Sympathy for the Devil has been often placed among the
most popular songs of All Time. Written by Mick Jagger, it is also undoubtedly
one of the very best songs the Stones have ever composed and produced.
Less known:
the influence the song came from. However Jagger clearly mentions his sources.
Let us him
quote about the lyrics: "I think 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. »
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surprisingly, the chief inspiration of the song comes from the Russian novel
and perhaps one of the greatest book of the twentieth century : The master and Margarita by Mikhaïl Boulgakov.
The lyrics
focus on atrocities in the history of mankind from Lucifer's point of view,
including the trial and death of Jesus Christ just like in Boulgakov’s Novel.
Also stated
in the song’s lyrics : the violence of
the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the 1918 massacre of the Romanov family ("I stuck around St. Petersburg when I
saw it was a time for a change/Killed the Tsar and his ministers/Anastasia
screamed in vain"), and World War II ("I rode a tank, held a general's rank when the blitzkrieg raged, and the
bodies stank").
If you have
enjoyed the music, you certainly can’t miss reading the book. Regarding the
music, Jagger admitted he wanted to
switch from Rock to jazz and create a hypnotic groove, a jazz Latin feeling in
the style of Kenny Clarke would have played on 'A Night in Tunisia.
At the
crossroads of several influences :Rock, latin jazz, French and Russian litterature,
no doubt Sympathy for the devil remains a kind of classics in the history of
rock music and a Masterpiece.
Marc Lequenne
