On this day in 1965 the Rolling Stones peak to No.1 with “The Last Time”
One of the band’s most popular songs, sparked some controversy in 1997 when The Verve sampled it
On this day in 1965 the Rolling Stones peak to No.1 with “The Last Time”
“The Last Time” was the Rolling Stones first single written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, though the song’s refrain is very close to “This May Be the Last Time”, a 1958 song by the Staple Singers. In 2003, Richards acknowledged this, saying: “we came up with ‘The Last Time’, which was basically re-adapting a traditional gospel song that had been sung by the Staple Singers, but luckily the song itself goes back into the mists of time.” The Rolling Stones’ song has the main melody and a hook (a distinctive guitar riff) that were both absent in the Staple Singers’ version. Phil Spector, whose “Wall of Sound” approach can be heard on the recording, assisted with the production. Released on February 26, 1965, the song reached No.1 at the UK singles charts on March, 16 of the same year. “The Last Time” was regularly performed in concert during the band’s 1965, 1966 and 1967 tours, but as most of the songs played live during those mentioned periods, was later left off their concert setlists until 1997–98, when it reappeared on the “Bridges to Babylon Tour”. During the late 1990’s the song sparkled some controversy when in 1997, former Rolling Stones business manager Allen Klein, whose company ABKCO Records owns the rights to all Rolling Stones material from the 1960’s, sued the band The Verve for using a sample of the Andrew Oldham Orchestra recording of “The Last Time” in their hit song “Bitter Sweet Symphony”. The Verve had obtained a license to use the sample, but Klein successfully argued that the band used more than the license covered. The Verve were required to relinquish 100% of their royalties from their hit song to ABKCO and the songwriting credit was changed to Jagger/Richards/Ashcroft, however, this led to Andrew Loog Oldham, who owns the copyright on the orchestral rendition that was sampled, also suing The Verve. Recently, Jagger and Richards gave back in their free will, the credits of the song to Ashcroft and The Verve can now also benefit from the Bittersweet Symphony royalties, their biggest hit, over 20 years after ut was released,
Watch the Rolling Stones performing “The Last Time” live in Ireland, 1965 taken from the film “Charlie is my Darling”
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