There is no doubt that The Rolling Stones know their way around a tune, from the early material all the way to their newest album Hackney Diamonds, which reached number one in 14 countries. Such consistent success doesn’t come without the ability to churn out hits.
When it comes to writing new music, all of which needs to have enough of a spin to be interesting but enough of the past not to be wholly unrecognisable, influence has to come from various places. Keith Richards recently provided a breakdown regarding the origins of a number of different Rolling Stones songs, and some of the starting points make for fascinating reading.
The much-loved classic ‘Paint It Black’ was purely the result of Stones founder Brian Jones discovering a new love for the sitar. “I found it an interesting instrument, the idea of the sympathetic strings underneath that resonate to the strings on top,” said Richards. “That song is another one of those semi-gypsy melodies we used to come up with back then. I don’t know where they come from. Must be in the blood.”
Richards also comments on the likes of ‘Mother’s Little Helper’ a complex number that the band was never able to nail down live. Likewise, ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Gimme Shelter’ proved to be pivotal moments, but the starting point for one of the band’s most famous songs of all time ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ is the most surprising.
At the time, Bob Dylan was alluring both as a songwriter and an all-around musician. He made for a mysterious figure with a unique voice, paired with his poetic lyricism and guitar-playing ability which meant most musicians during this period were in some way influenced by him. The Rolling Stones certainly have some songs that come with a narrative-driven folk-inspired stillness, but the one that Richards actually describes as “Dylanish” took a very different shape before it was finally released.
“Mick brought that to the studio as a very Bob Dylanish kind of folk guitar song,” says Richards when discussing ‘Sympathy For The Devil’. He continued, “It ended up as a damned samba. I think that’s the strength of the Stones: give them a song half raw and they’ll cook it.”
It’s funny to think that one of the band’s most upbeat and dancey songs started life as a brooding folk number, but when you break down the key components that make up the song, it’s not that unbelievable. There is such a strong element of storytelling in ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ that it’s easy to picture it on a slowed-down folk track. Its upbeat tempo could easily be manipulated to form one that fits more of a Dylan style, and Bob’s voice certainly wouldn’t sound out of place on the track either.
It’s essential for artists to have influences and find inspiration from a variety of places, but those elements cannot be the start and stop of songwriting. If artists focus on their inspiration too much, they stop sounding authentic and become a carbon copy of who they already listen to. The Rolling Stones’ ability to draw from those they like but have the creative freedom to twist tracks and make something entirely unique is arguably one of the biggest factors that has led to their continued success, and the origin of ‘Sympathy For The Devil’ is the perfect representation of that.
