Why The Rolling Stones’ ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ is the Greatest Rock n Roll ‘Sermon’ Ever Recorded
The larger than life British rock group The Rolling Stones could never be accused of mamby-pambying their way to the top of music charts and into the hearts of their fans.
Stepping (and sometimes sinking) into controversy has been old-hat for the ‘Glimmer Twins’ on their way to great fame and even greater fortune. From the mysterious death of guitarist Brian Jones to the Altamont tragedy, and their numerous drug busts to Mick Jagger’s infamous dalliances with Maggie Trudeau and other high profile celebrities, the Stones have forged a reputation for pushing any manner of envelope that would dare them to try.
We shouldn’t be surprised, then, to discover among their archive of greatest hits, that spans some five decades, a song entitled Sympathy For The Devil.
When the track was released in 1968, it didn’t just raise the hackles of religious people, it also raised many an eyebrow among the group’s cult-like fanbase, who wondered whether Jagger et al bypassed the brimstone on their way to jumping headlong into the hellish fires of the abyss!
The Satanic Stones…? Say it ain’t so!!
Loads of sex and heavy drugs along with ‘rock n roll’ was the expected drill for most bands of the Stones’ era; their penning a song that portrays Satan, in the first person, spouting-off that he’s gotten somewhat of a bad rap over the evils of human history was quite another reality.
The Rolling Stones were thought to have crossed ‘a line’ that a just and sound society wouldn’t dream should even have to be drawn!
Mick Jagger got the idea for the song after reading the works of French poet Baudelaire as well as a novel entitled The Master and Margarita.
Sympathy For The Devil is a catchy-sounding tune, if not contagious
It’s been considered vinyl gold. Most Stones’ fans consider the song the band’s finest. It captures The Rolling Stones at their most creative peak, musically. The song features congas and maracas as additives to a blatantly Latin feel throughout.
Yet the confluence of instruments is surely not what make Sympathy the incredibly provocative song it is.
Melodically, I dig the tune
However, for the record, I cannot, as a Christian, make a habit of listening to the song. That’s my choice. And I’m not even suggesting that the lyrics are resolutely filled with bad theology and satanic lies.
In actuality, there is much in the song’s lyrics that would pass a biblical cross-examination
For instance, speaking as the devil himself, Jagger admits that Satan indeed has had his hot hands on many an atrocity throughout history. Events such as the European wars of religion, the Russian Revolution and World War II are cited in the song as happenings viewed from the devil’s perspective. But that’s not all.
The unjust trial and death of Jesus Christ are also noted in the song, in which Satan implicates his unfortunate puppet Pontius Pilate in his blame game. Sympathy even presents the question: “Who killed the Kennedys?” The answer we’re given implicates humanity along with the evil one: “…after all it was you and me.”
However, the song comes off the rails of proper theology at different points
What is clear in Sympathy is that not only is the devil claiming responsibility for his active role in monstrous evil acts throughout human history, but humanity itself is collectively and equally culpable along with him.
Even worse than being just as guilty as he (Satan) is, the song implies that we are him.
The song veers further into the ditch of what is despicable, with its twisted insistence that the listener somehow grant the devil some courtesy.
Perhaps all this is what makes Sympathy For The Devil the greatest rock n roll ‘sermon’ ever recorded.
How so, you ask?
How could any song that stumps for Satan be of any spiritual good to consider for its message, you wonder?
Don’t worry, I haven’t gone over to the dark side!
Hear me out…
Consider the following:
First of all, what is ‘great’ about the song is its highlighting of the inescapable truth that humanity is indeed fallen; fallen to the degree in which, yes, we are capable of great evil.
We are not as bad as we could be!
Secondly, the song also scores a theological ‘A’ grade where it insists that Satan has been gleefully pulling his wicked strings behind the world’s stage from the get-go.
Adam and Eve got a regrettable taste of his deceptive trade, and their offspring (the human race) has been paying the spiritual price ever since.
Thirdly, Sympathy For The Devil is also a great sermon from a biblical perspective because it exposes the lies of the chief Liar himself.
Knowing that he is solely on the unforgivable hook of God’s judgement, the devil wants us to believe that we too share in the same evil dirt he has under his fingernails. Consequently, the devil burns the midnight oil trying to convince us that he isn’t the ‘other’ one, but rather, each one of us. If we buy into this lie, it means, at the very worst, that we take the place of his actual existence.
Hell’s ultimate mission to be accomplished? There is no devil to shun!
Sadly, many believe this lie.
Finally, Sympathy makes a great sermon because it holds a commentative mirror to society by reflecting its often erroneous take on the spirit realm, which braids together sensationalism with ignorance.
Yet truth married to lies always procreates confusion; and confusion over what is spiritually true versus what is false is ultimately dangerous for the one who hasn’t figured out which is which.
The rock n roll sermon that is Sympathy For The Devil holds caches of truth and lies that must be theologically sorted through if the song is to be efficaciously ingested.
It is the one who is spiritually alive in Christ and aligned with the Living Word of God who is best able to interpret its curious language.
In toll, the paradoxical nature of the song’s lyrics is at some points chillingly descriptive, while at others, uncomfortably accurate (spiritually).
If you’re going to listen to the song, listen with caution. Discern the deception. The devil is indeed in its details, and he wants the truth to be damned along with him.
It may only be The Rolling Stones.
It may ‘only’ be ‘rock n roll’ as they say.
But Sympathy For The Devil remains a spiritually formidable anthem for a generation of people; who although, reside outside the Garden, are still vulnerable to being led down its so-called path!
This story is published in Koinonia — stories by Christians to encourage, entertain, and empower you in your faith, food, fitness, family and fun.
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