Lyrics for Sympathy for the Devil as interpreted by oofus

Sympathy for the Devil Lyrics
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for a long long year stolen many a man's soul and faith
I was around Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed his fate
Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game

Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Tzar and his ministers; Anastaria screamed in vain
I rode a tank held a gen'rals rank when the blitzkrieg
raged and the bodies stank
Pleased to meet you hope your guess my name, oh yeah
Ah what's puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah

I watched the glee while your kings and queens fought for
ten decades for the Gods they made
I shouted out "who killed the Kennedy's?" when after all it was you and me
Let me please introduce myself I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I lay traps for troubadors who get killed before they reach Bombay

Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name, oh yeah
But what's puzzling you is the nature of my game, oh yeah

Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name
But what's confusin you is just the nature of my game

Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails
Just call me Lucifer
'Cause I'm in need of some restraint

So if you meet me Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, um yeah

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame

oh, who
woo, woo
Woo, who
Woo, woo
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah

What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Woo woo
Woo woo

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  • 168 Comments
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alnav89
02-23-2002

Rated 0 
this is a kickass song.. guitar riffs are sweet.. goes extremely well with jaggers vocals.. and it has a ring of the truth in the lyrics

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lilavati
04-27-2002

Rated 0 
Lovely lyrics. This song was inspired by Mikhael Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita"--but who are the troubadours?

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Seraphim13
05-27-2002

Rated 0 
Really shows you how things that look so one-sided can be deeper than expected..

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cobutler
05-27-2002

Rated 0 
www.salsgiver.com/people/cobutler/devproph.html

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Gilthanis
06-20-2002

Rated 0 
The man who wrote the article that a link was given to in the previous comment is a false prophet. The man is proclaiming hate, telling people to condemn these songs and singers for their lyrics, calling them prophets of Satan. The author of the article is saying that we are all weak minded and able to be swayed by these "satanic" lyrics if we listen to them. He says we should listen to christian songs only.

The author is wrong. We sould be able to listen to whatever we want. We shouldn't be limited to only Christian music. This author is a prime example of why people are driven from Christianity. The author used misquoted lyrics in his article, the System of a Down lyrics read this:

Father, Father, Father, Father,
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,

Why have you forsaken me,
In your eyes forsaken me,
In your thoughts forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken, me oh,

not:

Father (******) Brother (******)
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,

Why have you forsaken me,
In your eyes forsaken me,
In your thoughts forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken, me oh,

In closing, I do not believe you should listen to this false prophet. Christ taught compassion, not hate.

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Gilthanis
06-20-2002

Rated 0 
The man who wrote the article that a link was given to in the previous comment is a false prophet. The man is proclaiming hate, telling people to condemn these songs and singers for their lyrics, calling them prophets of Satan. The author of the article is saying that we are all weak minded and able to be swayed by these "satanic" lyrics if we listen to them. He says we should listen to christian songs only.

The author is wrong. We sould be able to listen to whatever we want. We shouldn't be limited to only Christian music. This author is a prime example of why people are driven from Christianity. The author used misquoted lyrics in his article, the System of a Down lyrics read this:

Father, Father, Father, Father,
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,

Why have you forsaken me,
In your eyes forsaken me,
In your thoughts forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken, me oh,

not:

Father (******) Brother (******)
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,

Why have you forsaken me,
In your eyes forsaken me,
In your thoughts forsaken me,
In your heart forsaken, me oh,

In closing, I do not believe you should listen to this false prophet. Christ taught compassion, not hate.

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J.J.
07-07-2002

Rated 0 
A very good song indeed. It refers to a bunch of historical happenings that have demonstrated how evil appears to be a constant in human society. The events mentioned are (in order):

-The crucifixion of Jesus
-The communist revolution in Russia
-World War 2
-The Hundred Years War
-The assassination of JFK / RFK

and something about troubadours, which like Lilavati, I don't quite understand.


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Laursaurus
07-08-2002

Rated 0 
I understand this as an admonishment that evil is nothing new and can disguise itself in many forms, as it has thru history.Even Christ faced this dilemma (of course, HE recognized it for what it was) Sympathy is thinking like the devil, the ultimate enemy, to effectively recognize and resist. It's a warning to those who are naive and accept everything at face value.
Writing this in the first person further drives home the point of entering the mind of the ultimate enemy. I find this song almost too profound for a robot, take- everything-literally Christian to comprehend.Few ever get past the knee-jerk reaction because it portrays the devil in the first person. mmmmmm.........
makes ya think, huh?



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mojonikus
07-20-2002

Rated 0 
what a song, jj summed it up nicely, but the devil is made up by christian people in response to all the bad happinings in this world, what ever christians believe, the fact is there will always be hate, violence, greed and so on in this world while human beings exist.
this song is a tribute to all the evil events thru history, and believe me people it will not end, genious lyrics boys.

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adam_p88
08-18-2002

Rated 0 
Glithanis,
Quote"Father, Father, Father, Father,
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands" You just misquoted a misquotation! Its really:
Father (fucker) Brother (fucker) Brother (fucker) Father!
Father/ Into your hands/I/commend my spirit,
Father, into your hands,

But you are right, this false prophet is full of shit. He is way too superstitious and he believes anything that is not a hymn or a psalm is the devil. He thinks that we will get sucked in by the lyrics of every song and believe and thrive in them, but c'mon... it is just music after all.

Great song, my father's band did a great cover of it!



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adam_p88
08-20-2002

Rated 0 
OOPS! Sorry Glithanis, you were right about the Father, Father, Father, Father! Sorry, In my version it sounds a lot like what I wrote, but I listened more closely at full volume and I discovered it is Father, Father, Father, Father, my bad!

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capncrunch47
08-25-2002

Rated +1 
haha that guy who wrote that article about false prophets reminds me of the mom in the waterboy(adam sandlers football movie) bc everything is the devil. what a looney! i think its stupid to accuse mick jagger of being a false prophet...this song doesnt promote the devil it merely talks about the evil in past historic events. then to accuse system of a down for mocking Jesus...come on!! that guy needs to get a life! im a catholic and i listen to whatever music i want to God didnt say music is restricted and you have to listen to christian music only. that article just really pissed me off. its just like glithanis said: Jesus taught compassion not hate

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LedHead
09-28-2002

Rated 0 
"this song is a tribute to all the evil events thru history, and believe me people it will not end, genious lyrics boys. "

I agree, 9/11 would be in this song if it was written later.

trou·ba·dour - One of a class of 12th-century and 13th-century lyric poets in Southern France, northern Italy, and northern Spain, who composed songs in langue d'oc often about courtly love.
-A strolling minstrel.

Like everyone else i have no idea.

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1 Reply
lilavati
10-13-2002

Rated 0 
There was a discussion on Keno's GasX3 message board, and one of the theories was that troubadours travelling East along the Silk Road during the 11th-13th centuries in search of gold were often ambushed before they were able to reach their destination. I've heard another theory that says the line is about the Beatles (not too sure about that one. :P).

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CeeJai
10-15-2002

Rated 0 
i really think that the line about the troubadours is a metephore - the lost of young musicians to drugs, alcohol, ect. before they really meet their potential.
and it is possible that everyone is just reading too much into it.

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happylittlditty
03-07-2003

Rated 0 
They really outdid themselves with this song....another original masterpiece....lyrics have pretty good meaning and it sounds awesome!

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Muzzy
05-07-2003

Rated 0 
Great great song, like "Paint It Black" it's just one of those songs that will remain a classic forever probably.

And people who think they are satanic are morons.

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noxes
04-30-2004

Rated 0 
My girlfriends Sister is all caught up in this Church of God, the same type of church that author of the above article is a pastor to. And they cannot listen to music that has sexual references in it, swearing etc, so she can only listen to some country. The only movies she can watch are probably Disney movies. She has to wear a skirt or a dress at all time in public. So in general this church likes controlling all aspects of life, and they fear the most primative things in the world, Song and Dance, and think entertainment is wrong.

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johnny1031
05-03-2004

Rated 0 
Well I've grown up in the church, and it's not quite like that, you know, like the TV says it is, but I know what you mean. I didn't read the article, but I know there are idiots in the world like that, and they don't represent Christians or Christianity at all, and to say what one in here so ignorantly did "robot, take- everything-literally Christian" is laughable, and just as stupid as what you're accusing them of. I find it hilarious that so many people watch the Simpsons and thus think every Christian in the world is this robot devoid of the same common sense everyone else on the planet seems to be endowed with. Just shows that people will really believe anything that's popular.

Back in the '60s, EVERYTHING was believed to be the devil. The guy probably just read the title, printed out the lyrics and claimed it to be 'satanic'. While music does indeed have a profound, sometimes negative, influence on the lives of the listener, one that goes beyond 'satanic', this is hardly the kind of song to worry about. Hell, this is one of the most amazing songs I've ever heard. Too bad it only focuses on violence, the one thing wrong in society everybody already agrees on, but it's still a masterpiece.

As for 'Christian music', I agree. I find 'Christian music' defeats the purpose of music as it is, with the intent of being put into a label. When you write a song maintaining the intent to keep it 'Christian', what you do is box yourself in to a useless style, and it shows magnanimously in the result. Not to say Christians can't be amazing artists (J.R.R. Tolkien?), but when they label themselves as a 'Christian artist', you can almost guarantee it'll fit into the same box as the rest of it. I mean, hell, picture System of a Down or Rage introducing themselves as a 'political band'. Music is expression of self, and if that self is Christian, it will show in the work, but to restrain oneself like that is useless, and defeats the purpose of art.

Personally, I believe in Christianity, but I still listen to Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and any type of music I find to be good. And it should be noted, while I stated there are idiots like that, most Christians do as well, and that's not going against any 'Biblical law', just some zealot's 1950's religious beliefs. I know it's not quite the waterboy mom mentality like people would like to believe, and there's a lot more to it than the 'scary devil' routine that society has for some odd reason accepted as the Christian prototype. The Christians I know are actually the most rational and sensical people I know, but then again, I've never seen one of those types on TV, so no doubt they remain a very unseen and unrepresented people.

Not to get off on a rant though, this is my favourite Stones song, and undoubtedly a masterpiece. Still gives me chills.

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UNCWDMBfan
05-10-2004

Rated 0 
not sure what tsar's assassination this song has to do with it may deal with Alexander II who was assassinated by Vera Figner and comrades in 1881 or Nicholas II who was assassinated in the Bolshevik Revolution, my guess is probably Nicholas since it mentions tanks, but the assassination of Alexander II happened because many changes were due in Russia, just curious if anyone knows for sure?

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UNCWDMBfan
05-10-2004

Rated 0 
not sure what tsar's assassination this song has to do with it may deal with Alexander II who was assassinated by Vera Figner and comrades in 1881 or Nicholas II who was assassinated in the Bolshevik Revolution, my guess is probably Nicholas since it mentions tanks, but the assassination of Alexander II happened because many changes were due in Russia, just curious if anyone knows for sure?

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RedAriken06
05-30-2004

Rated 0 
It was Nicholas II. His daughter was Anastasia, and then several years later a woman came around claiming to be Anastasia, actually alive. However, at this point there is DNA evidence proving that the real Anastasia died along Nicholas and the rest of the family. Anyways, this song is amazing. One of my favorites by The Stones.

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TruthSpeaker
05-31-2004

Rated -1 
...I know that the Stones originally wrote this song... but i dunno... i like the gnr version better. I heard that one first, so that may be the problem, but i like the one gnr did more than the original. The gnr version to me is heavier, with more emotion. But w/e

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ZidaneTribal
06-09-2004

Rated 0 
How many Anastasia Romanovs were there?

I love this song though, it has all of the historical references(I wanted to play this in history class)

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ZidaneTribal
06-09-2004

Rated 0 
BTW, isn't it spelled "czar"?

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