Bitter Sweet Symphony

"Bitter Sweet Symphony"
Single by the Verve
from the album Urban Hymns
B-side	"Lord I Guess I'll Never Know" "Country Song" "Bitter Sweet Symphony (Radio Edit)" "Bitter Sweet Symphony (Extended Version)" "So Sister" "Echo Bass"
Released	16 June 1997 (1997-06-16)
Recorded	January–March 1997
Studio	Olympic Studios, London
Length	5:58 (album version) 4:33 (radio edit and video version) 7:50 (extended version)
Label	Hut Virgin
Songwriter(s)	Richard Ashcroft[1]
Producer(s)	Martin "Youth" Glover The Verve
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
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"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song by the English rock band the Verve, released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the lead single from their third album, Urban Hymns (1997).

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" was produced by Youth at Olympic Studios, London. The Verve developed it from a sample from a 1965 version of the Rolling Stones song "The Last Time" by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra, adding vocals, strings, guitar and percussion. They obtained rights to use the sample from the copyright holder, Decca Records, but were denied permission from the Rolling Stones' former manager, Allen Klein. Following a lawsuit, the Verve relinquished all royalties and the Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were added to the songwriting credits. In 2019, ten years after Klein's death, Jagger, Richards, and Klein's son ceded the rights to the Verve songwriter, Richard Ashcroft.

The music video features Ashcroft walking down a busy pavement in Hoxton, London, bumping into passersby. It was played frequently on music channels and was nominated for Video of the Year, Best Group Video and Best Alternative Video at the 1998 MTV Video Music Awards. It has been parodied in television advertisements and other music videos.

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" reached number two on the UK Singles Chart, and stayed on the chart for three months.^[2] It was released in the US in March 1998 by Virgin Records America, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[3] It was named Rolling Stone and NME Single of the Year and was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. In 1999, it was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rock Song.^[4] "Bitter Sweet Symphony" is considered one of the defining songs of the Britpop era and has been named one of the greatest songs of the decade by several publications. Rolling Stone included "Bitter Sweet Symphony" in two editions of its "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".