Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” Played At Trump Rallies –WTF ?

[JunkYardDogg]

“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 to waste”
…
“Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game”

According to an article in the Washington Post, by Stephanie McCrummen, describing the scene at the Trump Rally in Mesa, Arizona, inside a cavernous hangar, at the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, the Trump Rally organizers played the Rolling Stones songs “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Jumping Jack Flash”, to jack up the crowd even more. Driven by the Trump campaign’s delusional sense of omnipotent messianic superiority, these budding Fascists probably think that this song is actually an homage to the Great One, Donald Trump. Add to that, the fact that Trump rallies are basically New Age Klan Rallies, they seem to believe that this song is their theme song.

Nothing could be further from the truth. This song is about the evils of such men as Trump and his Mighty Whitey Militia flock.

[link:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cheers-a-punch-a-slur-what-its-like-in-the-crowd-at-a-donald-trump-rally/2015/12/17/ff5bcf76-a4fa-11e5-ad3f-991ce3374e23_story.html|https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/cheers-a-punch-a-slur-what-its-like-in-the-crowd-at-a-donald-trump-rally/2015/12/17/ff5bcf76-a4fa-11e5-ad3f-991ce3374e23_story.html
]
From SongFacts, on "Sympathy for the Devil” :
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=509

“The lyrics were inspired by ‘The Master and Margarita’, a book by Mikhail Bulgakov. British singer Marianne Faithfull was Mick Jagger's girlfriend at the time and she gave him the book. Faithfull came from an upper-class background and exposed Jagger to a lot of new ideas. In the book, the devil is a sophisticated socialite, a "man of wealth and taste”
…
“Keith Richards (2002): "Sympathy is quite an uplifting song. It's just a matter of looking the Devil in the face. He's there all the time. I've had very close contact with Lucifer - I've met him several times. Evil - people tend to bury it and hope it sorts itself out and doesn't rear its ugly head. Sympathy for the Devil is just as appropriate now, with 9/11. There it is again, big time. When that song was written, it was a time of turmoil. It was the first sort of international chaos since World War II. And confusion is not the ally of peace and love. You want to think the world is perfect. Everybody gets sucked into that. And as America has found out to its dismay, you can't hide. You might as well accept the fact that evil is there and deal with it any way you can. Sympathy for the Devil is a song that says, Don't forget him. If you confront him, then he's out of a job." (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)”
...
“Other historical events alluded to in the song include the 100 years war ("fought for ten decades&quot and the Holocaust ("and the furnace stank&quot . (thanks, Phil - Rochester, NY)”

Being a hardcore Stones fan, I saw their first public concert in L.A., at the old Long Beach Auditorium, and many times since. I saw them do this song and “Midnite Reaper”, they both really went together, in ’68 and ’69, and at Altamonte. Believe me, this song does not honor Trump and his brownshirts, it decries them.

So, people out here in the last vestiges of DemocracyLand, what do we do about this shit?

Like their song, how ‘bout some “Street Fighting Man”. Let us contemporize that, and start a Twitter campaign,, oh let’s say :

#No Rolling Stones at Trump Rallies”

I do not use Twitter myself, but perhaps all you folks can start this going.
What do you say people??

“Sympathy For The Devil”

“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 to waste

And 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

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game

I 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

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guess my name, oh yeah
Ah, what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah
(Woo woo, woo woo)

I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made
(Woo woo, woo woo)

I shouted out,
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me
(Who who, who who)

Let me please introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
And I laid traps for troubadours
Who get killed before they reached Bombay
(Woo woo, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
(Who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby
(Who who, who who)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah
But what's confusing you
Is just the nature of my game
(Woo woo, who who)

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
(Who who, who who)

So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste
(Woo woo)
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I'll lay your soul to waste, mm yeah
(Woo woo, woo woo)

Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mm yeah
(Who who)
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mm mean it, get down
(Woo woo, woo woo)

Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
(Woo woo)

Tell me baby, what's my name
Tell me honey, can ya guess my name
Tell me baby, what's my name
I tell you one time, you're to blame

Oh, who
Woo, woo
Woo, who
Woo, woo
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah

What's my name
Tell me, baby, what's my name
Tell me, sweetie, what's my name

Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Woo, who, who
Oh, yeah
Woo woo
Woo woo"

Songwriters: RICHARDS, KEITH / JAGGER, MICK

Sympathy For The Devil lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc.

[hobbit709]

1. I doubt he asked Mick or Keith for permission.

[zappaman]

2. WTF...indeed.

[kwassa]

3. so, the devil, er Trump, wants sympathy?

[Lochloosa]

4. Thanks for the Song Facts link...nice site.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. Irony is wasted on blockheads.

[NowSam]

6. The Stones are awesome

and Sympathy for the Devil and Jumping Jack Flash are iconic numbers in the culture of Rock music. I hope Jagger and Richards tell Trump to stop using their songs. If Sanders was using the song I would say he is calling out the greed of the 1%. Heads is tails and all that. "Every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints. Calls into question what are sins and according to what authority? The lyrics certainly don't bother me at all. The song is not an homage to evil or the devil. Powerful observations are made through those lyrics and it is one of the most memorable guitar solos in rock. It is only rock and roll but I like it.

[former9thward]

7. ABKCO owns all Stones music before 1972.

They have owned it for probably 35 years or more. The Stones have no control over who uses it or buys it.

[rockfordfile]

12. But they could have a say

[proverbialwisdom]

8. The making of... widely available (Amazon Fire, etc) and fascinating.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2006/may/21/28

[JunkYardDogg]

13. Good Link

That is why I used the image of the Movie Poster in my article-at Daily Kos-I cannot post images here
The poster is great-it has pic/images of a number of brutal despots

[proverbialwisdom]

16. Well, I fast-forwarded through the "skits" & only watched the Stones' in-studio making of the song.

I'll probably watch the extraneous vignettes at some later date, but they weren't terribly compelling to me after watching the first (car junkyard) and it was late.

[Chitown Kev]

9. One would have to think that the Talibangeicals

will not like this...

It is a great song, though and I'm blasting it right now and shaking my head about Trump's supporters.

[JunkYardDogg]

14. I really like your term "Talibangeicals"

Great phrase
Thanks for the blast

[loyalsister]

10. Perfect

Gimme Shelter might have been a representative choice, too.

And how much fun would it be to hear You Can't Always Get What You Want in view of a potential blow to Trump's immense ego?

[Enrique]

11. fights kept breaking out during that song at Altamont

Jagger says, "something very funny always happens when we start that number"

Maybe Trump liked the mob violence vibe.

[JunkYardDogg]

15. The mayhem was going on all day

One band would not even come out & play
The other bands that came out , Santana & the Jefferson Airplane, were scared shitless
The Angels were throwing full beer cans into the crowd
We were further back, but we could see what was going on
I would say that every person there was on Acid , or so it seemed, they say there was from 100,000 to 200,000 people
I wrote a ten page, single spaced term paper for an upper division Social Structure or Social Dynamics class on Altamonte
It was something one will never forget
but it fit right in with the police riots and attacks which we had at our college & was going on all over America at the time

[Tommy_Carcetti]

17. Truth in advertising.

It's a great song.

Much like "Born in the USA", the irony of its meaning is completely lost on the right wingers.