The Rolling Stones’ song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was a real breakthrough for the band in its time. It was the first single of the band, which topped the charts outside Britain.
Later this track made its authors really famous and allowed them to surpass, if not eclipse, then certainly the undisputed idols of rock-n-roll – The Beatles.
Besides, it is considered that this song of The Rolling Stones gave the most serious impulse to the development of rock music as a genre, and occupied its place in the history of rock music with the note “classic”.
“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is a song born in a semi-dream
On the day of this song’s creation, things were not going well for the band. The concert in Clearwater, Florida, on the band’s third U.S. tour was canceled: drunken fans started a brawl, as a result of which the musicians managed to play only four songs.
When Keith Richards returned to the hotel, devoid of energy, almost falling asleep, he began to improvise on the guitar. As a result, he had a riff for a future hit and almost immediately the key phrase of the lyrics – “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” came to mind.
Keith recorded the sketches of the song on a tape recorder and fell asleep. In the morning it turned out that he forgot to turn off the recording on the device. Therefore, the first version of the track contains not only the two-minute melody of the future hit, but also Richards’ 40-minute snore.
In the morning, Keith showed the sketches to the band’s lead singer, Mick Jagger. He grabbed the main line and wrote the rest of the lyrics around it. In fact, Richards is the author of only one line in the song.
The Case That Started the Musical Revolution
The first version of The Rolling Stones’ song “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, with its harmonica and folk sound, was recorded at Chess studios in Chicago on May 10th, 1965, and then re-recorded at RCA in Hollywood.
Then in June of 1965 the track was released as a single in the USA. In July of 1965 the composition was included in the American version of the album “Out of Our Heads”, which later became “platinum”.
Initially, Keith Richards wanted to include the wind instruments in the introduction. He turned the amplifiers up to maximum and distorted the sound, but nothing worked. Then Ian Stewart, the band’s keyboard player, brought in the first Gibson fuzz.
Everyone liked the new weighted sound of the song, except Keith. He still insisted on brass. But other musicians and managers of the band changed his mind and insisted on recording the song with a fuzz, a slower riff and a changed percussion part. That was the reason why the band had a lot of fans who were fed up with the light Beatles sound and wanted something heavier.
Naturally, the Rollings were not the first to use such a trick. But it was after that case that many other musicians all over the world adopted similar distorting effects on electric guitars. For this reason, “I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by The Rolling Stones is considered to be a trendsetter of rock music as a genre. Though, of course, it is not so.
It was not only the sound that was unusual, but also the lyrics of The Rolling Stones song “Satisfaction”.
It was shocking for the ’60s. So much so that in the beginning the track was only heard on pirate radios. And the older generation sharply condemned the composition for its sexual connotations.
The reason for that was the main phrase as well as the other lines. The censors rejected the lyrics “I want to seduce a girl” and the lyrics “Honey, come back next week/ See, I’m going through a whole string of bad luck” were seen as a hint at the time of the critics.
In fact, the main message of the song is that it is impossible to see the true meaning of things that are hidden behind lies. It also reflected the mercurial spirit of the US and the fatigue of exhausting concert tours.
Fun Facts
- Music critic Newsweek called The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” “the five notes that shook the world.
- Otis Redding’s cover of The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” is the first time a black performer has ever sung a British song.
- The main phrase “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” contains a double negation. This is a gross error of English grammar.
- There is a version according to which Keith Richards borrowed this key line from the song “30 Days” by Chuck Berry. There is a similar phrase in its lyrics – “If I don’t get no satisfaction from the judge”.
- The hotel where the hit was invented still exists. Today it is called the Fort Harrison Hotel.
- The Rolling Stones’ track “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” like the band’s other hit “Paint it Black,” is played in movies. The former can be heard in Life or Something, Apocalypse Now, Two Lane Highway, and No Compromise; the latter can be heard in the movies Devil’s Advocate, Full Metal Jacket, and Echo Echoes. Both hits have also been used in numerous computer games and TV series.
- Keith Richards feared he would be accused of plagiarism because the riff of his hit is similar to the tune of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street.”
- The band has no rights to the song. In order to get rid of the financial control of attorney Allen Klein, the musicians have renounced authorship of all compositions recorded before 1969.
- Decca deliberately delayed the release of the hit in England until August 20, 1965. They wanted to coincide its release with the British tour of the band and were afraid of the competition in the form of the newly released album “Help!” by The Beatles.