About Bitter Sweet Symphony

"Bitter Sweet Symphony" is a song recorded by English rock band the Verve as the lead track on their third studio album, Urban Hymns (1997). The song was released on 16 June 1997 by Hut Recordings and Virgin Records as the first single from the album, reaching number two on the UK Singles Chart and remaining in the chart for three months.

It is based on a sample from the Andrew Loog Oldham orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones' song "The Last Time", and involved some legal controversy surrounding a plagiarism charge. As a result, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were added to the songwriting credits, and all royalties from the song went to former Rolling Stones manager Allen Klein. In April 2019, Jagger and Richards ceded their rights to the song to the Verve's songwriter Richard Ashcroft.