{"id":2444545,"date":"2019-05-23T13:00:45","date_gmt":"2019-05-23T19:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=838773"},"modified":"2019-05-23T13:00:45","modified_gmt":"2019-05-23T19:00:45","slug":"rolling-stones-finally-give-back-bitter-sweet-symphony-songwriting-credits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/music-news\/rolling-stones-finally-give-back-bitter-sweet-symphony-songwriting-credits\/","title":{"rendered":"Rolling Stones Finally Give Back \u2018Bitter Sweet Symphony\u2019 Songwriting Credits"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Verve<\/a>\u2019s 1997 hit \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d is one of the finest songs of the Britpop<\/a> era, a classically Nineties expression of world-weary cool with just the right amount of English self-regard. It\u2019s a song that only Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft<\/a> could have written \u2014 except that he didn\u2019t, according to a notorious copyright ruling. Ashcroft\u2019s song famously sampled an orchestral cover of the Rolling Stones<\/a>\u2019 \u201cThe Last Time,\u201d and a lawsuit from former Stones manager Allen Klein shortly after its release forced him to hand over 100 percent of the royalties from \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.<\/p>\n

This ruling has always been patently absurd \u2014 Jagger and Richards had nothing to do with the dreamy string section that Ashcroft sampled, nor with Ashcroft\u2019s original lyrics and melody \u2014 but it\u2019s stood for more than two decades, until now: The BBC reports<\/a> that the Stones have voluntarily returned the songwriting credits for \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d to their rightful owner.<\/p>\n

Ashcroft made the announcement as he accepted a lifetime achievement honor at the Ivor Novello Awards, which recognize British and Irish songwriters. \u201cAs of last month, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed over all their publishing for Bittersweet Symphony, which was a truly kind and magnanimous thing for them to do,\u201d he reportedly said.<\/p>\n

In an interview with the BBC, he added, \u201cI never had a personal beef with the Stones. They\u2019ve always been the greatest rock & roll band in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last year, Rolling Stone\u2019<\/em>s Rob Sheffield named \u201cBitter Sweet Symphony\u201d the 40th best song of 1998, the year in which it crossed the Atlantic to become a major hit in the U.S.<\/p>\n