The Rolling Stones Song of the Day is- Sympathy For The Devil- one of their most famous songs. It is the opening song on Beggars Banquet- which is the beginning of The Rolling Stones golden age where they held the title of the Greatest Rock Band in The World for a while.  The Rolling Stones made an intelligent move- as the calendar turned to 1968 of abandoning their brief psychedelic period. That wasn’t their forte. They are best at being a rock and roll band. As a single it didn’t do well in the US- #55 on the Billboard singles chart but it did better everywhere else- #9 in the UK, a top 10 hit throughout most of Europe. Its best showing was  #2  in Finland.

Sympathy For The Devil is listed as a Jagger-Richards authored song but it was mostly written by Mr. Jagger. Mick has said that the song was influenced by a book given to him by Marianne Faithfull- The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov.  The working title of the song was “The Devil Is My Name.” Jagger sings as the song in the role of the devil boasting of his role in horrible historical events. The list involves the trial and death of Jesus, European wars caused over religion, the Russian Revolution of 1918, World War II and the assassination of the Kennedy’s- originally the song just said President Kennedy -they were recording the song during the week  Bobby Kennedy was assassinated and the lyrics changed-the song wasn’t released until December. The song was controversial- it was the second controversial single from Beggar’s Banquet- the first even getting more publicity- Street Fighting Man.  Sympathy For The Devil also fueled The Rolling Stones are devil worshippers BS.

The big urban legends is -at Altmont when the Hell’s Angels murdered Meredith Hunter that The Stones were playing Sympathy For The Devil was the murder took place- actually they were playing “Under My Thumb.”

Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it #32 in their 500 Greatest Songs Ever issue.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoYcH4o9fYM