Sympathy for the Devil
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
In 1968, French director Jean Luc Godard filmed the Rolling Stones recording the track Sympathy for the Devil for the album Beggars Banquet. The final film, Sympathy for the Devil (1 + 1) interspersed many scenes of political and social elements that made it into a Godard film, and not just a typical music documentary—for the time and for now.
(The film is available for rent or sale on many platforms, but not currently for free. Instead, included below are a few clips that give you the flavor of the work.)
Opinions have long differed about this as film art or music art. At the very least it is a slice of time, a time before the Rolling Stones became billionaires, a time when John Lennon—who is seen dancing—was not yet killed, a time when artists like Godard (maybe not so much the Stones) believed in the power of art to expose, incite and transform.
As for the song, which I played before breakfast this morning:
Please allow me to introduce myself
I’m a man of wealth and taste
I’ve been around for a long, long year
Stole many a man’s soul and faith
I was ’round when Jesus Christ
Had his moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate
Washed his hands and sealed his fate
Stuck around St. Petersburg
When I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Tsar and his ministers
Anastasia screamed in vain
I rode a tank
Held a general’s rank
When the blitzkrieg raged
And the bodies stank
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
I shouted out
“Who killed the Kennedys?”
When after all
It was you and me
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 politeness
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game
Bob Schwartz 