sympathy for the devil?

Life has been quite busy lately. I Just got back from a FDPFAFDW gig in Canterbury. It was a quick dash down to Kent from Suffolk and back to where I was holed up on one of my fishing safari’s and finishing some new songs. Meanwhile big thanks to Neil and Sacha for a great evening. I loved it. More about this on my next post.

Life is not only busy but a little strange at times, to say the least. Last week I walked into my local Branch of HSBC. You know the World’s local bank ha ha! It seems that the Gaddafis stashed a few million with HSBC and the bank made no attempt to declare the fact during the early stages of fiscal sanctions against the regime. On a general note I feel this as good a time as any to move one’s banking to the Co-op. Anyway, I went upstairs to pay in some cash. It was quiet with only one person ahead of me in the queue. As I waited the in house radio played in the back ground. I could have done without the noise but I actually laughed out loud when the next tune began. It was the Rolling Stones anthem, Sympathy for The Devil.

Sympathy for the Devil? There is little sympathy for, or faith in the banks that caused the chaos resulting in massive debt and the bail outs we paid for. At the same time it seems strange that the once infants terrible are now playing on Big bank radio. 

I remember how F.W.Woolworth printed paisley pattern psychedelic carrier bags for their customers at the height of the flower power era. The writing on the wall? More recently the much maligned “graffers “or graffiti artists spray paint style has been extensively absorbed into mainstream advertising. The assimilation and exploitation of subcultural elements by corporate business is unending.

On the subject of corporate business I remember how Jagger took the entire royalties from The Verve for their Bitter Sweet Symphony song. They mishandled the process for clearing samples and used a sampled part from a Rolling Stones tune. Knowing that the Verve album was complete Jagger opted to take the entire royalties including all of the earnings from a Ford car advert which used the Verve song. Some might say he was making a point against being ripped off but he could afford to have been a little more equitable over this affair.

I remember chatting with Mick Jagger at Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells concert at The Queen Elizabeth Hall on The South Bank in London. Steve was playing drums and Stones guitarist Mick Taylor was one of the guitar players. Jagger was saying that he would like to do something really different like Tubular Bells but he hasn’t done it yet. I mentioned the Brian Jones recordings of the North African pipe players. That album used to send shivers down my spine. Jagger shrugged and I could tell that he didn’t think this was one Brian’s high points.

The last time I saw the Stones was a few years back at Wembley. I thought it was dull except for the section where Keith sang some songs on his own. For a while the show had life and passion. I remember the stage was a great silver thing provided by Mercedes Benz.

It seemed odd to see the Mercedes logo emblazoned on The Rolling Stones stage set up. By contrast it seems right that Barcelona F.C. have UNICEF emblazoned across their shirts.

Some one asked me what I thought of the Stones Wembley show. I just said that I thought Jagger was quite a good runner for his age. It’s what I remember most about the gig. A slightly out of breath Jagger running up and down the ramps of his Mercedes Benz climbing frame. Sympathy for the Devil? HSBC? At least it wasn’t Stabbed by Glasvegas playing on the in house muzak.


Next stop Burton on Trent for yours truly where I will be performing at the next FDPFAFDW gig.






peace