Sympathy for the Devil

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SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL
 
 
“Sympathy for the Devil”  is a song by The Rolling Stones, mostly written by Mick Jagger and credited to Jagger/Richards.  It is sung by Jagger as a first-person narrative from the point of view of Lucifer, who recounts the atrocities committed throughout the history of humanity in his name.  It is performed in a rock arrangement with a samba rhythm.  It first appeared as the opening track on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet.  Rolling Stone magazine placed it at No. 32 in their list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
On the Pebbles, Volume 2 LP is a song by a band called the Satans – yes, it’s true – and the song is called “Makin’ Deals”, so the name carried over into their music as well.  The song is quite remarkable in anticipating the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” by several years; one of the lyrics is even:  “Can you guess my name?”  They only released the one single (no big surprise there).  The parents of the bandmembers in the legendary Iowa garage-rock band GONN were not keen on their original name the Pagans; I can only imagine what this band’s parents must have thought. 
 
(July 2012)
 
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But there is no shortage of interpretations of “American Pie from all quarters (I took a stab at it myself ages ago):  Bob Dylan is said to be the “jester”; the Beatles are evidently referenced in the line “sergeants played a marching tune”; and the Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger in particular) seem to have a more central role in the tale – the fifth verse includes the lyric “Jack be nimble, Jack be quick / Jack Flash sat on a candlestick” (an obvious reference to the Rolling Stones hit “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”), several mentions of Satan (“Sympathy for the Devil” is one of several times that the Stones toyed with Satanic imagery), and apparent veiled references to the horrific Altamont Speedway Free Concert  that occurred on the heels of Woodstock on December 6, 1969, where the Rolling Stones were the featured act, and the Hells Angels motorcycle club provided security. 

 

(June 2013/1)

 
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The frequent hit songs by the Yardbirds – “I’m a Man”, “Happenings Ten Years Time Ago”, For Your Love, “Heart Full of Soul”, “Shapes of Things”, “Over Under Sideways Down”, etc. – hit my eardrums with at least as powerful an impact as the greatest Rolling Stones songs, like “Brown Sugar”, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, “Paint it Black”, Get off of My CloudSympathy for the Devil, “Street Fighting Man”, etc.  To me though, these songs sound every bit as fresh to me today, probably because they haven’t been played to death on oldies’ radio as much as anything else.  

 

(May 2014)

 

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The Rolling Stones were the “bad boys” of the British Invasion.  They played around with Satanic themes and imagery, most famously with their hit Sympathy for the Devil, and also their under-rated psychedelic album that had the unfortunate title of Their Satanic Majesties’ Request.  (From Wikipedia:  “The album’s title is a play on the ‘Her Britannic Majesty requests and requires . . .’ text that appears inside a British passport.”)   

 

But even the Stones came up with a religious themed song a while back, or at least Mick Jagger did:  “God Gave Me Everything” was co-written by Mick and Christian rocker Lenny Kravitz (who also performed on the recording) and was included on his 2001 album, Very Best of Mick Jagger.  I remember seeing the video many years ago back when you’d see those on MTV from time to time.  

 

(November 2014)

 

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As with Lennon/McCartney, additionally some of the songs were written only by Mick Jagger, and others only by Keith Richards.  Wikipedia gives as examples that Mick Jagger wrote “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Brown Sugar”, and that Keith Richards wrote “Happy”, Ruby Tuesday, and “Little T&A”.  In the same 1995 interview with Jann Wenner mentioned above, Mick Jagger said:  “I think in the end it all balances out.” 

 

(May 2015)

 

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The concert was made not long after the release of one of my favorite Rolling Stones albums, Beggars Banquet, and includes two songs from that album, “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man”, plus several more from their most recent album at that time, Let it Bleed:  “Gimme Shelter”, “Love In Vain”, “Midnight Rambler”, “Live with Me”, and “Honky Tonk Women” – a country version of this song was included on Let it Bleed under the name of “Country Honk”, while Honky Tonk Women itself was released five months earlier as a single only.  The Greatest Group on Earth was the only concert album that I had of the Stones for several years (in fact, I did not own very many albums back then, period) – just one live album by the Rolling Stones had been officially released previously, Got Live If You Want It! (1966) – so I played this record a lot. 
 
(September 2017)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021