Overheard: "Stowell says someone will be teachin' our kids this stuff, and our grandkids. Probably him. He'll just be a hundred."

I have news for you, I've made a pact with my wife not to live to be a hundred.

For your use with your essays, here are the lyrics to "Sympathy for the Devil." Remember, your essay needs to consider the particularly moralistic lesson of the song, the idea that mankind itself has the capacity for evil. Research the lyrics on the web, particularly through wordiq.com or wikipedia and you'll find the help you may need to write an "A" essay.

essay:
sympathy for the devil


Mick Jagger
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 and faith.
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 czar 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.
I watched with glee
While your kings and queens
Fought for ten decades
For the gods they made.
I shouted out,
Who killed the Kennedys?
When after all
It was you and me.
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.
Pleased to meet you,
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah.
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, oh yeah, get down, baby.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, oh yeah.
But what’s confusing you
Is just the nature of my game.
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.
So if you meet me
Have some courtesy
Have some sympathy, and some taste.
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, um yeah.
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, um yeah.
But what’s puzzling you,
Is the nature of my game, um mean it, get down.
Woo, who
Oh yeah, get on down
Oh yeah
Oh yeah!
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!

You can listen to the song in its entirety by going here.

The Prompt:

If you take the Lyrics at face value, you might consider that Mick Jagger is suggesting that the devil really isn't such a bad guy. After all, he says, “every cop is a criminal, and all the sinners saints,” and it was “you and me” who “killed the Kennedys.” So what's the difference? We're all the same, right? He's just one of the boys. Look more deeply, though, and you'll find that this confusion of good and evil, of appearance and reality, is just a ploy of the evil one. The devil may appear to be a gentleman, “a man of wealth and taste.” He may appear to be polite and a member of society, approaching you with the words, “Let me please introduce myself,” and “Pleased to meet you.” But alongside this we have a catalog of some of the worst atrocities in human history, starting with the torture of Christ on the Cross, and ending with the modern assassination of the Kennedys (so contemporary, in fact, that the lyrics were changed from “John Kennedy” to “the Kennedys” while the Stones were in the studio recording the song). Along the way we have the Crusades and the Bolshevik revolution thrown in for good measure. So let there be no mistake: there really is evil in the world, the song implies. With that in mind, what is the decidedly Christian view the Rolling Stones have taken? What are they saying to their audience about the devil? 300 to 500 hundred words. Focus on the theme, the lesson it strives to teach, how Lucifer's corruption works and who ultimately is to blame for the evils of our world. This is not an essay that focuses on religion so much as perception. In your essay you are not commenting on whether the Rolling Stones' assessment is correct or not, you're addressing the message.

And just for fun, here's a word search with Rolling Stones songs. Of course you'll have to print it out.



Aftermath
Angie
As Tears Go By
Beggars Banquet
Black and Blue
Brown Sugar
Dirty Work
Emotional Rescue
Flashpoint
Fool to Cry
Goat's Head Soup
Harlem Shuffle
Heart Of Stone
Highwire
I Go Wild
It's All Over Now
Jagger
Jones
Lady Jane
Let It Bleed
Miss You
No Security
Out Of Our Heads
Out Of Tears
Paint It Black
Respectable
Richards
Rolling Stones
Ruby Tuesday
Satisfaction
She's a Rainbow
She Was Hot
Some Girls
Star Star
Start Me Up
Steel Wheels
Sticky Fingers
Still Life
Stripped
Tattoo You
Time Is On My Side
Under Cover
Voodoo Lounge
Watts
Wood
Wyman