TURN THAT BITTER INTO SWEET, BOY
THE FINANCIAL FALLOUT HAS become part of the story of the Verve’s song, Bittersweet Symphony, which celebrates its 10th Anniversary next year. What a theme for our times that tune became, on the changeover in power that came after 18 years of Tory rule to Tony Blair’s New Labour it now seems like an exact and prophetic commentary- on the defeat of ideals that followed that ultimately hollow victory. So how does it feel to have a massive hit, to strike a real public chord but for the creator to make no direct financial gain from it? And how does it taste? Probably more bitter than sweet but that is something Dickie Ashcroft would never admit it. And good for him, in the iniquities of copyright laws and business practices true artists know where the real power and glory is to be found - in the music, telling truths far beyond the banker’s ken.
