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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pommunist
07-15-2008

Rated 0 
"Every album should have a Samba on it" i cant remember who said that but it would appear, in this case, to be true

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tuotierugif
07-31-2008

Rated 0 
We blame the devil for everything that goes wrong with th world, when in reality it's humanity that is to blame. That's always been the meaning I took from the song.

These are by far the best lyrics the stones ever came out with. Generally, it's more the instrumentals than the lyrics that stands out in their music, but in this case it's the words that make the song so great. Love it.

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1 Reply
SaveMeKaizer
08-22-2008

Rated 0 
Seems like he's trying to make the point that the devil isn't to blame for all thats wrong in the world, its humans themselves ("and i cry out, who killed the kennedys, when in the end it was you and me").

All in all, I agree with tuot. :)
Any way you interpret it, its a wonderfully written song, musically and lyrically. Wonderful.

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slayer-72
08-27-2008

Rated 0 
hmm, ok i didnt read through 153 posts but i havnt seen a really great interpritation of this song. the last two by tout and savemekaizer are close. (to my interpritation at least) the way i see it, this song is about the way, that all good things have bad side effects, as well as all bad things having some good side effects.
here are my examples of that

"I watched the glee while your kings and queens fought for
ten decades for the Gods they made"
"Just as every cop is a criminal
And all the sinners saints
As heads is tails"

but yeah,

"Seems like he's trying to make the point that the devil isn't to blame for all thats wrong in the world, its humans themselves"

that sums up a lot of it

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Wicked133
09-24-2008

Rated 0 
i agreed with,slayer-72 all the way in his words

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blackseoul
10-19-2008

Rated 0 
I think that the key to this song is the fact that it's told in the first person. The devil is telling you that I was there when Jesus Christ had his moment of doubt and pain. I was there when the bliztkrieg raged. I layed tracks for the troubadours who get killed before they reach Bombay. In other words I'm the badest mutha fucka on the block. I CHOSE to rule in hell rather than serve in heaven. I turned my back on the whole shabang, so when you meet me show me some damn respect or I'll lay your soul to waste. You can say all you want to behind my back but when where face to face give all you well learned qualities. If you don't know about me you better ask somebody. I don't think it's any deeper than that. This song is just a balls to the wall rock n roll song and rock n roll has always been rebelious. Who is the biggest rebel in history? Well I hope you guess his name.

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classicRokker
10-27-2008

Rated 0 
the way I take this song, is how society blames things on the devil, when really it may not be that bad. For instance, he says he made sure Pilate condemned Jesus, well that gave us our Lord and Savior. He then takes the form of communism, which as Americans we all condemn, but let's look at it. Communism rid Russia of the Czars which I think most would agree was a good thing, and I think the narrator is still supposed to be communism in the next verse. We all hated Stalin and communism, but if it wasn't for them, Hitler would have probably taken over Asia with Japan and could then focus on Europe and America and possibly win the war. And the Kennedy's? Maybe the Stones knew how corrupt that family really was so they decided to throw in that ridding the world of JFK and Bobby was possibly a good thing. Who knows, that's just how I interpret the song, and if it's written grammatically correct, I think that is how it should be interpreted, or at least something to that extent.

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Rocknroll101
12-02-2008

Rated 0 
One of the most powerful and coolest songs ever written. Just look at how many posts there are about this song compared to the other Stones songs! Anyways, I heard this song on the radio today and realised that it references a very cool book im reading, "Crime and Punishment" by Dostoevsky (it's considered a literary classic, first published in 1866 in Russia).
I may be going out on a limb here but I believe the line, "Stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Tzar and his ministers" is a reference to the character of Raskolnikov in the book, as well as the entire group of Russian Nihilists (whom Raskolnikov is meant to represent) of the 1860's. Someone earlier said the song references the Bolshevik Revolution which is not quite accurate - the Russian Nihilists preceeded the Bolsheviks by quite a bit.
Anyways, in the book Raskolnikov hangs around St.Petersburg for a while when he decides to kill someone. As I understand it, one of the events that inspired the author to write the book was when one young dissafected Russian youth attempted to assasinate the czar. Though he didn't succeed, it was evident that there was something "evil" at work within some of the young people of the day. Dostoevsky examines the morality of killing in his book (amongst several other things) which like the song can in some parts leave you with an unsettled feeling. The same spirit that drove the other evils mentioned in the song is at work again in Crime and Punishment.

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patrikb8man
01-06-2009

Rated 0 
This song reminds me of quiet a few but more recently the showtime series Dexter. The main character being a serial killer who kills killers. The whole idea mentioned earlier of good things having bad sides and visa versa. Even Rocknroll101 brought up a similar point with Crime and Punishment but for me its on a different level. The main character goes about killing people who have got away with murder and probably will murder again. Its good to like rid the world of bad people, but killing them still seems wrong. The narrator in the song, could be the Devil just spinning his tale about him not being so bad compared to humans. Where as his nature is to cause sin, humans have the choice of 'good/evil'. But because were not so black and white it makes scenerios like killing off potential threats harder to be seen as a true good or bad.

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pagefan
01-06-2009

Rated 0 
I know this: the song is inspired by the book 'The Master and Margarita' by Bulgakov. This is a fact because Mick Jagger said this himself. The book was a present from Marianne Faithful, his former wife.
These are facts. This might be said already, but I read something about the song being inspired by Dostojefski. This is (to my knowledge) wrong. I can recommend The Master and Margarita to everybody btw.
It gives you the real insight to this song.
BTW: christians (who are retarded to start with) who say this is satanic are idiots; you don't have a monopoly on the truth!
Latertjes katertjes!

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SympathyForTheDevil_
02-25-2009

Rated 0 
YAY! Best version of this great song!
LOVE IT :D
Rolling Stones Fucking Rule?

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hawaiipt1
02-28-2009

Rated +1 
Troubadours were people in the middle ages who would travel from France trying to reach out to Europe and Asia of Gods true message but were often killed by Church officials or others before they could finish their journey.

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ossolo
03-30-2009

Rated 0 
I thought the line, "just call me lucifer, because I'm in need of some restraint." was hilarious, when you take lucifer as "loose i' for"...

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iwonder
06-11-2009

Rated 0 
It's true that this is a good song by most peoples standards. I believe the Rolling Stones are very talented and I like many of their songs. However no Christian is trying to tell you (or at least I hope not) that if you listen to this song the devil is going to come up out of the ground and eat you. That's quite dramatic no? The Bible describes the devil as extremely destructive but also very sly, cunning, sneeky, and pretty much would rather have you think that he doesn't exsist at all. Which works to his advantage because an enemy unseen is much more effective right? And that's when he'll Navy Seal your ass! Of course the devil isn't gonna be all in your face scaring the crap out of you because that would make you run home to Daddy (God). And believe me it would send you running (on the positive aspect it may help create a closer relationship w/ God, suffering/struggle usually lead to a calling out for God) but he wants to keep you close and ignorant of his evil devices so he's SUBTLE. One way of getting you to identify w/ him on some kind of level is through music. A song to get you to sing along w/ him and kinda make himself cool in a way. Not literally like you think the devil is cool but (it's like a DUI, where maybe you had 2 beers or something and you're really not even close to drunk but according to he breathalizer thing, you're going to jail). It goes along w/ the "it's cool to be bad" thing (and we all fight that one and you guys know it). The point is that it is all done so subtly that it appears normal or no big deal and that's the TRICK. Remember we are not as intelligent as the devil, he's a little older than us. It's only through the help of God that we can conquer the devil, it's not by our ownselves please make no mistake. I'm not saying the Rolling Stones are in a pact w/ the devil so please don't go there. I don't believe that they purposefully attempted to do anyone any harm. I believe they just thought they were doing what they always do. . .make excellent music.

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jmartin41
06-12-2009

Rated 0 
The inspiration for this hellish detour came from Soviet writer Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, which depicts Satan having his way in 1930s Moscow. The Stones gave the devil one of their best grooves, built on Rocky Dijon's congas and Bill Wyman's Bo Diddley-esque maracas. "Before, when we were just innocent kids out for a good time, [the media said], 'They're evil, they're evil,' " Richards said. "So that makes you start thinking about evil.... Everybody's Lucifer."


there is the meaning of the song, Straight for the rolling stones top 500 songs of all time. They give a little bio for every song that made it

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iawindtalker
06-18-2009

Rated 0 
what I gather is that there is no greater Devil than man, he takes credit for our sins and goes by many names and faces

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Luthander
09-20-2009

Rated 0 
They played this on our graduation ceremony, which was a bit funny since, in sweden, those are often held in churches (although not on a religious note). I guess the ministers must have disliked it since it was shortened to "Rolling Stones - Sympathy" on the ceremony schedule.

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Anrkist
11-06-2009

Rated 0 
J.J. in 2002 posted about not knowing what the meaning of the Troubadour's line was... It interested me, so I looked it up. I've found nothing of any real interest... but one thing I do know is this.

The Rolling Stones did a lot of drugs. Something tells me the meaning of the lyric only had meaning to Mick at the time it was written and no longer has any meaning, other than to confuse. He may have also gotten his history confused, it's not like they had Wikipedia back then.

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