The 1968 what a year, what an era! The Rolling Stones serve us one of their best works: Beggars Banquet, "the banquet of the poor"? But what poor? Certainly not them.
They appear inside, gorging themselves on food, lounging on benches and sofas, the table laden with dishes and liquors, a banjo peeking out... Listen, the Rolling Stones are the emblem of defiance and rebellion, who knows, maybe even today, facing an impending old age that almost can do nothing against the energy and will to live of these.
The cover was supposed to be the one depicting a shabby toilet, and the wall behind with all sorts of writings that we often find in public toilets or do you remember in school toilets? There are: toilet paper (but what color is it?), symbols of peace, invocations of love, to the woman... At the time it was censored and replaced with a useless but perhaps fitting, in some ways, all beige cover with only the name of the album, in elegant lettering, like a wedding invitation.
Fortunately, the first cover has returned with subsequent re-releases. "Sympathy For The Devil" almost faced the same fate due to its explicit content. Provocative and bizarre in its almost tribal march with Keith Richards' outbursts, it is a very important point in the career of the Rolling Stones, but not only: Mick Jagger presents himself as the devil and proudly recounts his features over the centuries. Alternative stuff, stuff that shocked the world, stuff that defined them as satanic, stuff that smells of revolution, not against religion or such things, but against a proper and perfect system that would logically have been upset.
Music perhaps began, thanks to them, to be loaded with more daring lyrics, for better or for worse. Here's what appears beyond the show's canvas "Beggars Banquet": folk and country songs, “Dear Doctor” (how funny!) and the beautiful “Factory Girl” (oh my what feelings!), the blues cadences of “Parachute Woman”, “Parachute woman, land on me tonight”, and of “Prodigal Son” (Wilkins' cover), the nostalgic ballad “No Expectations”.
The harmonies of the slide guitar of a masterpiece like “Jigsaw Puzzle” will remain immortal, the angry singing of Mick in the famous “Street Fighting Man” (I can already see him moving on stage with his famous moves..), the pure rock and roll of “Stray Cat Blues” (I see myself now speeding on my little car on an imaginary Saturday night..) and finally, as intense as ever, “Salt of the earth”, sung by Keith and then by Mick, (it seems that Saturday is over but nothing is lost..) ends with a gospel choir and a relentless piano.
A great work that, in these last songs and in the initial “Sympathy For The Devil”, does not seem to have aged at all and indeed with the digitally remastered reissues has gained a more crystalline and deep sound.
For the history, the Rolling Stones will then have to face the death (willingly or not, it is a mystery) of Brian Jones, the group's second guitarist, the release of "Let It Bleed" (69), the 70s among great records and some hints of crisis... the rest doesn't interest me, I'm not a fan of theirs, I don't love them, but I think I can understand the importance of certain works.
"Beggars Banquet" is one of those. I think..
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 Sympathy for the Devil (06:25)
Please allow me to introduce myself
I'm a man of wealth and taste
I've been around for long, long years
Stole many man's soul and faith
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
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 reach 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, mmm yeah
Pleased to meet you
Hope you guessed my name, mmm yeah
But what's puzzling you
Is the nature of my game, mmm mean it, get down
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
What's my name?
Tell me baby, what's my name?
Tell me sweetie, what's my name?
02 No Expectations (04:00)
M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Take me to the station
And put me on a train
I've got no expectations
To pass through here again
Once I was a rich man and
Now I am so poor
But never in my sweet short life
Have I felt like this before
You heart is like a diamond
You throw your pearls at swine
And as I watch you leaving me
You pack my peace of mind
Our love was like the water
That splashes on a stone
Our love is like our music
Its here, and then its gone
So take me to the airport
And put me on a plane
I got no expectations
To pass through here again
06 Street Fighting Man (03:16)
Ev'rywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy
'Cause summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street, boy
But a-what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's just no place for a street fighting man, no
Hey, think the time is right for a palace revolution
'Cause where I live the game to play is compromise solution
Well then what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man, no
Get down!
Hey, said my name is called disturbance
I'll shout and scream, I'll kill the king, I'll rail at all his servants
And then what can a poor boy do
'Cept to sing for a rock 'n' roll band
'Cause in sleepy London town
There's no place for a street fighting man, no
Get down!
07 Prodigal Son (02:53)
(Rev. Wilkins)
Well a poor boy took his father's bread and started down the road
Started down the road
Took all he had and started down the road
Going out in this world, where God only knows
And that'll be the way to get along
Well poor boy spent all he had, famine come in the land
Famine come in the land
Spent all he had and famine come in the land
Said, "I believe I'll go and hire me to some man"
And that'll be the way I'll get along
Well, man said, "I'll give you a job for to feed my swine
For to feed my swine
I'll give you a job for to feed my swine"
Boy stood there and hung his head and cried
`Cause that is no way to get along
Said, "I believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Believe I'll go back home
Believe I'll ride, believe I'll go back home
Or down the road as far as I can go"
And that'll be the way to get along
Well, father said, "See my son coming home to me
Coming home to me"
Father ran and fell down on his knees
Said, "Sing and praise, Lord have mercy on me"
Mercy
Oh poor boy stood there, hung his head and cried
Hung his head and cried
Poor boy stood and hung his head and cried
Said, "Father will you look on me as a child?"
Yeah
Well father said, "Eldest son, kill the fatted calf,
Call the family round
Kill that calf and call the family round
My son was lost but now he is found
'Cause that's the way for us to get along"
Hey
08 Stray Cat Blues (04:38)
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
I hear the click-clack of your feet on the stairs
I know you're no scare-eyed honey.
There'll be a feast if you just come upstairs
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
I can see that you're fifteen years old
No I don't want your I.D.
You look so rest-less and you're so far from home
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don'tcha scratch like that
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Bet your mama don't know you scream like that
I bet your mother don't know you can spit like that.
You look so weird and you're so far from home
But you don't really miss your mother
Don't look so scared I'm no mad-brained bear
But it's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
Oh, yeah
Woo!
I bet your mama don't know that you scatch like that
I bet she don't know you can bite like that.
You say you got a friend, that she's wilder than you
Why don't you bring her upstairs
If she's so wild then she can join in too
It's no hanging matter
It's no capital crime
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
Oh yeah, don'tcha scratch like that
Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat
I bet you mama don't know you can bite like that
I'll bet she never saw you scratch my back
10 Salt of the Earth (04:51)
M. Jagger/K. Richards)
Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the lowly of birth
Raise your glass to the good and the evil
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Say a prayer for the common foot soldier
Spare a thought for his back breaking work
Say a prayer for his wife and his children
Who burn the fires and who still till the earth
And when I search a faceless crowd
A swirling mass of gray and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
In fact, they look so strange
Raise your glass to the hard working people
Let's drink to the uncounted heads
Let's think of the wavering millions
Who need leaders but get gamblers instead
Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio
And when I look in the faceless crowd
A swirling mass of grays and
Black and white
They don't look real to me
Or don't they look so strange
Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's think of the lowly of birth
Spare a thought for the rag taggy people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the hard working people
Let's drink to the salt of the earth
Let's drink to the two thousand million
Let's think of the humble of birth
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Other reviews
By Lorenzo_1987
"This is how 'Beggars Banquet' opens, the best, the most varied, the most innovative, the most scandalous and shocking album by the Stones."
"The worthy conclusion of a timeless album."
By Missing
The Stones experienced an awakening: being hippies wasn’t in their nature.
'Sympathy For The Devil' makes this track an epic and terrifying contribution to the pages of Rock History.