lyrics project

Anastasia
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song: Sympathy for the Devil
Album: Beggars Banquet
Model: Helen Diaz
Location: Bristol UK


Notes:-
This is the only Stones song I ever listened to that grabbed or interested me. The samba rhythms, the woo-woo’s, the lyrics and Jagger’s half screaming voice introducing himself as the Devil. It describes all the terrible things we humans do to each other and simply pass off as evil because it’s easier to do than blame or analyse ourselves and the society we live in. I’m reminded of this song every time there’s another mass shooting or terrorist attack in the world. Or I witness another loved one suffering in pitiful, humiliating agony while the medical profession pats itself on the back for keeping them alive for as long as possible.

We humans are just animals. All the traits, cruelty and harshness of nature’s world are there to witness every day. We sit and consume animal documentaries celebrating our own civilised societies but really, we’re worse than any other species. Crueller, harsher and uglier. We’re pathetic really but then again, we’re just another species so why should we be any different?

The line from the song that always struck me was “Anastasia screamed in vain”. I immediately (rightly or wrongly) thought Jagger must have meant Anastasia Romanova the Russian Tsar’s beautiful daughter. She was murdered during the Russian revolution by the Bolshevik secret police in 1918. The story and mystery of her (mythological) unlikely escape somehow always fascinated me like the Kennedy assassination, making the lyric more meaningful. The image therefore illustrates my version of Anastasia, a beautiful, dark haired, virginal beauty of her time, about to be shot dead like the rest of her family, simply for representing the ‘other side’. The civilised species huh?

Anastasia
Artist: Rolling Stones
Song: Sympathy for the Devil
Album: Beggars Banquet
Model: Helen Diaz
Location: Bristol UK


Notes:-
This is the only Stones song I ever listened to that grabbed or interested me. The samba rhythms, the woo-woo’s, the lyrics and Jagger’s half screaming voice introducing himself as the Devil. It describes all the terrible things we humans do to each other and simply pass off as evil because it’s easier to do than blame or analyse ourselves and the society we live in. I’m reminded of this song every time there’s another mass shooting or terrorist attack in the world. Or I witness another loved one suffering in pitiful, humiliating agony while the medical profession pats itself on the back for keeping them alive for as long as possible.

We humans are just animals. All the traits, cruelty and harshness of nature’s world are there to witness every day. We sit and consume animal documentaries celebrating our own civilised societies but really, we’re worse than any other species. Crueller, harsher and uglier. We’re pathetic really but then again, we’re just another species so why should we be any different?

The line from the song that always struck me was “Anastasia screamed in vain”. I immediately (rightly or wrongly) thought Jagger must have meant Anastasia Romanova the Russian Tsar’s beautiful daughter. She was murdered during the Russian revolution by the Bolshevik secret police in 1918. The story and mystery of her (mythological) unlikely escape somehow always fascinated me like the Kennedy assassination, making the lyric more meaningful. The image therefore illustrates my version of Anastasia, a beautiful, dark haired, virginal beauty of her time, about to be shot dead like the rest of her family, simply for representing the ‘other side’. The civilised species huh?