockfield Studios in Wales. Those sessions became a nightmare. McCabe didn’t want to participate, memories of failed sessions with Morris still fresh. Ashcroft realized the album sounded wrong without McCabe’s textural guitar work—he even threatened to leave music entirely if McCabe wouldn’t rejoin.
McCabe came back in early 1997. Youth was brought in to produce, with sessions at Olympic Studios in London starting in October 1996. The studio’s pedigree—where The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix had recorded—added weight to Ashcroft’s ambitions. He brought in Simon Tong as guitarist too, making the band a five-piece for the first and only time. Virgin Records had already spent £2 million on recording sessions by the time Youth gradually withdrew and engineer Chris Potter took over.
The result was split production duties: Potter handled seven tracks, Youth the other seven. “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was produced by Youth, who recalled that it took the addition of strings before Ashcroft “started getting excited.” By late in the sessions, Ashcroft wanted to “chuck all the album away and start again.” Youth’s response was immediate horror. He talked Ashcroft down.
“Bitter Sweet Symphony” Recording and Production Details
The Wall of Sound Strategy
Ashcroft described his vision as wanting “something that opened up into a prairie-music kind of sound,” like the film scores of Ennio Morricone. The track would eventually feature layered vocals where Ashcroft sang in different styles for different takes—staccato in one, gruffer in another, a technique more associated with Motown productions than indie bands. His strategy was hip-hop at its most creative: take something existing but twist it into something entirely new.
The strings, recorded with 24 players at Olympic Studios, provide the emotional architecture. Malone built the arrangement from the sampled melody, expanding it across multiple instruments to create a cinematic sweep. Beneath that, a “slow-rolling fat beat,” as one critic described it, grounds the ethereal top. The production features multiple guitars layered by both McCabe and Tong, with McCabe’s contributions including more spontaneous, texturally adventurous playing while Tong handled more precisely layered parts. Producer Youth kept the energy contained until necessary moments of expansion.
The chord structure is deceptively simple—built largely on a single chord, according to Malone’s observation. This minimalist foundation allowed the strings and vocals to carry all the emotional weight without becoming cluttered. Youth mixed the track at Olympic Studios, capturing what Ashcroft described as this moment when “we’d hit a timeless seam” and the album finally cohered into something transcendent.
The Video That Inspired a Thousand Imitations
Director Walter Stern’s music video, released June 11, 1997, featured Ashcroft walking down a busy Hoxton pavement in London, bumping into passersby as if lost in his own world. The band appeared at the end, joining him for a walk into the distance. It was simple, kinetic, and immediately iconic. The concept drew comparison to Massive Attack’s “Unfinished Sympathy,” but Stern’s execution made it distinctly Verve—this sense of determined movement despite chaos surrounding you.
The video worked so perfectly that it became endlessly parodied. Fat Les spoofed it for their 1998 World Cup anthem “Vindaloo,” with comedian Paul Kaye dressed as Ashcroft walking the same Hoxton streets. Chris Moyles referenced it when launching his Radio X show in 2015. The image became the visual definition of late-90s Britpop ambition.
Notes About “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve
Release Date: June 16, 1997 (single), September 29, 1997 (album)
Duration: 5:59
Genre: Britpop / Alternative Rock / Orchestral Rock
Album: Urban Hymns (3rd studio album, track 1)
Producer: Martin “Youth” Glover
Label: Hut Recordings / Virgin Records
Chart Performance: #2 UK Singles Chart (1997); BBC Radio 1 voted it third-greatest track of all time (1998)
Notable Usage: Vauxhall commercials, Nike advertisements, trailers for Children of Men and Slumdog Millionaire
The Verve “Bitter Sweet Symphony” Era Band Details
Album Details
Album: Urban Hymns
Release Date: September 29, 1997
Label: Hut Recordings / Virgin Records
Producers: Martin “Youth” Glover, Chris Potter (split production)
Recording Location: Olympic Studios, Barnes, London
Recording Approach: Protracted sessions; initial Rockfield sessions scrapped; band expanded to five-piece with McCabe’s return in early 1997
Engineer: Chris Potter
Budget: £2 million spent by the time Youth exited
Mastering: At Sterling Sound, New York
Band Members/Personnel
Richard Ashcroft - Lead Vocals, Guitar
Nick McCabe - Guitars (including Coral electric sitar, Rickenbacker 12-string)
Simon Tong - Guitars
Simon Jones - Bass Guitar
Peter Salisbury - Drums
Martin “Youth” Glover - Producer (Killing Joke bassist)
Chris Potter - Engineer, Co-producer
Wil Malone - String Arranger (24-piece string ensemble)
Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra - Original sample source
Walter Stern - Music Video Director
Album Production Notes
Urban Hymns knocked Oasis’s Be Here Now off the UK chart top spot, becoming fastest-selling album at the time to lose #1 position
Seven tracks produced by Youth, seven by Potter
Recording sessions began fall 1996; initially with John Leckie, then Owen Morris (sessions scrapped), then Youth and Potter at Olympic Studios
Virgin Records invested £2 million before album completion
Three early singles—all topped UK top ten; “The Drugs Don’t Work” reached #1
Certified 11× Platinum in UK (over 3 million copies sold); #19 best-selling album in UK history
Won Best Album at 1998 Brit Awards; “Bitter Sweet Symphony” named Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year
Interesting Facts About “Bitter Sweet Symphony”
The Legal Battle That Defines the Song
Shortly before “Bitter Sweet Symphony” released, ABKCO Records demanded 100% of royalties instead of the agreed 50%. The Verve had no choice—the single was already being pressed. After the song became massive, Allen Klein’s company exploited the rights fully. ABKCO licensed “Bitter Sweet Symphony” to advertisers worldwide—Nike, Vauxhall, and dozens of others used it for commercials. According to The Verve’s bassist Simon Jones, the conversation was blunt: “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.”
The songwriting credits changed. Jagger and Richards were added as writers; Ashcroft kept lyric credit but lost everything else. In 2019, almost 22 years later, Jagger and Richards returned the publishing rights to Ashcroft, acknowledging it was entirely his creation. Ashcroft responded with characteristic wit, saying “Bitter Sweet Symphony” was “the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years.”
The Song The Band Didn’t Want to Promote
As the single exploded, advertising agencies circled endlessly. Despite substantial offers, The Verve refused all commercial licensing. Youth later noted Ashcroft feared the song would be overused and diluted. Yet ABKCO, as publisher, simply commissioned new recordings for commercials without needing the band’s consent. When The Verve eventually tired of fighting, they simply declined to participate in any more advertising placements. By then, the damage was done—the song had become ubiquitous before the band wanted it to be.
Near the end of 1997, Ashcroft stepped back from doing interviews entirely, frustrated at having to constantly defend and explain himself. The weight of sudden massive success, combined with losing his own creation’s rights, proved psychologically costly. The internal tensions within the band, which had always simmered beneath their music, intensified through 1998 and 1999. By the time Urban Hymns Tour ended, The Verve split for what would be nearly a decade.
Common Questions
Q: What does “Bitter Sweet Symphony” sample? A: The track samples a 1965 orchestral recording of The Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time” by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, arranged by David Whitaker. Ashcroft and The Verve looped four bars of the sample and built nearly 50 additional tracks around it, creating an entirely new composition.
Q: Why did The Verve lose rights to “Bitter Sweet Symphony”? A: The Verve licensed the recording from Decca Records but failed to obtain permission from Allen Klein’s ABKCO Records, which owned the composition rights to pre-1970 Rolling Stones material. Klein initially refused clearance, then demanded 100% of royalties instead of the negotiated 50%. In 2019, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards returned the publishing rights to Richard Ashcroft.
Q: Was Nick McCabe originally on “Bitter Sweet Symphony”? A: McCabe was brought back into The Verve in January 1997, after initial recording had begun with Simon Tong as guitarist. Several songs, including “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” were re-recorded to allow McCabe’s guitar parts to be integrated, making Urban Hymns the only album the band recorded as a five-piece.
Q: Who wrote the strings on “Bitter Sweet Symphony”? A: String arranger Wil Malone, known for his work with Massive Attack and Depeche Mode, arranged the strings. He worked from the melody in the sample and expanded it to add bounce and jump. Twenty-four orchestral players performed his arrangements at Olympic Studios.
Q: Why did The Verve break up after Urban Hymns? A: Internal tensions and interpersonal conflicts within the band intensified as success grew. Band members struggled with communication and confrontation, preferring to avoid difficult conversations rather than address simmering issues. Combined with the legal battle over “Bitter Sweet Symphony,” the stress fractured relationships beyond repair.