"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"

is a song by English rock band The Rolling Stones released in 1965. It was writ
ten by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. The so
ng is notable for Richards's three-note guitar riff which opens and drives the s
ong, and for the lyrics, which include references to sexual intercourse and a th
eme of anti-commercialism. The song initially played only on pirate radio statio
ns because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive. In 2004 Rolling S
tone magazine placed "Satisfaction" in the second spot on its list of The 500 Gr
eatest Songs of All Time, while in 2006 it was added to the Library of Congress
National Recording Registry.
Keith Richards states that he came up with the guitar riff for the song in his s
leep, waking up in the middle of the night, recording the riff and the words "I
can't get no satisfaction" on a cassette recorder and promptly falling back to s
leep
The song has become a staple at Rolling Stones shows. They have performed it on
nearly every tour since its release.
Cover versions
Britney Spears performed live Satisfaction on the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, O
tis Redding ,Diana Ross and the Supremes and Aretha Franklin have also covered t
he song.
Biography
Group Members
• Mick Jagger (26.July.1943) – singer
• Keith Richards(18.Dec.1943) – electric guitars
• Brian Jones (28.Feb.1942) - acoustic guitar (drowned in a pool in 1969)
• Charlie Watts (02.June.1941) – drums
• Bill Wyman (24.Oct.1941) - bass guitar
• Ron Wood (01.June.1947) – guitar
• Mick Taylor ( ) - guitar (replacement for Jones, he quits in 1975)
*The Rolling Stones started to become famous in the mid-1960s, they emerged as t
he bad boys of rock. The group was formed in 1962 by guitarist Brian Jones. Unde
r the direction of their manager Andrew Loog Oldham, the Rolling Stones were mar
keted as a group of rebellious, hedonistic rockers. Oldham was able to get the g
roup to sign with Decca Records. In their start, the band mostly recorded cover
versions of other people's songs. But Richards and Jagger soon appeared as a pow
erful songwriting duo.
The Rolling Stones first made the British charts in 1964 with a cover version o
f Bobby Womack's "It's All Over Now." The band toured the United States and had
their first U.S. hit with "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday." More hits soon follo
wed, including "Satisfaction" and "Paint It Black."
*Many of the band members seemed to live up to their image as wild rockers, enjo
ying a hard-partying lifestyle. Richards' home was searched many times by police
officers. Jagger , Jones and Richards did a lot of drugs.
During one of the Rollings Stones’ concert, Meredith Hunter, a young black fan who
had unwisely brought a pistol to the show, was stabbed and beaten to death by s
ecurity agents.
The murder, coming so soon after the death of Jones, had a harrowing effect on R
ichards, and his reaction to the events was to increase his usage of heroin. Ric
hards spent the best part of the following decade as a junkie, taking occasional
cures in private clinics but always returning to drugs. As Richards removed him
self from society, Jagger began to move in more elevated social circles. He marr
ied the pregnant Nicaraguan model Bianca Pérez Mora Macías, and the couple s jet-set
lifestyle put further distance between himself and Keith.
However all band members always affirmed that their personal lives ( drug use…) ne
ver affected their work.
Important Influences: Muddy Waters, Chuck Berry, Howlin Wolf

Lyrics Interpretation
Jagger sings the verses in a tone hovering between cynical commentary and frustr
ated protest, and then he half sings and half yells into the chorus.
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

I can’t get no satisfaction,

I can’t get no satisfaction.
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can’t get no, I can’t get no.
[The singer is saying that he can t get any satisfaction. He uses a double-negat
ive here. The double-negative gives the song a slanginess(argot) that probably a
ppealed to the youth of the 60 s, the era when this song was released. American
and British slang both use double-negatives. ]
When I’m drivin’ in my car
and that man comes on the radio
and he’s tellin’ me more and more
about some useless information
supposed to fire my imagination.
I can’t get no, oh no no no.
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say.
[ He talks about driving. Development of the car industry was vital to the chang
es that happened in America in the 50 s and 60 s. Cars offered mobility and free
dom. He s also talking about the media. The man on the radio is probably speakin
g as part of an ad. Advertisement encouraged a lot the population to spend money
or the creation of new desires, leading to a consumer society]
I can’t get no satisfaction,
I can’t get no satisfaction.
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can’t get no, I can’t get no.
When I’m watchin’ my TV
and that man comes on to tell me
how white my shirts can be.
Well he can’t be a man ’cause he doesn’t smoke
the same cigarettes as me.
I can’t get no, oh no no no.
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say.
[Now he s talking about watching TV, probably at home. It seems he s referring t
o a commercial for either detergent or bleach, singing, "how white my shirts can
be." He shows how convincing advertising is because it follows him wherever he
goes, whether in his car or at home. The lines where he says, "Well he can t be
a man cause he doesn t smoke/ the same cigarettes as me." What really made us
understand these lines was the fact that last year in our French class we studie
d an extract of a book called “Bicentenaire”, in this extract we see the importance
of a smoker’s brand of cigarettes with the battle between two characters through t
heir brand of cigarettes. It shows the differences of status, and that’s what Jagg
er is criticizing. A society that is individualist, and where the only thing tha
t matters is money and power.
I can’t get no satisfaction,
I can’t get no girl with action.
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try.
I can’t get no, I can’t get no.
When I’m ridin’ round the world
and I’m doin’ this and I’m signing that
and I’m tryin’ to make some girl
who tells me baby better come back later next week
’cause you see I’m on losing streak.
I can’t get no, oh no no no.
Hey hey hey, that’s what I say.
[ Jagger also describes the stress of being a celebrity, and the tensions of tou
ring. The reference in the verse to not getting any "girl with action" was clear
ly controversial in its day, interpreted by some listeners (and radio programmer
s) as meaning a girl willing to have sex. Particularly shocking to some people w
as a reference to a girl having her period (being "on a losing streak").
In its day the song was perceived as disturbing because of both its sexual conno
tations and the negative view of commercialism and other aspects of modern cultu
re. The lyrics to this were truly threatening to an older audience, when the Rol
ling Stones performed the song on Shindig! in 1965, the line "trying to make som
e girl" was censored.