Sympathy for the Devil

"Sympathy for the Devil" is credited to Jagger and Richards, though the song was largely a Jagger composition.{{cite magazine|magazine=Rolling Stone|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/mick-jagger-remembers-19951214|title=Mick Jagger Remembers|author-link=Jann S. Wenner|author=Wenner, Jann|date=14 December 1995}} The working title of the song was "The Devil Is My Name", having earlier been called "Fallen Angels". Jagger sings in first person narrative as the Devil, who boasts of his role in each of several historical atrocities and repeatedly asks the listener to "guess my name." The singer demands the listener's courtesy towards him, implicitly chastising the listeners for their collective culpability in the listed killings and crimes. In the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane, Jagger stated that his influence for the song came from Baudelaire and from the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita (which had just appeared in English translation in 1967). The book was given to Jagger by Marianne Faithfull and she confirmed the inspiration in an interview with Sylvie Simmons for the magazine Mojo in 2005.{{Cite web|last=Vanhellemont|first=Jan|title=The Rolling Stones – Sympathy for the Devil|url=https://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/05media/stones.html|website=EU: The Master and Margarita}}

In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger said, "that was taken from an old idea of Baudelaire's, I think, but I could be wrong. Sometimes when I look at my Baudelaire books, I can't see it in there. But it was an idea I got from French writing. And I just took a couple of lines and expanded on it. I wrote it as sort of like a Bob Dylan song." It was Keith Richards who suggested changing the tempo and using additional percussion, turning the folk song into a samba.{{cite book |last=Jagger |first=Mick |author2=Richards, Keith |author3=Watts, Charlie |author4=Wood, Ronnie |title=According to the Rolling Stones |publisher=Chronicle Books |year=2003 |isbn=0-8118-4060-3 |page=[https://archive.org/details/accordingtorolli00jagg/page/119 119] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/accordingtorolli00jagg }}

Jagger stated in the Rolling Stone interview: "it's a very long historical figure{{snd}}the figures of evil and figures of good{{snd}}so it is a tremendously long trail he's made as personified in this piece." By the time Beggars Banquet was released, the Rolling Stones had already caused controversy for sexually forward lyrics such as "Let's Spend the Night Together"[{{Allmusic|class=song|id=t2770362|pure_url=yes}} Unterberger, Richie. "Let's Spend the Night Together"]. AllMusic. 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007. and their cover of the Willie Dixon's blues "I Just Want to Make Love to You". There were also claims they had dabbled in Satanism{{cite web |last=Cruickshank |first=Douglas |title=Sympathy for the Devil |work=Salon |date=14 January 2002 |url=http://www.salon.com/2002/01/14/sympathy/ |access-date=25 June 2006}} (their previous album, while containing no direct Satanic references in its music or lyrics, was titled Their Satanic Majesties Request). "Sympathy" brought these concerns to the fore, provoking media rumors and fears among some religious groups that the Stones were devil worshippers and a corrupting influence on youth.

The lyrics focus on atrocities in human history from Satan's point of view, including the trial and death of Jesus Christ, The Hundred Years' War, the violence of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the 1918 execution of the Romanov family during World War I, and World War II. The song was originally written with a line asking who shot John F. Kennedy, but after Robert F. Kennedy's assassination on 5 June 1968, the line was changed to reference both assassinations.{{cite web |title=Sympathy for the Devil |author=Jagger/Richards |work=RollingStones.com |date=20 June 2004 |url=http://www.rollingstones.com/discog/index.php?v=so&a=1&id=106 |access-date=1 March 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930155456/http://www.rollingstones.com/discog/index.php?v=so&a=1&id=106 |archive-date=30 September 2007 }}

The song may have been spared further controversy when the first single from the same album, "Street Fighting Man", became even more controversial in view of the race riots and student protests occurring in many cities in Europe and in the United States.{{cite book |last=Wyman |first=Bill |title=Rolling With the Stones |publisher=DK Publishing |year=2002 |isbn=0-7894-9998-3 |page=309}}

The recording of "Sympathy for the Devil" began at London's Olympic Sound Studios on 4 June 1968; overdubs were done on 8, 9 and 10 June.{{cite web |last=Zentgraf |first=Nico |title=The Complete Works of the Rolling Stones 1962–2008 |url=http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm |access-date=23 February 2008}} Personnel included on the recording include Nicky Hopkins on piano, Rocky Dijon on congas and Bill Wyman on shekere. Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, photographer Michael Cooper (photographer), Wyman, and Richards performed backup vocals. Richards plays bass on the original recording, and also electric guitar. Brian Jones plays a mostly mixed out acoustic guitar, although in isolated tracks of the studio cut, it is audible playing along with the piano.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|pp=256–259}}[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQKkCxYIGPc Godard Whoo-Whoo's footage retrieved 31 August 2023]

In the 2003 book According to the Rolling Stones, Watts commented:

{{quote|"Sympathy" was one of those sort of songs where we tried everything. The first time I ever heard the song was when Mick was playing it {{nbsp}}...{{nbsp}} and it was fantastic. We had a go at loads of different ways of playing it; in the end I just played a jazz Latin feel in the style that Kenny Clarke would have played on "A Night in Tunisia".}}

On the overall power of the song, Jagger continued in Rolling Stone:

{{quote|It has a very hypnotic groove, a samba, which has a tremendous hypnotic power, rather like good dance music. It doesn't speed up or slow down. It keeps this constant groove. Plus, the actual samba rhythm is a great one to sing on, but it's also got some other suggestions in it, an undercurrent of being primitive{{snd}}because it is a primitive African, South American, Afro-whatever-you-call-that rhythm (candombe).}}

The backing vocals came about by accident by producer Jimmy Miller and Anita Pallenberg. Pallenberg was in the engineering booth with Miller while Jagger was belting out an early vocal take of the song. According to Pallenberg, Miller was half talking to himself as Jagger sang, saying "Who, who?" He then repeated the words several times as Jagger sang on, and Pallenberg realized how wonderful that all sounded. After the take, she told Jagger what transpired in the booth and suggested that "who who" be used in the song as a backing vocal chant. The Stones then gave it a go and after the first take, "Who who" became "woo-woo", with most of this caught on film by director Jean-Luc Godard for his One Plus One ({{aka}} Sympathy for the Devil) movie.

Of the change in public perception the band experienced after the song's release, Richards said in a 1971 interview with Rolling Stone, "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."{{Cite news |last=Greenfield |first=Robert |title=The Rolling Stone Interview: Keith Richards |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=19 August 1971 }}

Hunter S. Thompson and his attorney Oscar Zeta Acosta kept replaying the song hundreds of times during their drug-induced road trip to Las Vegas in 1971 to maintain focus whilst high. In Thompson's novel, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the film of the same name, the song is referenced several times.{{cite web |title=Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas |url=http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/fearandloathing.html |website=Daily Script}}

Contrary to a widespread misconception, it was "Under My Thumb" and not "Sympathy for the Devil" that the Stones were performing when Meredith Hunter was killed at the Altamont Free Concert. Rolling Stone magazine's early articles on the incident typically misreported that the killing took place during "Sympathy for the Devil",{{cite magazine |last=Burks |first=John |title=Rock & Roll's Worst Day |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=7 February 1970 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5934386/rock__rolls_worst_day |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060423155255/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5934386/rock__rolls_worst_day/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 April 2006 |access-date=13 September 2008 }} but the Stones in fact played "Sympathy for the Devil" earlier in the concert; it was interrupted by a fight and restarted, Jagger commenting, "We're always having{{snd}}something very funny happens when we start that number." Several other songs were performed before Hunter was killed.

"Sympathy for the Devil" is considered the band's "ode to madness" by The Washington Post's Paul Schwartzman.{{Cite news |last=Schwartzman |first=Paul |date=2024-07-10 |title=Who killed the Kennedys? The Rolling Stones won't tell you anymore. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/2024/07/11/rolling-stones-devil-kennedy/ |access-date=2024-08-10 |newspaper=Washington Post |language=en-US |issn=0190-8286}} The song has been played more than 800 times by the Rolling Stones during live performances, and appears on their live albums Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out!, Love You Live, and Flashpoint, among others.{{Cite web |title=Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones Song Statistics {{!}} setlist.fm |url=https://www.setlist.fm/stats/songs/the-rolling-stones-bd6ad22.html?songid=2bd7ac5a |access-date=2024-08-14 |website=www.setlist.fm}}

The song's verse "I shouted out, ‘Who killed the Kennedys?' / When after all, it was you and me." is considered by critic Robert Christgau to be a commentary about how "this is a world where people get killed and all of us, to one extent or another, are implicated in the fact that this is that world." This lyric was noted in 2024 by Schwartzman as being omitted from the song since approximately 2006 in live performance. Christgau believes this was possibly done due to its lack of relevance "to the younger audience".

According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon,{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|pp=256–259}} except where noted:

The Rolling Stones

• Mick Jagger{{snd}} lead vocals,{{sfn|Babiuk|Prevost|2013|p=290}} hand drum{{sfn|Babiuk|Prevost|2013|p=290}}
• Keith Richards{{snd}} backing vocals, lead guitar, bass
• Brian Jones{{snd}} backing vocals, acoustic guitar (inaudible)
• Bill Wyman{{snd}} backing vocals, shekere
• Charlie Watts{{snd}} backing vocals, drums

Additional personnel

• Unidentified musician{{snd}} maracas{{refn|group=note|Margotin and Guesdon write that, in addition to Wyman's shekere contribution, other maracas appear on the track, but are unsure who contributed them.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=259}}}}
• Nicky Hopkins{{snd}} piano
• Rocky Dzidzornu{{snd}} congas, cowbell
• Michael Cooper, Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg {{snd}} backing vocals{{refn|group=note|Authors Andy Babiuk and Greg Prevost write that Faithfull and Pallenberg added backing vocals with the Rolling Stones,{{sfn|Babiuk|Prevost|2013|p=290}} while Margotin and Guesdon write the additional vocals were provided by Faithfull and Pallenberg, as well as Jones' new girlfriend, model Suki Potier, and the session's sound engineer, Glyn Johns.{{sfn|Margotin|Guesdon|2016|p=256}} However, the footage shot during the recording session by Jean-Luc Godard for his film One Plus One clearly shows that the background vocals, in addition to the band members, are Faithfull and Pallenberg along with photographer Michael Cooper.}} [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQKkCxYIGPc Godard Whoo-Whoo's footage retrieved 31 August 2023]

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{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications and sales for "Sympathy for the Devil"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=single|artist=The Rolling Stones|title=Sympathy for the Devil|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1966|certyear=2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|award=Gold|relyear=1965|certyear=2023|title=Sympathy for the devil|artist=The Rolling Stones|access-date=10 June 2023|type=single}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|award=Platinum|relyear=1965|certyear=2019|title=Sympathy for the devil|artist=The Rolling Stones|access-date=10 June 2023|id=7270|type=single}}

{{Certification Table Entry |region=Spain|type=single|award=Platinum|certyear=2024|title=Sympathy for the devil|artist=The Rolling Stones|accessdate=13 February 2024}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|award=Platinum|relyear=2005|certyear=2020|title=Sympathy for the Devil|artist=Rolling Stones|access-date=31 July 2020|type=single|id=13029-44-1}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true|nosales=true|noshipments=true}}

{{Main articles|Sympathy for the Devil (1968 film)}}

File:Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil.jpg

Sympathy for the Devil is also the title of a 1968 film by Godard, also titled One Plus One. A depiction of the late 1960s American counterculture, the film primarily featured the Rolling Stones in the process of recording the song in the studio. On the filming, Jagger said in Rolling Stone: "[it was] very fortuitous, because Godard wanted to do a film of us in the studio. I mean, it would never happen now, to get someone as interesting as Godard. And stuffy. We just happened to be recording that song. We could have been recording 'My Obsession'. But it was 'Sympathy for the Devil', and it became the track that we used."

During the several days of recording the Stones as they played, a film lamp set up by Godard's crew started a major fire in the studio that caused substantial damage to the studio and laid waste to some of the band's equipment. However, the song's tapes were saved by Miller before he fled the studio, and Godard kept his cameras rolling capturing the fire on film as it roared on.

{{Infobox song

| name = Sympathy for the Devil

| cover = Gnr sympathy.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Guns N' Roses

| album = Interview with the Vampire (soundtrack)

| B-side = "Escape to Paris" (by Elliot Goldenthal)

| released = December 12, 1994{{cite web|url=https://dutchcharts.nl/showitem.asp?interpret=Guns+N%27+Roses&titel=Sympathy+for+the+Devil&cat=s|title=GnR singles}}

| recorded = October 1994

| studio = Rumbo Recorders (Los Angeles)

| genre = Hard rock

| length = {{Duration|m=7|s=36}}

| label = Geffen

| writer = Jagger/Richards

| producer = *Guns N' Roses

• Mike Clink
• Matthias Gohl

| prev_title = Since I Don't Have You

| prev_year = 1994

| next_title = Chinese Democracy

| next_year = 2008

}}

Guns N' Roses recorded a cover in 1994 which reached number 55 on the Billboard Hot 100; it was featured in the closing credits of Neil Jordan's film adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and was included on their Greatest Hits album. This cover is noteworthy for causing an incident involving incoming guitarist Paul "Huge" Tobias, that was partially responsible for guitarist Slash departing from the band in 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.oocities.org/rattlesnake_suitcase/tg1997.htm|title=Total Guitar-Slash, Rock and Roses 1997|author=Gary Graft |date=January 1997|work=oocities.org; Total Guitar|access-date=24 April 2015}} Slash has described the Guns N' Roses version of the song as "the sound of the band breaking up".{{cite book |last=Bozza |first=Anthony |author-link=Anthony Bozza |author2=Slash |author-link2=Slash (musician) |title=Slash |type=Paperback |year=2007 |publisher=Harper Collins |location=New York |isbn=978-0-00-725777-5 |page=480}} (German paperback is {{ISBN|0-00-725776-7}})

Rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke, who does not appear on the recording, noted that the recording foreshadowed his departure from the band:

{{quote|They did that while I was on the road touring for my solo record. [...] I knew that that was the ending because nobody told me about it. Officially I was in the band at that time, and they did that song without me. That was one of the last straws for me, because nobody had said anything to me, and they recorded a song by one of my favorite bands.{{cite web|url=http://ultimateclassicrock.com/gilby-clarke-final-guns-n-roses-gig/|title=Gilby Clarke Opens Up About His Final Guns N' Roses Gig|work=Ultimate Classic Rock|date=11 October 2013 }}}}

This was the band's final single until 2018's "Shadow of Your Love" to feature guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.

• W. Axl Rose{{snd}}lead vocals, piano
• Slash{{snd}}lead and rhythm guitars
• Duff McKagan{{snd}}bass, backing vocals
• Matt Sorum{{snd}}drums, percussion
• Dizzy Reed{{snd}}keyboards
• Paul Huge{{snd}}rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Japan|type=single|artist=ガンズ・アンド・ローゼズ|title=Sympathy for the Devil|award=Gold|relyear=1995|certyear=1995|certref={{cite web |url=http://www.riaj.or.jp/issue/record/1995/199406.pdf|title=RIAJ > The Record > June 1995 > Page 5 > Certified Awards (April 1995)|work=Recording Industry Association of Japan|language=ja|access-date=14 February 2014}}}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|nosales=yes}}

{{reflist|group=note}}

{{reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin}}

• {{cite book |last1=Babiuk |first1=Andy |last2=Prevost |first2=Greg |author1-link=Andy Babiuk |title=Rolling Stones Gear: All the Stones' Instruments from Stage to Studio |date=2013 |publisher=Backbeat Books |location=Milwaukee |isbn=978-1-61713-092-2}}
• {{cite book |last1=Margotin |first1=Philippe |last2=Guesdon |first2=Jean-Michel |title=The Rolling Stones All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track |date=2016 |publisher=Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers |location=New York |isbn=978-0-316-31774-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5eTCwAAQBAJ}}

{{refend}}

• {{YouTube|id=Jwtyn-L-2gQ|title=Official Video}}
• [http://www.reasontorock.com/tracks/sympathy.html "Reason to Rock" review]

{{Beggars Banquet}}

{{The Rolling Stones singles}}

{{Guns N' Roses}}

{{Authority control}}

Category:1968 songs

Category:Cultural depictions of the Devil

Category:Cultural depictions of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia

Category:The Rolling Stones songs

Category:Songs written by Jagger–Richards

Category:Song recordings produced by Jimmy Miller

Category:1973 singles

Category:1994 singles

Category:2003 singles

Category:Guns N' Roses songs

Category:Decca Records singles

Category:Geffen Records singles

Category:London Records singles

Category:Obscenity controversies in music

Category:Depictions of Jesus in music

Category:Samba songs