(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction

"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for their band, the Rolling Stones. The song was first released as a single in the United States in May 1965, but was also featured on the American version of their album, Out of Our Heads, released in July of the same year. It was a smash hit, giving them their first number one in the United States. The British version of Out of Our Heads did not feature "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction", as the song was released a single there in the August of that year — it was not orthodox practice in the United Kingdom at that time to include songs from singles on albums. The single shot to number one in the United Kingdom as well; it was the Rolling Stones' fourth UK number one. Despite its success, the song was controversial in its day for its anti-establishment and sexually suggestive lyrics.

Inspiration of an insomniac

During the Rolling Stones' third tour of the United States in 1965, Richards came up with the guitar riff for the song. The Stones were staying at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, Florida for part of their tour, and one night Richards suddenly woke up, turned on a tape recorder, and promptly played on his guitar the riff that opened "Satisfaction" before returning to bed. He would later describe it as: "...2 minutes of 'Satisfaction' and 40 minutes of me snoring."

Later, Richards brought it to the studio where the Stones were recording. Jagger took an immediate liking to the riff, unlike Richards, who was worried it sounded too much like Martha & The Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street". Jagger proceeded to write up lyrics for the tune, trying to make a statement about the rampant commercialism the British Stones had seen in America. Richards said of the songwriting process for "Satisfaction": "Mick wrote all of the words that say anything and I wrote the hook. I woke up in bed with this riff and I thought 'I've gotta put that down.'"

Richards later described his first opinion of the song:

It was just a riff. I didn't think... I didn't think of it as... I woke up in the middle of the night, put it down on a cassette. I thought it was great then. Went to sleep and when I woke up, it appeared to be as useful as another album track. It was the same with Mick too at the time, you know. It goes da-da, da-da-da... and the words I'd written for that riff were I can't get no satisfaction. But it could just as well have been 'Auntie Millie's Caught Her Left Tit in the Mangle'.

Recording a hit

The Stones soon set about recording the song. To be precise, the group recorded it between May 10 and May 13 1965, beginning just five days after Jagger had finished the song. Richards sang backup for Jagger's main vocals, and played the rhythm guitar. Jack Nitzsche, who was working with the Stones, ended up playing the tambourine after it was decided that Jagger's attempts just didn't work.

To create the final effect heard on the release, Richards ran his guitar's sound through a Gibson fuzzbox which he had just received. He thought it would sustain the sound of the guitar to assist a horn section he had planned for "Satisfaction", but the effect was not the one he desired. Reluctant to include the sound on the release, he suggested avoiding further use of the fuzzbox. The other Stones thought the distortion effect created was great, and eventually won out over Richards.

Ironically, despite his having dreamt up the riff that created the hit (much like Paul McCartney dreamt up the tune for "Yesterday"), much of Richards' ideas for "Satisfaction" were eventually dropped, including the horn section he had wanted.

The release of a success

At first, Richards was against releasing "Satisfaction" as a single, insisting that the opening riff just sounded like a ripoff of "Dancing in the Street". Jagger strongly supported a single release, and eventually won out. A single featuring "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" backed with "The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" on the B-Side was released by London Records in May 1965, and the rest is history. The song made its way through the American charts, until on July 10 when it reached the top. "Satisfaction" held on for a full four weeks, being knocked off on August 7 by "I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" from Herman's Hermits. Later the song was also released by ABKCO Records on Out of Our Heads in America.

In the United Kingdom, the original plan had been to put out "Satisfaction" on an extended play record. The incredible success the song had in America changed the Stones' minds however, and in August 1965, Decca Records released "(I Can't Get No Satisfaction)" featuring "The Spider and the Fly" on the B-Side. The song peaked at number one for two weeks, between September 11 and September 25, before being toppled by The Walker Brothers' "Make It Easy On Yourself".

The song's publishing rights, oddly enough, do not belong to any members of the Rolling Stones. Due to a contract they had with lawyer Allen Klein (who was later brought to court by Paul McCartney for interfering with the business affairs of the Stone's contemporaries, the Beatles) signed in order to avoid exorbitant taxes in Britain, the Stones signed over the rights to every song they wrote until 1969.

Despite rave enthusiasm from the public, it took a few years for any significant acclaim from members of the musical establishment to roll in. Newsweek called the opening riff "five notes that shook the world". In 1976, Britain's New Musical Express named "Satisfaction" as 7th among the top 100 singles of all time. Eleven years later, "Satisfaction" dropped to 82nd when the magazine recompiled the list into the top 150 singles of all time. In 1991, Vox listed "Satisfaction" among 100 records that shook the world. In 1999, BMI named "Satisfaction" as the 91st-most performed song of the 20th century. The following year, VH1 listed "Satisfaction" first among its "Top 100 Greatest Rock Songs". That year, "Satisfaction" also finished runner-up to "Yesterday" in a list jointly compiled by Rolling Stone and MTV. In 2003, Q placed the song 68th out of its "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2004, Rolling Stone's panel of judges which included Art Garfunkel (formerly half of the duo Simon and Garfunkel) and former Beach Boy Brian Wilson named "Satisfaction" as the second-greatest song of all time, "Satisfaction" coming in second only to Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone". [1]

Cover versions

"Satisfaction" had many cover versions, another striking parallel with "Yesterday" (which, as mentioned earlier, also came from a dream).

In early 1966 Otis Redding had some success with his soul version of the song, replacing the guitar riffs with horns, just as Richards' original intention was. The Troggs also tried their hand at it, attempting a more mellow version of the song.

Devo's memorable take on "Satisfaction" kept the lyrics, but radically reinterpreted the music into their own somewhat choppy, "mechanical" version; it was selected by The Telegraph as one of the 50 greatest cover versions of all time [2]. Another radical and irreverent reinterpretation of the song was released as a single by The Residents in 1976.

At the 1995 Brit Awards PJ Harvey and Björk performed a one-off duet of the song.

In May 2000, Britney Spears had a go at covering the song on her album Oops!...I Did It Again. At the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, Spears performed a medley of the earlier mentioned album's title track and "Satisfaction". She began by singing "Satisfaction" in a suit, but soon she stripped off the suit in favor of much more revealing attire beneath and began singing "Oops". The performance shocked parents, who were not expecting what they viewed as sleazy from a singer who had been presenting herself as a wholesome and clean celebrity. [3]

Cat Power created a piano ballad version of the song (minus the chorus) for her 2000 album The Covers Record.

One of the more memorable cover versions for some would be "I Can't Get No Cooperation", a version of the song with modified lyrics which was used on the American children's television show, Sesame Street — the song was used as part of a segment in which a child encountered problems finding others from his age group to play with.

Lyrics and melody

The song opens with a catchy guitar riff, launching straight into Jagger's "I can't get no... satisfaction". With the tambourine's beat, Jagger sings in a difficult to identify tone, hovering between hushed whispering commentary and a cynical protest. The verse is approached with more urgent and desperate repetitions of the phrase "and I try", and then leaps into the chorus, where the opening chords from the guitar make another appearance as Jagger half sings and half yells "I can't get no", conspicuously omitting the last word of the song's title. The song's course is then steered to a monologue where Jagger describes his irritation with the increasing commercialism of the modern world — where the radio broadcasts useless information, and when a man goes on television to tell him "how white my shirts can be". Jagger also briefly describes the stress of being a celebrity, and the tensions with his girlfriend caused by his touring. The reference in the verse to not getting a "girl with action" was fairly controversial in its day, interpreted by some listeners (and radio programmers) as a symbol for a girl willing to have sex. The song closes with a fairly low-key whisper of the song's title, whereupon Jagger suddenly leaps into a full shout of "I can't get no... satisfaction", repeating the final word into the fade-out.

The song's lyrics were extremely controversial in their day; Jagger stated that "the lyrics to this were truly threatening to an older audience. This song was perceived as an attack on the status quo". The part where Jagger addressed his romantic troubles was also perceived to be overtly sexual suggestive; when the Rolling Stones performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1966, the line "trying to make some girl" was censored.

A sample from the song is available.