The narrator of the song was the devil himself, speaking of terrible events in history, daring you to guess that it's the devil himself who's responsible, and by association, all of us. In other words, be careful not to allow the devil in us to do bad things.
Actually, no that's the trick of the song. He already gives us some clues with "After all its you and me" near the middle. But he mostly leads us to believe it is the obvious answer of Lucifer (aka The Devil) but then near the end of the song he says: Tell me baby, aw what's my name?" **I'll tell you this one time: you're to blame"**** === The answer is mankind. There is no Devil. It's just us doing all this. Mick is not doing the character of the devil. He's asking us himself. Hence why we should have Sympathy for the Devil. We are the only Devil there is. It's a masterpiece of a song for a reason.
Very close, but the real narrator is mankind. The Devil and mankind are present at these events. The Devil is simply man, and usually the wealthy and powerful. Hence, why the devil is a “man” of wealth and taste. It is a metaphor for humans most especially the rich and mighty.
Genius lyrics, everyone interprets the song in whatever way is meaningful to them and their ideas will likely evolve over time. The rhythm choice is pure genius; early iterations had a slower more traditional time signature (traditional as in a Western European perspective).
When you think about it, white working class Brits played an amazing trick. All that African-American music that wasn't getting airtime stateside because of racism, was embraced by us. Not relating to the boring wartime music of their parents, those kids lived and breathed blues, soul and R&B since before they could walk, learned to play it, then we came to America to make it cool, and unlike say, Elvis, made damn sure the originators got their platforms and recognition as well. Those British Invasion bands changed music forever.
The greatest trick Satan has done to Western Man is convince him he doesn't exist....the famed French poet Balzac wrote that over 150 years ago.....if you don't think Satan exists, then he already has you.
@@Cosmo-Kramer Except that Lucifer is Man's imaginary bad guy that man wants to blame for HIS own failures. Men make their own choices. Some men are just bad.
@@Cosmo-Kramer Because there is no evidence. None. It's also illogical. See, that's how you know. You always ask for evidence of outrageous claims. No evidence? Then it's false. See how easy it is?
The 1968 Rock and Roll Circus live version of this is a good one to watch. Not long after they recorded it with a very stoned Brian Jones and coked up Jagger channelling Satan with his likeness painted on his chest!
This was recorded in the early summer of 1968 and the original lyrics were,"I shouted out, who killed Kennedy?" ... during the recording of the song, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated and Mick Jagger changed the lyrics to "KENNEDYS."
The leaders of the Rolling Stones,Mick Jagger,the singer and Keith Richards the guitarist that played solos on Sympathy for the devil are both 80.When they were young,sometimes they were provocative.You seemed to be not afraid easily.Try a song called 'Some girls".For fun,I recommand"Start me up " . Congrats for your reaction.
This tune is all about the devil himself and how he's caused so much turmoil in the world. Unlike the Taylor Swift tunes that are all about her breaking up with guys, this tune, you actually have to think.
The devil is basically saying of all the sins he has done, man is not that innocent either, man has conspired with me, and has done far worse things, so please have some sympathy on me...
That was awesome! You should do "Gimme Shelter" and "Miss You" by the Rolling Stones next. I attached links! Peace Gimme Shelter ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RbmS3tQJ7Os.html Miss You ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-uetJoJj0M88.html