Sway

What, if some day or night a demon were to steal after you into your loneliest loneliness and say to you:'This Life as you now live it and have lived it, you will have to live once more and innumerable time more; and there will be nothing new in it, but every pain and every joy and every thought and sigh and everything unutterable small or great in your life will have to return to you, all in the same succession and sequence--even this spider and this moonlight between the trees, and even this moment and I myself. The eternal hourglass of existence is turned upside down again and again, and you with it, speck of dust!' Would you not throw yourself down and gnash your teeth and curse the demon who spoke thus? Or have you once experienced a tremendous moment when you would have answered him: 'You are a god and never have I heard anything more divine.'

As Mick Fleetwood observed several years ago, the Stones' latter-day pop-cultural image has diminished their accomplishments as an innovative, creative band. This tendency leaves many, who apparently don't like the band or most of its music, to belittle Mick and Keith, usually for not being as brilliantly virtuosic as Mick Taylor, not being as "great" as Led Zeppelin, and on and on.

Of course, this misses the point that the Stones, even if you believe they peaked in the early '70s, created more standard-setting rock and roll in their first 10 years than most subsequent bands after decades in the business.

Furthermore, how can one question or casually dismiss the quality of the Stones' lyrics when they, among few other peers (Lennon-McCartney, Dylan, Neil Young, Lou Reed) wrote the template of what rock lyrics could and should say? I can only conclude that people who make these statements haven't really listened.

You want great rock lyrics? How 'bout "Paint it Black," "Mother's Little Helper," "Get Off My Cloud," "Brown Sugar," "Sympathy for the Devil," "Gimme Shelter," "Blinded by Rainbows" and "Moonlight Mile" ... just for starters, of course. Say what you will about Mick Jagger's image, but the man – along with Keith, of course – always had a way with words.

I thought the Chorus was "It's just that evil eye forgot you/me in its sway" and that it was a lament for surviving trauma while others didn't "friends up on the burial ground". Who cares? Richard's rhythm is like a tank bursting through a wall thought secure. Taylor dance's around and over it, quite well, but he's the sideman as he is on most of the tracks on Sticky Fingers. Still a very good sideman. It was a shame they couldn't overcome whatever drove them apart.

Oh god, I love this one, even if keith's contribution was limited to backing vocals. Mick Taylor really brought something to the Stones, something way different that the usual. He was just a brilliant guitarist. But I can't help thinking that the Stones would have broken up if Taylor had stayed, so it was best that he left. But we've got this, Moonlight Mile and a few others to remember him by.

As to the meaning, I think everyone has been to a real low point, but not all of us recognize life's simple pleasures in time to pull us out of depression. The song starts with Mick's oh-so-jaded, "One, two, three, four", but winds up with a beautiful ending. What a great example to get through life.

I can't help thinking (with a laugh) that this deeply romantic song would have been brilliant used as a theme for David Boreanaz' character on "Buffy, the Vampire Slayer" or on its spin off "Angel". A missed opportunity if you ask me. "Demon life" indeed!

I thought it was "It's just that evil eye forgot me in its sway..." I see I was wrong.

Also, this is currently my favorite Rolling Stones.

my brain hears what it wants to, so i always tend to hear "it's just that demon life forgot you (me) in its sway"

Thanks j4c300 for clarifying the Pope's comment. The interpretation works perfectly for me. An example of Mick's well-furnished mind.

I used to love this 8-track (ha ha, my older sisters) back when I was a little kid and way to young to understand it. Now that I do (and to some degree wish I didn't) it takes on such a greater depth and meaning. Sway and Dead Flowers are almost magical with the incredible sadness and yet somehow nostalgic feelings they bring me of a time when I made a lot of bad choices.

Dictionary.com has the meaning of "sway" verb: as to cause (the mind, emotions, etc., or a person) to incline or turn in a specified way; influence. That has always had me hearing the lyric "it's just that evil eye has got you in its sway". "Sway" being under a spell or in a hypnotic trance thus the eye is the more obvious culprit. I have never heard "demon life" but every lyric page on the 'Net contains the same lyrics and how this happens I do not know. I find wrong lyrics all the time. I have been a musician since the 1960's and learning lyrics from a recording can be difficult especially Jagger. Someone who has never heard the song can usually pick up on a lyric I cannot hear correctly since a perception becomes a reality. Hear it wrong once and it takes root. "Evil eye" makes much more sense. The "demon" I think is there only because the Stones reputation as "devil worshipers" is too ingrained although erroneous. "Evil eye" is and has been a common expression in our language for many years. "Demon life"? Never heard it before now.

It's just that demon life has got you in its sway ...

I always thought it was:

It's just that evil eye's got chew in its sway?

Awesome song