Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones

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 told to reporters that it had been inspired by The Master and Margarita. Marianne Faithfull would have offered it to him as a present. Could be true, when you know that in 1967 - one year before Sympathy for the Devil was released - the first English translation of The Master and Margarita, made by Michael Glenny, had been published at Harvill Press - now part of Random House. In the song, just like in the novel, Satan dances a cheerful victory dance on the ruins of human civilisation. Faithfull, who was Jagger's girlfriend at that time, said during an interview with Sylvie Simmons from the magazine Mojo in 2005: «I got Mick to read 'The Master and Margarita' and out of that, after discussing it at length with me, he wrote that song».

The song has been created from a blues ballad to a hectic samba. How this happened 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.

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.»

Arte

In 2016, the French director Aurélie Pollet made a video for the European art channel Arte on The Master and Margarita and the song Sympathy For The Devil.



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