The Book Shelf: Sympathy for the Devil on This Day in History

Wednesday, December 6, 2023

Sympathy for the Devil on This Day in History

This day in history: The Rolling Stones released the album Beggars Banquet, which contained the classic song "Sympathy for the Devil" on this day in 1968.

The song has received critical acclaim and features on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It is the 22nd best ranked song on critics' all-time lists according to Acclaimed Music.

Jagger stated in the Rolling Stone interview: "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." 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" 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 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 mankind's history from Satan's point of view, including the trial and death of Jesus Christ, European wars of religion, 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 Kennedy, but after Robert F. Kennedy's assassination on 6 June 1968, the line was changed to reference both assassinations.

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.