THE BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

To compliment my recently completed ‘1000 BEST SONGS LIST,’ here is another that just missed the cut.

1047-The Verve-Bitter Sweet Symphony.
1997-Number 2 single.
Best Bit-At 1.21.On discovering that he would receive no royalties, Richard Ashcroft sarcastically said,’This is the best song Jagger and Richards have written in 20 years,’noting it was their biggest UK success since ‘Brown Sugar.’ Keith Richards replied,’If The Verve can write a better song, they can keep the money.
‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ heavily samples the 1965 recording of ‘The Last Time’ by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra,which had been written by David Whitaker(1931-2012,) who was famous for his film scores, Oldham was the manager of The Rolling Stones at time, and released the song as a side project.The Verve released Bitter Sweet Symphony having received permission from Decca Records,however they did not receive permission from former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein(1931-2009,) who owned the copyrights to all the Rolling Stones pre 1970 songs, including ‘The Last Time.’Although Bitter Sweet Symphony had already been released Klein refused to grant a licence for the sample,The Verve had to relinquish all royalties to Klein, with the songwriting credits changed to Jagger/Richards, Richard Ashcroft who wrote the songs lyrics received $1000 for complying. In April 2019 Jagger and Richards signed over all their publishing rights to Ashcroft for Bitter Sweet Symphony.Ashcroft said,’It’s been a fantastic development,it’s life affirming in a way.’
As I have said countless times when writing about music,nothing is totally original, take a listen to the Staple Singers 1955 Gospel song ‘This May Be the Last Time,’and see where Jagger and Richards got their inspiration.
‘Bitter Sweet Symphony’ has a powerful message.Ashcroft’s father was an office clerk,he was stuck in a dead end job,only earning enough to just get by,he died suddenly of a brain haemorrhage when Ashcroft was only 11 years old,Ashcroft said,’I immediately realised that wasn’t the life for me.’The songs message is that there has to be more to life than just earning enough to get by,but sometimes circumstances stop us.
‘Trying to make ends meet,you’re a slave to money, then you die.’