I think you need to look at this song in the context of the entire "Let It Bleed" album and all its country twang. This song is about the Stones coming to the United States and fitting into the mainstream. The Monkey Man IS the Stones, and the Monkey Woman is the United States.This is the only way this line makes sense: "Well, I hope we're not too messianic, or a trifle too satanic. We love to play the blues." They don't want to be thought of as the Beatles, or a bumch of devil worshippers. They're just some guys who like the same music we do.
@johnny_dago This is a good interpretation. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was out in '67, 'Sympathy for the Devil' was a hit in '68. They had plenty of mainstream hits by then but all the demonic imagery must have garnered them a lot of negative press.
@johnny_dago This is a good interpretation. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was out in '67, 'Sympathy for the Devil' was a hit in '68. They had plenty of mainstream hits by then but all the demonic imagery must have garnered them a lot of negative press.
I think you need to look at this song in the context of the entire "Let It Bleed" album and all its country twang. This song is about the Stones coming to the United States and fitting into the mainstream. The Monkey Man IS the Stones, and the Monkey Woman is the United States.This is the only way this line makes sense: "Well, I hope we're not too messianic, or a trifle too satanic. We love to play the blues." They don't want to be thought of as the Beatles, or a bumch of devil worshippers. They're just some guys who like the same music we do.
@johnny_dago This is a good interpretation. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was out in '67, 'Sympathy for the Devil' was a hit in '68. They had plenty of mainstream hits by then but all the demonic imagery must have garnered them a lot of negative press.
@johnny_dago This is a good interpretation. "Their Satanic Majesties Request" was out in '67, 'Sympathy for the Devil' was a hit in '68. They had plenty of mainstream hits by then but all the demonic imagery must have garnered them a lot of negative press.