Written by Mick Jaggerand Keith Richards as part of their Jagger-Richards songwriting partnership, though largely written solely by Jagger, “Sympathy For The Devil” was recorded by The Rolling Stones as the opening track for their 1968 album, Beggars Banquet.
Jagger drew inspiration from many sources to sing as “the devil,” boasting about his role in numerous tragedies that took place throughout history. Some of the atrocities listed in the lyrics of the over 6-minute song are the trial and crucifixion of Christ, the Hundred Years War, the execution of the Romanov family, and the assassinations of both JFK Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. In an interview about the songwriting, Jagger said:
“It’s a very long historical figure – the figures of evil and figures of good – so it is a tremendously long trail he’s made as personified in this piece.”
The Rolling Stones were already familiar with causing controversy before the release of Beggars Banquet due to their sexually forward lyrics. However, with “Sympathy For The Devil,” the claims that the band dabbled in Satanism were brought back into the media spotlight. Rumors and worries from religious groups that the Stones were devil worshippers and a corrupting influence upon impressionable audiences were significantly heightened in part due to the song.
Richards said of the song and the band’s public perception in 1971:
“Before, we were just innocent kids out for a good time, they’re saying, ‘They’re evil, they’re evil.’ Oh, I’m evil, really? So that makes you start thinking about evil … What is evil? Half of it, I don’t know how many people think of Mick as the devil or as just a good rock performer or what? There are black magicians who think we are acting as unknown agents of Lucifer and others who think we are Lucifer. Everybody’s Lucifer.”
However, despite the controversies, “Sympathy For The Devil” has been subject to critical acclaim. The Washington Postcalled the track The Stones’ “ode to madness.” Hunter S. Thompson famously played the song repetitively hundreds of times during his 1971 drug-induced road trip to Las Vegas to help himself focus while under the influence. Subsequently, the song appears numerous times in Fear and Loathing Las Vegas.
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