DJ Allyn – The Soundtrack for my Life

Bitter Sweet Symphony – The Verve  

The Verve formed when the group met at Winstanley Sixth Form College, Wigan Metropolitan Borough, in 1989. Led by singer Richard Ashcroft, the band caused a buzz in early 1991 for its ability to captivate audiences with its musical textures and avant-garde sensibilities.

1993’s A Storm in Heaven, the band’s full-length debut, produced by Britpop record producer John Leckie, was a critical smash, but was only a moderate commercial success, reaching #27 in the UK album chart.

The second single from the album, “Slide Away”, topped the UK indie rock charts. The band played on the travelling U.S. alternative rock festival, Lollapalooza, in the summer of 1994. The tour proved disastrous for the group, as Ashcroft was hospitalized for dehydration caused by overdosing on Ecstasy, and Salisbury was arrested for destroying a hotel room in Kansas in a drug-fuelled delirium. After the tour, the jazz label Verve Records sued the band for trademark infringement, forcing the group to officially change their name to The Verve.

The turmoil continued well into the recording sessions of the follow-up album, 1995’s A Northern Soul. The sessions started off well; McCabe even called the first three weeks of recording the happiest in his life (due to his massive intake of Ecstasy). However, the rampant drug use and strained relationship between Ashcroft and McCabe during the sessions, took their toll on the band. Richard Ashcroft later described the recording experience:

“Four intense, mad months. Really insane. In great ways and terrible ways. In ways that only good music and bad drugs and mixed emotions can make.”

The band departed from the neo-psychedelic sounds of A Storm in Heaven and focused more on conventional alternative rock. The singles “This Is Music”, “On Your Own”, and “History” all reached the UK Top 40. The latter two singles were particularly new for the Verve, as they dabbled with soulful ballads. Around this period, Oasis guitarist and friend of Ashcroft, Noel Gallagher, wrote the song “Cast No Shadow” for the troubled frontman, on the album (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?. Ashcroft returned the gesture by writing the title song “Northern Soul” for Noel.

Although the album reached the UK Top 20, Richard Ashcroft broke up the band three months after its release in July. Ashcroft reunited the group just a few weeks after the breakup, but McCabe refused to rejoin the lineup. The band hired former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, but he spent only a couple of days with the band. Thus, as a replacement, the band chose Simon Tong, a school friend of Ashcroft and Jones, to fill in the lead guitar duties for the remainder of the 1996 tour. Tong is credited with originally teaching the two to play guitar.

Bitter Sweet Symphony

Although the song’s lyrics were written by Verve vocalist Richard Ashcroft, it has been credited to Keith Richards and Mick Jagger because the song uses the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 song “The Last Time” as its foundation.

Originally, The Verve had negotiated a license to use a sample from the Oldham recording, but it was successfully argued that the Verve had used ‘too much’ of the sample. Despite having original lyrics, the music of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” is largely based on the Oldham track (the song uses the sample as its foundation and then builds upon, though the continuous riff is Ashcroft’s creation), which led to a lawsuit with ABKCO Records, Allen Klein’s company that owns the rights to the Rolling Stones material of the 1960s. The matter was eventually settled, with copyright of the song reverting to ABKCO and songwriting credits to Jagger and Richards.

“We were told it was going to be a 50/50 split, and then they saw how well the record was doing,” says band member Simon Jones. “They rung up and said ‘we want 100 per cent or take it out of the shops’, you don’t have much choice.”

After losing the composer credits to the song, Richard Ashcroft commented, “This is the best song [Mick] Jagger and [Keith] Richards have written in 20 years.”

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
You’re a slave to money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah

No change, I can’t change
I can’t change, I can’t change
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind
But I’m a million different people
from one day to the next
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no, no, no,no,no,no,no,no(fading away)

Well I never pray
But tonight I’m on my knees yeah
I need to hear some sounds that recognize the pain in me, yeah
I let the melody shine, let it cleanse my mind, I feel free now
But the airways are clean and there’s nobody singing to me now

No change, I can’t change
I can’t change, I can’t change
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind
And I’m a million different people
from one day to the next
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no, no, no
I can’t change
I can’t change it

‘Cause it’s a bittersweet symphony, this life
Trying to make ends meet
Trying to find some money then you die
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
You know the one that takes you to the places
where all the veins meet yeah

You know I can’t change, I can’t change
I can’t change, I can’t change
But I’m here in my mind
I am here in my mind
And I’m a million different people
from one day to the next
I can’t change my mind
No, no, no, no, no

I can’t change my mind
no, no, no, no, no,
I can’t change
Can’t change my body,
no, no, no

I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
I’ll take you down the only road I’ve ever been down
Been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
Ever been down
That you’ve ever been down
That you’ve ever been down

• From the 1997 album, Urban Hymns:

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