Beggars Banquet was released just one year after Between the Buttons, in 1968, yet The Rolling Stones managed to sneak another album out in between them (Their Satanic Majesties Request, a foray into psychedelia). Talk about a prolific period.
Beggars Banquet was a return to a more blues/rock approach and is widely considered one of the band’s finest works. This was one of the first Stones albums I bought when I started reading up on their catalog and deciding where to dip my toe.
The album isn’t packed with hit singles — today’s track and ‘Street Fighting Man’ are the only songs here that would likely make a greatest hits record. But every song is great, from the jokey hoedown ‘Dear Doctor’ to the bawdy riff-tastic ‘Stray Cat Blues.’
No doubt, though, the highlight is opening track ‘Sympathy For the Devil.’ This is a classic rock song by any measure and one of the defining musical moments of its generation. It’s a haunted tour through the evil that men do as told by a charismatic Lucifer. And it boasts one of the best song titles of all time.
Even people who don’t like The Rolling Stones have to like this song, don’t they?
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
(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, have some taste
(woo woo)
Use all your well-learned politesse
Or I’ll lay your soul to waste, mmm yeah
(woo woo, woo woo)
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mmm yeah
(who who)
But what’s puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mmm 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
Meet Me In Montauk 
Undoubtedly, a great classic song.
Yes, I would think that anyone would have to like this song. Dana and Mark performing this song is still one of my favorite college memories 🙂