"Sympathy for the Devil" is a song by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. The song was written by Mick Jagger and credited to the Jagger–Richards partnership. It is the opening track on the band's 1968 album Beggars Banquet. The song has received critical acclaim and features on Rolling Stone magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, being ranked number 106 in the 2021 edition.

Inspiration

"Sympathy for the Devil" is credited to Jagger and Richards, though the song was largely a Jagger composition. 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.

Mick Jagger visited Salvador, Bahia, in 1968, where he encountered the traditions of Candomblé and found inspiration, along with Rio de Janeiro, for the song "Sympathy for the Devil". He also visited the hippie village of Arembepe in Bahia, where he was photographed playing a drum. His experiences in Bahia, with its folklore and local culture, were fundamental to the creation of the song, which he described as having a samba-like rhythm and rhythmic structure.

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."

Jagger stated in the Rolling Stone interview: "it's a very long historical figurethe figures of evil and figures of goodso it is a tremendously long trail he's made as personified in this piece." 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 (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 rumours and fears among some religious groups that the Stones were devil worshippers and a corrupting influence on youth.

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.

Recording

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. 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, 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.

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

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. Slash has described the Guns N' Roses version of the song as "the sound of the band breaking up".

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

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

Personnel

  • W. Axl Roselead vocals, piano
  • Slashlead and rhythm guitars
  • Duff McKaganbass, backing vocals
  • Matt Sorumdrums, percussion
  • Dizzy Reedkeyboards
  • Paul Hugerhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+Weekly chart performance for "Sympathy for the Devil"

!Chart (1994–1995)

!Peak<br/>position

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|-

|-

|-

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!scope="row"|Canada (The Record)

| 9

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!scope="row"|Denmark (IFPI)

| 2

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!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)

| 3

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!scope="row"|Europe (European Hit Radio)

| 7

|-

!scope="row"|Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)

| 2

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)

| 4

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Italy (Musica e dischi)

| 5

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

|-

!scope="row"|Spain (AFYVE)

| 4

|-

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|-

|-

|-

|}

Year-end charts

{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+1994 year-end chart performance for "Sympathy for the Devil"

!Chart (1994)

!Position

|-

!scope="row"|Sweden (Topplistan)

| 97

|}

{|class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+1995 year-end chart performance for "Sympathy for the Devil"

!Chart (1995)

!Position

|-

!scope="row"|Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)

| 74

|-

!scope="row"|Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)

| 63

|-

!scope="row"|Iceland (Íslenski Listinn Topp 40)

| 86

|-

!scope="row"|Sweden (Topplistan)

| 88

|}

Sales and certifications

Notes

References

Sources

  • "Reason to Rock" review