Former Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, who did a fine job a 'host' of In The City this week, has been talking to Uncut about that old run in he had with The Verve over the classical bit at the start of 'Bitter Sweet Symphony'.
As you'll probably know, The Verve track sampled the Andrew Oldham Orchestra's recording of the Stones' 'The Last Time' on their hit single. Some agreement had taken place before the sample was used, but not enough, Oldham and The Stones' publishers argued, to justify the way the sample dominated the track. Legal proceedings followed and ultimately, in an out of court settlement, the publishing rights to the whole song went to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, even though all the words were written by Richard Ashcroft.
Ashcroft is reportedly still a bit bitter about the whole thing, not least because by losing control of the publishing rights he's not been able to block the licensing of the song to commercial enterprises he doesn't agree with. But Oldham seemingly has little sympathy. He told Uncut: "Songwriters have learned to call songs their children, and he thinks he wrote something. He didn't. I hope he's got over it. It takes a while".
Oldham is presumably over it though. Certainly he and The Verve manager Jazz Summers were in close proximity at In The City this week and I didn't hear of any fist fights.