NP: Sympathy for the Devil

[Kai Frederik Lorentzen]

http://www.masterandmargarita.eu/en/05media/stones.html/

 >> Sympathy for the Devil/ is one of the few Stones songs which Mick 
Jagger wrote alone, without the help of his buddy *Keith Richard*. At 
first he said it was based on a poem of Baudelaire. But later he said it 
was inspired by /The Master and Margarita/, which *Marianne Faithfull* 
would have offered to him as a present. Could be, when you know that in 
1967 - one year before /Sympathy for the Devil/ was released - a new 
English translation of /The Master and Margarita/, made by *Michael 
Glenny*, was published at Harvill Press - now part of Random House.

There are many remarkable similarities between /Sympathy for the Devil/ 
and Bulgakov's novel. The song starts with "Please allow me to introduce 
myself , I'm a man of wealth and taste", which parallels strongly the 
introduction of Woland to Ivan and Berlioz in Michael Glenny's 
translation: "Please excuse me, for permitting myself, without an 
introduction..." And then follow more references to sentences from /The 
Master and Margarita/. It starts with the first stanza matching 
perfectly with the feelings described by Woland when he talks about Pilate:

"And I was around when Jesus Christ had His moment of doubt and pain
Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed His fate."

And it continues at the beginning of the second stanza with famous 
events from Russian history which are explicitly or indirectly commented 
by Bulgakov in the novel.

"I stuck around St. Petersburg when I saw it was a time for a change
Killed the Tzar and his ministers, Anastasia screamed in vain."

For your information: Anastasia is youngest daughter of the czar 
presumed to have been murdered with her family in July 1918. Rumors have 
persisted of her possible escape. In February 1920 she would have been 
dredged up from the river in Berlin, totally ragged, and suffering from 
amnesia...

The atmosphere and the construction of the song fit also perfectly with 
the book. The band worked with rather unusual instruments for a rhytm & 
bluesband - like congas and maracas - and after a long process of 
(re)working it became a samba, which Jagger called "hypnotic" and 
Richards even "insane." Like in the novel Satan dances a cheerful 
victory dance on the ruins of human civilization. Charlie Watts, the 
drummer of the band, described it as follows: "The combination of 
instrumental colors is pretty awe-inspiring. Start with the basic rhythm 
section - congo rhythms and maracas and such, then add some honky tonk 
piano. Then there is Keef expressing Satan's personal joy through the 
famous razor sharp shards of guitar solo. And don't forget the frenzied, 
high pitched "woo-wooooo" vocal harmonies from the natives. On top of 
all this is Mick as an exceptionally articulate and expressive devil 
who, let us say, really enjoys his work. He is articulate not just in 
his choice of words, but in the melodic development and precision, the 
care taken in picking the exact right phrases and pauses to tell the 
tale for maximum impact. You know, when a magic man like this comes 
along, the only thing you can really do is follow him and become his 
willing servant."

How the song is created from a blues ballad can be seen in the movie 
picture /One Plus One/ made by *Jean-Luc Godard* in 1968 during the 
recording of /Sympathy For The Devil/. The growth process of the song is 
shown in combination with wayward images of a Black Power demonstration 
and an interview with *Eve Democracy*.

And finally another cute trivia: *Ray Manzarek*, member of the legendary 
band *The Doors*, but trained as a movie maker, had for a long time 
hoped - just like *Roman Polanski* - to make a movie picture based on 
/The Master and Margarita/. He wanted Mick Jagger to play the role of 
Professor Woland. *Jerry Hall*, Jagger's girlfriend at that time, said 
to Manzarek: "Don't make the movie until he's finished with the tour. 
It's his favorite book! The part is his! He is Professor Woland." <<

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9AexiRyPc0

Your idea that Bulgakov's novel - and, related to this, the song lyrics 
of Jagger - do show us the devil as a mere trickster sounds interesting 
and has some striking evidence in the Moscow chapters . I'm not so sure, 
though, that this is all there is to it. Namely the picturing of Pilate 
indicates the presence of real metaphysical evil.

Happy holidays!

On 24.12.2012 02:45, David Morris wrote:
> I agree with Henry's aesthetics, but wonder where Joe got his literary 
> influence re. The Master and the Margarita?
>
> The Devil of the song and the novel are classic Tricksters.  Not so 
> much evil as recklessly playful.  Just riding the roller coaster of 
> Humanity.
>
> David Morris
>
> On Sunday, December 23, 2012, Joe Allonby wrote:
>
>     I understood the lyrics to be inspired by "The Master and the
>     Margarita".
>
>
>     On Fri, Dec 21, 2012 at 7:01 AM, Henry M <scuffling at gmail.com
>     <javascript:;>> wrote:
>     > Hey, Godard liked the son well enough to feature it a movie!
>     >
>     > Has anyone who knows this song considered that the last verse
>     subverts
>     > the name that one is likely to have guessed beforehand, namely "the
>     > devil?" All of the conflated opposites at the suggest that the
>     writer
>     > believes that things are not as they seem, and that, while
>     people are
>     > more comfortable calling the entity that causes tragedies
>     "Lucifer" or
>     > "the Devil," the entity that is often described by some people, e.g.
>     > the Westboro Baptist church, as one that will send your soul to
>     hell,
>     > i.e. "lay your soul to waste" if you don't pay tribute, i.e.
>     "use all
>     > your well-learned politess" is God, not Lucifer.
>     >
>     > It makes the song a whole lot more interesting, IMO.
>     >
>     > Yours truly,
>     > ٩(●̮̮̃•̃)۶
>     > Henry Musikar, CISSP
>     > http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20
>

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