1968 The Rolling Stones Play With Fire In The Studio

The Rolling Stones recorded "Sympathy for the Devil" in 1968 at Olympic Sound Studios for their album Beggars Banquet, released on December 6, 1968.

 The song was inspired by the political turmoil in London, England, at the time: the Vietnam War, protests worldwide, and student protests.

 Rolling Stone magazine's "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list, being ranked number 106 just a few years ago. The first ruff working title of the song was called," The Devil Is My Name," which refers to the song a few times. Do you know my name? Meaning Mick Jager was singing in the first person as the Devil.

On a rainy first week of June 1968, The Stones started the recording process at the famous Olympic Sound Studios. It was the same studio where other great '60s artists like Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, Queen, the Who, B. B. King, Traffic, Prince, the Eagles, and Eric Clapton recorded great albums.

The Stones also got help in the studio with musicians Nicky Hopkins on piano and Marianne Faithfull. Wyman and Richards performed backup vocals. Richards plays bass and guitar.

At the same time, the Rolling Stones were recording the track in the studio, and a British Documentary filmmaker was filming the behind-the-scenes recording process.

During the several days of recording the Stones as they played, a film lamp set up by the film crew started a major fire in the studio. The fire caused huge damage and destroyed some of the band's equipment. The master tapes were saved before they fled the studio, and the film crew kept cameras rolling as the fire continued.

Yes, the Rolling Stones have performed "Sympathy for the Devil" in concert in 2024: