Bitter Sweet result for Ashcroft

Richard Ashcroft has said the“bitter taste” left by legal disputes over Bitter Sweet Symphony has gone after rights to the song were returned.

The singer said he can proudly tell his son“I wrote that” when he hears the track, after 22 years of suffering without credit or royalties for his work.

The Verve singer lost the rights to his lauded song, which ended up in the possession of Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.

Released in 1997 on Urban Hymns, the track sampled The Rolling Stones’ song The Last Time, using acom po sition by Andrew Oldham, and became the centre of lawsuits which saw Ashcroft stripped of rights and royalties.