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SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL: JAGGER’S DARK MIRROR Forget Satanic vibes—Sympathy for the Devil is Mick Jagger holding up a mirror to humanity’s darker side. Inspired by Mikhail Bulgakov’s novel The Master and Margarita, Jagger channels the devil as a suave, classy trickster, not a monster. It’s clever, satirical, and a little dangerous—mixing literary smarts with rock ’n’ roll swagger. A song about shadows, history, and the human mess, wrapped in a killer groove.
Made damn sure that Pilate/ Washed his hands and sealed his fate…
Original title: The Devil Is My Name Written by: Jagger/Richard Recorded: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England, June 4-10 1968 Guest musicians: Nicky Hopkins (piano), Rocky Dijon (congas), Marianne Faithfull, Anita Pallenberg and Jimmy Miller (backing vocals) *Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012
More about Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones
*By Marcelo Sonaglioni
The Devil in the Details: How the Stones Turned Darkness into Art
Mick Jagger’s Sympathy for the Devil wasn’t a Satanic anthem—it was a mirror to humanity’s darker side. Jagger himself insists it’s about the shadow lurking in all of us, not a celebration of evil. The song’s spark? The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov. British singer Marianne Faithfull, then Jagger’s girlfriend, introduced him to the book. Coming from an upper-class world, she opened his mind to ideas far beyond the London music scene. In Bulgakov’s novel, the devil isn’t a grotesque fiend—he’s a suave socialite, a “man of wealth and taste” blending fantasy with biting social satire.
By channeling these literary influences into lyrics, the Stones amplified their bad-boy image, a stark contrast to the clean-cut Beatles. Media whispers about occult leanings only fueled the mystique, proving that a little literary sophistication—and a touch of darkness—can be excellent marketing.
The Dark Side of History: Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil, originally titled The Devil Is My Name, the song paints civilization in almost apocalyptic strokes. He moves from the torment of Christ to the chaos of the twentieth century: the October Revolution, the Tsar’s assassination, World War II, and the tragedies of the sixties—the Kennedys, Vietnam, crushed uprisings. The message is stark: evil seems to win.
Bulgakov’s influence is clear. In The Master and Margarita, values are flipped—the devil is a man of taste, cops are criminals, sinners are saints. Reality and appearance blur. Jagger channels this reversal, echoing Christ’s doubt: “My God, my God, wherefore hast thou forsaken me?”
Expressed with a heavy Dylanesque flair (“Mick wrote it almost as a Dylan song”, Keith Richards would say later), the song even nods to the perils of the hippie trail: “And I laid traps for troubadours who get killed before theyreached Bombay” Like Jumpin’ Jack Flash, it confronts the grim reality behind the era’s ideals of peace and love (like in The Beatles’ All You Need Is Love) exposing the shadowy undercurrent beneath the sixties’ optimism.
Jagger and Richards on Facing the Devil, Musically and Lyrically
Mick Jagger’s lyrics in Sympathy for the Devil read like a whirlwind tour through humanity’s darkest chapters. From the endless brutality of the Hundred Years’ War—“fought for ten decades”—to the roaring Blitzkrieg of World War II, the song drags listeners through the stench of history’s bloodiest moments.
It doesn’t stop there. The crucifixion of Christ sets a chilling opening, while political assassinations—John F. Kennedy in 1963 and Robert Kennedy in 1968—push the horror into modern times. Originally “Who killed Kennedy?” became the haunting plural, “Who killed the Kennedys?” Each line pulses with mischief, chaos, and a devilish grin.
Mick Jagger: “Songs can metamorphosize, and Sympathy For The Devil is one of those songs that started off like one thing, I wrote it one way and then we started the change the rhythm. And then it became completely different. And then it got very exciting. It started off as a folk song and then became a samba. A good song can become anything. It’s got lots of historical references and lots of poetry.”
Keith Richards (2002): “Sympathy for the Devil is quite an uplifting song. It’s just a matter of looking the Devil in the face. He’s there all the time. I’ve had very close contact with Lucifer – I’ve met him several times. Evil – people tend to bury it and hope it sorts itself out and doesn’t rear its ugly head. It is just as appropriate now, with 9/11. There it is again, big time. When that song was written, it was a time of turmoil…
…It was the first sort of international chaos since World War II. And confusion is not the ally of peace and love. You want to think the world is perfect. Everybody gets sucked into that. And as America has found out to its dismay, you can’t hide. You might as well accept the fact that evil is there and deal with it any way you can. Sympathy for the Devil is a song that says, ‘Don’t forget him’. If you confront him, then he’s out of a job.”
How a Samba Beat and Spontaneity Shaped Sympathy for the Devil
Sympathy for the Devil owes much of its hypnotic energy to a samba rhythm, which wasn’t accidental: Jagger got the idea musically after visiting Brazil in early 1968 with girlfriend Marianne Faithfull, soaking in the rhythms and energy of the streets. Keith Richards recalls that the song “started as sort of a folk song with acoustics, and ended up as a kind of mad samba,” with him laying down bass first and overdubbing guitar later. “That’s why I don’t like to go into the studio with all the songs worked out beforehand,” he explains—letting the track evolve organically.
Some of the song’s most iconic touches were pure accident. During a take, Richards’ girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, started singing the “whoo-whoo” backing vocals, and the Stones loved it. Soon, the playful chorus was joined by Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman, Marianne Faithfull, and producer Jimmy Miller, adding layered spontaneity atop the samba pulse.
The result? A hypnotic, unpredictable groove perfectly matched to Jagger’s dark, poetic lyrics.
Sympathy, Fire, Chaos, and the Stage of History
The songhas always danced on the edge of chaos. Its recording, captured by Jean-Luc Godard in the movie One Plus One (aka Sympathy for the Devil), stretched over five intense days in June 1968. Amid the takes, a lamp caught fire in the studio—tapes were saved, but much of the Stones’ equipment wasn’t, adding literal danger to the song’s dark energy.
Despite the violence and misfortune surrounding it, the Stones never abandoned the song. Sympathy for the Devil stayed in their setlists throughout 1970, a haunting anthem of history, human chaos, and the unpredictable energy of rock ’n’ roll at its most dangerous.
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