The song’s iconic four-note string riff was sampled from an orchestral version of The Rolling Stones’ 1965 song "The Last Time." Unfortunately, The Verve failed to clear the sample properly. In one of music law’s most infamous rulings, the band was forced to surrender 100% of the royalties to former Stones manager Allen Klein. Later, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were credited as songwriters. For years, The Verve made no money from their biggest hit—a bitter irony that befits the song’s title.

As they began to jam, Ashcroft's mind wandered back to his childhood. Growing up, he was fascinated by the contrast between the bleakness of suburban life and the beauty of classical music. He recalled listening to Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and feeling a deep sense of melancholy.

This tool scans folders and rates the "perceptual quality" of your MP3s, flagging upscaled files.

: The song's signature strings are sampled from an obscure orchestral version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time," performed by the Andrew Oldham Orchestra . Although The Verve cleared the sample with the record label, the Stones' former manager, Allen Klein , sued, claiming they used more than the agreed-upon amount.

: In 2019, 22 years after the song’s release, Jagger and Richards magnanimously returned the rights and royalties to Ashcroft, finally allowing him to benefit from his masterpiece.