Writing 'Sympathy for the Devil' – Provocation or Philosophy?

Mick Jagger said he was half-joking when he brought in the lyrics, inspired by a Baudelaire poem and a Russian novel about the Devil visiting Soviet Moscow. The song started as a folkish acoustic thing – they didn’t set out to make a political statement. But the band quickly realized it was too catchy to be pure satire.

The samba beat and Jagger’s snarled historical cameos (Christ’s trial, the Russian Revolution) gave the track a theatrical menace that blurred the line. Keith Richards thought it was playful; Jagger admitted later it was a “kind of sarcastic, cynical view of history.” The Altamont concert’s violent undercurrent made it feel eerily serious after the fact. In the end, it’s both: a song that winks at evil while making you wonder if it means it.