<P> "Sympathy for the Devil" is credited to Jagger and Richards, though the song was largely a Jagger composition . The working title of the song was "The Devil Is My Name", having earlier been called "Fallen Angels", and it is sung by Jagger as a first - person narrative from the point of view of the Devil, recounting his control over the events of human existence . </P> <P> In the 2012 documentary Crossfire Hurricane, Jagger stated that his influence for the song came from Baudelaire and from the Russian author Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita (which had just appeared in English translation in 1967). The book was given to him by Marianne Faithfull . </P> <P> In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone, Jagger said, "I think that was taken from an old idea of Baudelaire's, I think, but I could be wrong . Sometimes when I look at my Baudelaire books, I can't see it in there . But it was an idea I got from French writing . And I just took a couple of lines and expanded on it . I wrote it as sort of like a Bob Dylan song ." It was Richards who suggested changing the tempo and using additional percussion, turning the folk song into a samba . </P> <P> Furthermore, Jagger stated in the Rolling Stone interview: "it's a very long historical figure--the figures of evil and figures of good--so it is a tremendously long trail he's made as personified in this piece ." By the time Beggars Banquet was released, the Rolling Stones had already raised some hackles for sexually forward lyrics such as "Let's Spend the Night Together", or after their reprise of the Willie Dixon's blues "I Just Want to Make Love to You" etc. and for allegedly dabbling in Satanism (their previous album, while containing no direct Satanic references in its music or lyrics, was titled Their Satanic Majesties Request), and "Sympathy" brought these concerns to the fore, provoking media rumours and fears among some religious groups that the Stones were devil - worshippers and a corrupting influence on youth . </P>

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