The Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the Devil"

Few early rock 'n roll bands have taken the kinds of risks The Rolling Stones would take on a regular basis. Songs about things that made little to no sense or dealt with taboo topics rarely stopped the band from releasing a commercially successful album.

"Sympathy for the Devil" certainly is one of those songs that beat the odds.

With lyrics that read like a laundry list of evils throughout written human history, it uses stripped-down, up-tempo rhythms and A-major chords to create one of the most juxtaposed songs you'll ever hear.

It's also a bit of a marathon, and some stations refused to play the entire song, cutting out some of the intro and outro to save time.

The lyrics sprawl behind Mick Jagger's on-point delivery. However, as explored in a documentary about the song, many ideas for more verses were left on the studio floor because -- at some point -- even The Rolling Stones have to call it a day.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

David Bowie "Young Americans" (from "The Dick Cavett Show" Dec. 4, 1974)

The White Stripes "Icky Thump" (from "Later with Jools Holland" June 1, 2007)

Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf"