Dancing With Mr D

A common point of confusion is whether the title "Mr. D" refers to the devil or death. The case is strong for death, judging by the lyrics: "Down in the graveyard," "one of these days he's gonna set you free," "skulls," "the flesh just fall off her bones," plus many speculations on how to die - by poison, snakebite, "the sting of a spider," or being shot with a .44. There's very little of the demonic going on here (only one line, "fire and brimstone"), very much of romanticizing the end we all eventually face.

This was the last track producer Jimmy Miller worked on for The Stones.

The lyrics will remind Harlan Ellison fans of Ellison's short essay The Day I Died, first published in a 1973 issue of the Los Angeles Free Press and later published in Ellison's Stalking the Nightmare anthology. In it, Ellison idly speculates on a number of scenarios in which he dies, trying to predict the future. He's since lived long enough to prove most of them wrong. Read about it here, fantasy fans.