# Rolling Stones Question- Sympathy for the Devil **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789 "2001-08-17T19:20:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BlueMoonofKentucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8dc957/32.png) [@BlueMoonofKentucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueMoonofKentucky)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/1 "2001-08-17T19:20:32Z")
In **Sympathy for the Devil** a lyric says: _And I lay traps for troubadours who get killed before they reach Bombay_ What are they referring to? Troubadour is synonymous with bard or poet, so in what historical event would the devil be trying to trap and kill poets before Bombay? Thanks all -BMoK ---
**Author:** ![Labdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/439d5e/32.png) [@Labdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Labdad)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/2 "2001-08-17T20:10:22Z")
A troubadour can be in the broadest sense any wandering minstrel or singer. When _Beggar’s Banquet_ came out I was in high school, and the Viet Nam war was raging. I tended to think of that lyric in terms of idealistic young men who get killed in southeast Asia, and still do. Now why the people fighting in southeast Asis were on there way to Bombay is another question altogether, and I don’t have the answer for that. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/3 "2001-08-17T21:10:05Z")
Nah, I take the phrase more literally. Back in those days, lots of young people set off for India in search of enlightenment. Maharishi, Sai Baba, etc. and were never heard from again. ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/4 "2001-08-17T22:28:06Z")
The definitive version of the song can be found on “Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out” a live set compiled from their 1969 tour. The studio version is quite lame in comparison. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2001, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/5 "2001-08-17T22:40:00Z")
We’ve been over this ground before, with no definitive conclusion: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=63168](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=63168) ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/6 "2001-08-18T00:27:16Z")
Nah, the definitive version is on the concert film “Gimme Shelter.” ---
**Author:** ![Tedster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/4491bb/32.png) [@Tedster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tedster)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/7 "2001-08-18T01:10:49Z")
Um, yeah. If you like seeing people killed. The stones seemed a little strung out that night as well, at least more than usual. ---
**Author:** ![Chas.E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Chas.E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chas.E)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/8 "2001-08-18T01:14:38Z")
Hey, I didn’t say it was GOOD, I said it was definitive. And in its way, this was the definitive moment of the era. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/9 "2001-08-18T02:53:38Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chas.E \* > \*\*Nah, I take the phrase more literally. Back in those days, lots of young people set off for India in search of enlightenment. Maharishi, Sai Baba, etc. and were never heard from again. \*\* What happened to them? Did they die? ---
**Author:** ![cerulean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@cerulean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cerulean)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/10 "2001-08-18T04:19:46Z")
Check out who this page is dedicated to: [http://home.earthlink.net/~geduin/RTK.html](http://home.earthlink.net/~geduin/RTK.html) . It talks briefly about the “Hippy Trail” in the '60s. The Stones were certainly aware of the Hippy Trail and probably also knew how dangerous it was. Naive hippies made easy targets for robbers and murderers. A serial killer named Charles Sobhraj, who preyed on tourists that traveled the Hippy Trial, was caught in the mid 70’s. He was a notorious example, but I’m sure you could find many cases of hippies being killed on the trail before and after Sobhraj. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/11 "2001-08-18T14:54:23Z")
A serial killer named Sobhraj, eh? Well, that’s enlightening. I had always guessed it referred to Rosencranz and Guildenstern in _Hamlet_. Sail log air. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2001, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rolling-stones-question-sympathy-for-the-devil/76789/12 "2001-08-18T15:17:27Z")
I had always figured it was a reference to the British army’s march through India. Didn’t a lot of 'em die from extreme heat and malaria before they made it to the coast? Tripler Sorry, I’m not up on my British history.