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(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
Encyclopedia
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock
band The Rolling Stones
, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham
. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song. The lyrics refer to sexual frustration and the commercialism
of America.
The song was first released as a single in the United States in June 1965 and also featured on the American version of Out of Our Heads
, released that July. "Satisfaction" was a hit, giving the Stones their first number one in the US. In the UK, the song initially played only on pirate radio stations because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive. In Britain, the single was released in August 1965; it became the Rolling Stones' fourth number one in the United Kingdom. The song is considered to be one of the all-time great rock songs. In 2004 Rolling Stone
magazine placed "Satisfaction" in the second spot on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
, while in 2006 it was added to the Library of Congress
National Recording Registry
.
states that he came up with the guitar riff for the song in his sleep, 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 sleep. He would later describe the tape as: "two minutes of 'Satisfaction' and 40 minutes of me snoring." He and Jagger finished writing the song at the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel
in Clearwater, Florida
, in May 1965. Jagger wrote most of the lyrics after being confined to their Clearwater hotel rooms and not permitted to play, not as a statement about the rampant commercialism
that the Rolling Stones had seen in America.
Richards was concerned that the riff sounded too much like Martha and the Vandellas
' "Dancing in the Street
". Jagger later said: "It sounded like a folk song when we first started working on it and Keith didn't like it much, he didn't want it to be a single, he didn't think it would do very well... I think Keith thought it was a bit basic. I don't think he really listened to it properly. He was too close to it and just felt it was a silly kind of riff." Jagger has also pointed out that the title lyrics closely resemble a line from Chuck Berry
's "30 Days". (Berry's lyric is "If I don't get no satisfaction from the judge".)
in Chicago - a version featuring Brian Jones
on harmonica
. The group re-recorded it two days later at RCA Studios
in Hollywood
, with a different beat and the Gibson
Maestro fuzzbox adding sustain to the sound of the guitar riff. Richards envisioned redoing the track later with a horn section
playing the riff: "this was just a little sketch, because, to my mind, the fuzz tone was really there to denote what the horns would be doing." The other Rolling Stones, as well as manager Andrew Loog Oldham
and sound engineer Dave Hassinger eventually outvoted Richards and the track was selected for release as a single. The song's success boosted sales of the Gibson fuzzbox so that the entire available stock sold out by the end of 1965.
Like most of the Stones' pre-1966 recordings, "Satisfaction" was originally released in mono
only. In the mid-1980s, a true stereo
version of the song was released on German and Japanese editions of the CD reissue of Hot Rocks 1964-1971
. The stereo mix features a piano (played by session player Jack Nitzsche
) and acoustic guitar that are barely audible in the original mono release (both instruments are also audible on a bootleg recording
of the instrumental track). This stereo mix of "Satisfaction" also appeared on a radio-promo CD of rare stereo tracks provided to US radio stations in the mid-1980s, but has not yet been featured on a worldwide commercial CD; even later pressings of the German and Japanese Hot Rocks CDs feature the mono mix, making the earlier releases with the stereo mix collectors' items. For the worldwide 2002 reissue of Hot Rocks, an alternate quasi-stereo mix was used featuring the lead guitar, bass, drums, and vocals in the center channel and the acoustic guitar and piano "split" left and right via a delay
effect.
The song opens with the guitar riff, which is joined by the bass halfway through. It is repeated three times with the drums and acoustic guitar before the vocal enters with the line: "I can't get no satisfaction". The title line is an example of a double negative
resolving to a negative, a common usage in colloquial
English. Jagger sings the verses in a tone hovering between cynical commentary and frustrated protest, and then leaps half singing and half yelling into the chorus
, where the guitar riff reappears. The lyrics outline the singer's irritation with the increasing commercialism of the modern world, where the radio broadcasts "useless information" and a man on television tells him "how white my shirts can be - but he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me." Jagger also describes the stress of being a celebrity, and the tensions of touring. The reference in the verse to not getting any "girl reaction" was fairly controversial in its day, interpreted by some listeners (and radio programmers) as meaning a girl willing to have sex. Particularly shocking to some people was a reference to a girl having her period (being "on a losing streak"). The song closes with a fairly subdued repetition of the song's title, followed suddenly by a full shout of the line, with the final words repeated into the fade-out.
In its day the song was perceived as disturbing because of both its sexual connotations and the negative view of commercialism and other aspects of modern culture; critic Paul Gambaccini stated: "The lyrics to this were truly threatening to an older audience. This song was perceived as an attack on the status quo
". When the Rolling Stones performed the song on Shindig!
in 1965, the line "trying to make some girl" was censored. Forty years later, when the band performed three songs during the February 2006 Super Bowl XL
halftime show, "Satisfaction" was the only one of the three songs not censored as it was broadcast.
on 6 June 1965, with "The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" as its B-side
. The single made its way through the American charts, reaching the top on 10 July, displacing The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
". "Satisfaction" held on for a full four weeks, being knocked off on 7 August by "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" from Herman's Hermits
. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100
charts in America in the week ending 12 June 1965, remaining there for 14 weeks; it was #1 for four straight weeks. While in its eighth week on the American charts, the single was certified a gold record award by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for selling more than half a million copies in the United States, giving the band their first of many gold disc awards in America. Later the song was also released by London Records on Out of Our Heads in America. According to "Joel Whitburn Presents, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004", the song also reached #19 on the Top Selling Rhythm and Blues
Singles.
"Satisfaction" was not immediately released by Decca Records
in Great Britain. Decca was already in the process of preparing a live Rolling Stones EP for release, so the new single did not come out in Britain until 20 August, with "The Spider and the Fly" on the B-Side. The song peaked at number one for two weeks, replacing Sonny & Cher
's "I Got You Babe
", between 11 September and 25 September, before being toppled by The Walker Brothers
' "Make It Easy on Yourself
".
In the decades since its release, "Satisfaction" has repeatedly been acclaimed by the music industry. In 1976, Britain's New Musical Express
listed "Satisfaction" 7th among the top 100 singles of all time. There was a resurgence of interest in the song after it was prominently featured in the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now
. 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. In 2000, VH1
listed "Satisfaction" first among its "Top 100 Greatest Rock Songs"; the same 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 Stones panel of judges named "Satisfaction" as the second-greatest song of all time, coming in second to Bob Dylan
's "Like a Rolling Stone
". Newsweek
has called the opening riff "five notes that shook the world".
Jagger has said of "Satisfaction": "It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band... It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff. It has a great guitar sound, which was original at that time. And it captures a spirit of the times, which is very important in those kinds of songs... Which was alienation
." Richards claimed that the song's riff could be heard in half of the songs that The Rolling Stones had produced, saying that "there is only one song — it's just the variations you come up with."
The song has become a staple at Rolling Stones shows. They have performed it on nearly every tour since its release, and concert renditions have been included on the albums Got Live if You Want It!
, Still Life (American Concert 1981)
, Flashpoint
, Live Licks
and Shine a Light. One unusual rendition is included in Robert Frank
's film Cocksucker Blues
from the 1972 tour, when the song was performed by both the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder
's band as the second half of a medley with Wonder's "Uptight".
recorded a rendition of "Satisfaction" for his album Otis Blue, 1965. Otis claimed that he did not know the lyrics of the song, saying: "I use a lot of words different than the Stones' version," Redding noted. "That's because I made them up." Redding's soul
-style arrangement featured horns playing the main riff, as Keith Richards had originally intended. In 2003, Ronnie Wood noted that The Rolling Stones' later concert renditions of the number reflect Redding's interpretation. Manfred Mann
released a cover version of the song on their 1967 album, The Soul of Mann. Frankie Ruiz
recorded the song in salsa which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart.
band Devo
released their rendition of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as a single in 1977. Because of the extensive changes Devo had made to the song, they met with Mick Jagger and his lawyer so Mick could give his blessing. During that visit, Jagger said he liked Devo's version. Gerald Casale
characterised this meeting as "a setup". After the meeting, he found out that Devo's lawyer told Jagger's lawyer they should approve the song because it would make Jagger a lot of money. Steve Huey of Allmusic stated that the cover version "reworks the original's alienation into a spastic freak-out that's nearly unrecognizable".
. The video appears on Devo's home videos, The Men Who Make the Music
, We're All Devo
and The Complete Truth About De-Evolution. A notable feature of the video was dancer Craig Allen Rothwell, known as Spazz Attack, whose signature dance move, a forward flip onto his back, drew him significant attention. He later appeared in the music video for Devo's "Peek-A-Boo", and on David Bowie
's Glass Spider tour
.
. After the 42nd Grammy Awards, on February 24, 2000, Spears went to Pacifique Recording Studios in Hollywood, California with Darkchild and recorded her vocals for the song. The singer revealed it was her idea to record the cover, while commenting, "I was just like, 'I like this song,' and I think it will be a really cool combination working with Rodney and doing a really funky song like that. We're going in to work on it after the Grammys, so I don't have a clue how it's going to sound." The cover was included on Spears' second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again
(2000). After the album's release, Jagger heard Spears' cover through the walls of his daughter's room, revealed Darkchild's publicist Courteney Barnes. As a result, Jagger liked the cover and wanted to colaborate with Jerkins on his third solo studio album. Later in 2001, Jagger met up with Spears on the red carpet of the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
.
said, "barring a new Puff Daddy single featuring Jennifer Lopez and a sample of Bad Company's "Shooting Star," there may be no more audacious piece of music [on 2000] than Britney Spears' assault on the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"." Robert Christgau
gave the song a 'a pair of scissors', icon on his website that means the cover "is a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money", while a New Musical Express
review gave the cover a negative review, saying, "the long-awaited [...] [Spears'] cover of the Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' is a letdown".
. The performance consisted on Spears singing along her cover, with a dance sequence set to the original version at the end. On September 6, 2000, Spears performed "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards
at the Radio City Music Hall
in New York City, New York. Before performing "Oops!... I Did It Again
", the singer appeared behind a backlit screen, and descended down a spiral staircase and started performing the song, while wearing a tuxedo
. After performing a shortened version of it, the singer tore the tuxedo off, revealing a skin-tight flesh-colored outfit.
Personnel
Source:
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
band The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Jagger/Richards
The songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known as Jagger/Richards , is a musical collaboration whose output has produced the majority of the catalogue of The Rolling Stones....
and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song. The lyrics refer to sexual frustration and the commercialism
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
of America.
The song was first released as a single in the United States in June 1965 and also featured on the American version of Out of Our Heads
Out of Our Heads
- American release:Initially issued in July 1965 in America - American release:Initially issued in July 1965 in America - American release:Initially issued in July 1965 in America (featuring a shot from the same photo session that graced the cover of 12 X 5 and The Rolling Stones No...
, released that July. "Satisfaction" was a hit, giving the Stones their first number one in the US. In the UK, the song initially played only on pirate radio stations because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive. In Britain, the single was released in August 1965; it became the Rolling Stones' fourth number one in the United Kingdom. The song is considered to be one of the all-time great rock songs. In 2004 Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
magazine placed "Satisfaction" in the second spot on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time
"The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" was the cover story of a special issue of Rolling Stone, issue number 963, published December 9, 2004, a year after the magazine published its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time"....
, while in 2006 it was added to the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
National Recording Registry
National Recording Registry
The National Recording Registry is a list of sound recordings that "are culturally, historically, or aesthetically important, and/or inform or reflect life in the United States." The registry was established by the National Recording Preservation Act of 2000, which created the National Recording...
.
Inspiration
Keith RichardsKeith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
states that he came up with the guitar riff for the song in his sleep, 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 sleep. He would later describe the tape as: "two minutes of 'Satisfaction' and 40 minutes of me snoring." He and Jagger finished writing the song at the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel
Fort Harrison Hotel
The Fort Harrison Hotel serves as the flagship building of the Flag Land Base, the Church of Scientology's spiritual headquarters in Clearwater, Florida...
in Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater, Florida
Clearwater is a city located in Pinellas County, Florida, US, nearly due west of Tampa and northwest of St. Petersburg. In the west of Clearwater lies the Gulf of Mexico and in the east lies Tampa Bay. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 108,787. It is the county seat of...
, in May 1965. Jagger wrote most of the lyrics after being confined to their Clearwater hotel rooms and not permitted to play, not as a statement about the rampant commercialism
Commercialism
Commercialism, in its original meaning, is the practices, methods, aims, and spirit of commerce or business. Today, however, it primarily refers to the tendency within open-market capitalism to turn everything into objects, images, and services sold for the purpose of generating profit...
that the Rolling Stones had seen in America.
Richards was concerned that the riff sounded too much like Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...
' "Dancing in the Street
Dancing in the Street
"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.-Martha and the Vandellas original:...
". Jagger later said: "It sounded like a folk song when we first started working on it and Keith didn't like it much, he didn't want it to be a single, he didn't think it would do very well... I think Keith thought it was a bit basic. I don't think he really listened to it properly. He was too close to it and just felt it was a silly kind of riff." Jagger has also pointed out that the title lyrics closely resemble a line from Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry
Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B...
's "30 Days". (Berry's lyric is "If I don't get no satisfaction from the judge".)
Recording
The Rolling Stones first recorded the track on 10 May 1965 at Chess StudiosChess Records
Chess Records was an American record label based in Chicago, Illinois. It specialized in blues, R&B, soul, gospel music, early rock and roll, and occasional jazz releases....
in Chicago - a version featuring Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
on harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
. The group re-recorded it two days later at RCA Studios
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
in Hollywood
Hollywood, Los Angeles, California
Hollywood is a famous district in Los Angeles, California, United States situated west-northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Due to its fame and cultural identity as the historical center of movie studios and movie stars, the word Hollywood is often used as a metonym of American cinema...
, with a different beat and the Gibson
Gibson Guitar Corporation
The Gibson Guitar Corporation, formerly of Kalamazoo, Michigan and currently of Nashville, Tennessee, manufactures guitars and other instruments which sell under a variety of brand names...
Maestro fuzzbox adding sustain to the sound of the guitar riff. Richards envisioned redoing the track later with a horn section
Horn section
In music, a horn section can refer to several groups of musicians. It can refer to the musicians in a symphony orchestra who play the horn . In a British-style brass band it refers to the tenor horn players. In popular music, it can also refer to a small group of wind instrumentalists who augment a...
playing the riff: "this was just a little sketch, because, to my mind, the fuzz tone was really there to denote what the horns would be doing." The other Rolling Stones, as well as manager Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
and sound engineer Dave Hassinger eventually outvoted Richards and the track was selected for release as a single. The song's success boosted sales of the Gibson fuzzbox so that the entire available stock sold out by the end of 1965.
Like most of the Stones' pre-1966 recordings, "Satisfaction" was originally released in mono
Monaural
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is single-channel. Typically there is only one microphone, one loudspeaker, or channels are fed from a common signal path...
only. In the mid-1980s, a true stereo
Stereophonic sound
The term Stereophonic, commonly called stereo, sound refers to any method of sound reproduction in which an attempt is made to create an illusion of directionality and audible perspective...
version of the song was released on German and Japanese editions of the CD reissue of Hot Rocks 1964-1971
Hot Rocks 1964-1971
Hot Rocks 1964–1971 is the first compilation album of Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein...
. The stereo mix features a piano (played by session player Jack Nitzsche
Jack Nitzsche
Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...
) and acoustic guitar that are barely audible in the original mono release (both instruments are also audible on a bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
of the instrumental track). This stereo mix of "Satisfaction" also appeared on a radio-promo CD of rare stereo tracks provided to US radio stations in the mid-1980s, but has not yet been featured on a worldwide commercial CD; even later pressings of the German and Japanese Hot Rocks CDs feature the mono mix, making the earlier releases with the stereo mix collectors' items. For the worldwide 2002 reissue of Hot Rocks, an alternate quasi-stereo mix was used featuring the lead guitar, bass, drums, and vocals in the center channel and the acoustic guitar and piano "split" left and right via a delay
Delay (audio effect)
Delay is an audio effect which records an input signal to an audio storage medium, and then plays it back after a period of time. The delayed signal may either be played back multiple times, or played back into the recording again, to create the sound of a repeating, decaying echo.-Early delay...
effect.
Lyrics and melody
Double negative
A double negative occurs when two forms of negation are used in the same sentence. Multiple negation is the more general term referring to the occurrence of more than one negative in a clause....
resolving to a negative, a common usage in colloquial
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
English. Jagger sings the verses in a tone hovering between cynical commentary and frustrated protest, and then leaps half singing and half yelling into the chorus
Refrain
A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...
, where the guitar riff reappears. The lyrics outline the singer's irritation with the increasing commercialism of the modern world, where the radio broadcasts "useless information" and a man on television tells him "how white my shirts can be - but he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke the same cigarettes as me." Jagger also describes the stress of being a celebrity, and the tensions of touring. The reference in the verse to not getting any "girl reaction" was fairly controversial in its day, interpreted by some listeners (and radio programmers) as meaning a girl willing to have sex. Particularly shocking to some people was a reference to a girl having her period (being "on a losing streak"). The song closes with a fairly subdued repetition of the song's title, followed suddenly by a full shout of the line, with the final words repeated into the fade-out.
In its day the song was perceived as disturbing because of both its sexual connotations and the negative view of commercialism and other aspects of modern culture; critic Paul Gambaccini stated: "The lyrics to this were truly threatening to an older audience. This song was perceived as an attack on the status quo
Status quo
Statu quo, a commonly used form of the original Latin "statu quo" – literally "the state in which" – is a Latin term meaning the current or existing state of affairs. To maintain the status quo is to keep the things the way they presently are...
". When the Rolling Stones performed the song on Shindig!
Shindig!
Shindig! was an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles at the time who also created the show along with his wife Sharon Sheeley and production executive Art Stolnitz....
in 1965, the line "trying to make some girl" was censored. Forty years later, when the band performed three songs during the February 2006 Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL
Super Bowl XL was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League champion for the 2005 season...
halftime show, "Satisfaction" was the only one of the three songs not censored as it was broadcast.
Release and success
"Satisfaction" was released as a single in the US by London RecordsLondon Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
on 6 June 1965, with "The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man" as its B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
. The single made its way through the American charts, reaching the top on 10 July, displacing The Four Tops' "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
"I Can't Help Myself " is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label.Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most well-known Motown tunes of the 1960s...
". "Satisfaction" held on for a full four weeks, being knocked off on 7 August by "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" from Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
. The song entered the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
charts in America in the week ending 12 June 1965, remaining there for 14 weeks; it was #1 for four straight weeks. While in its eighth week on the American charts, the single was certified a gold record award by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for selling more than half a million copies in the United States, giving the band their first of many gold disc awards in America. Later the song was also released by London Records on Out of Our Heads in America. According to "Joel Whitburn Presents, Top R&B/Hip-Hop Singles: 1942–2004", the song also reached #19 on the Top Selling Rhythm and Blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
Singles.
"Satisfaction" was not immediately released by Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
in Great Britain. Decca was already in the process of preparing a live Rolling Stones EP for release, so the new single did not come out in Britain until 20 August, with "The Spider and the Fly" on the B-Side. The song peaked at number one for two weeks, replacing Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher
Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector....
's "I Got You Babe
I Got You Babe
"I Got You Babe" is a 1965 #1 single by American pop music duo Sonny & Cher.-Background and composition:Sonny Bono, a songwriter and record producer for Phil Spector, wrote the lyrics to and composed the music of the song for himself and his then-wife, Cher, late at night in their basement. Session...
", between 11 September and 25 September, before being toppled by The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers
The Walker Brothers were an American 1960s and 1970s pop group, comprising Scott Engel , John Walker , and Gary Leeds...
' "Make It Easy on Yourself
Make It Easy On Yourself
"Make It Easy On Yourself" is a popular song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David which was first a hit for Jerry Butler in 1962 and has since been a Top 40 single for the Walker Brothers - for whom it was a #1 UK hit - and Dionne Warwick.-Jerry Butler:...
".
In the decades since its release, "Satisfaction" has repeatedly been acclaimed by the music industry. In 1976, Britain's New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
listed "Satisfaction" 7th among the top 100 singles of all time. There was a resurgence of interest in the song after it was prominently featured in the 1979 movie Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now
Apocalypse Now is a 1979 American war film set during the Vietnam War, produced and directed by Francis Ford Coppola. The central character is US Army special operations officer Captain Benjamin L. Willard , of MACV-SOG, an assassin sent to kill the renegade and presumed insane Special Forces...
. In 1991, Vox
Vox (musical equipment)
Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Continental electric organ, and a series of innovative but commercially unsuccessful electric guitars and bass guitars...
listed "Satisfaction" among "100 records that shook the world". In 1999, BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
named "Satisfaction" as the 91st-most performed song of the 20th century. In 2000, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
listed "Satisfaction" first among its "Top 100 Greatest Rock Songs"; the same year, "Satisfaction" also finished runner-up to "Yesterday" in a list jointly compiled by Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
and MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. In 2003, Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
placed the song 68th out of its "1001 Best Songs Ever". In 2004, Rolling Stones panel of judges named "Satisfaction" as the second-greatest song of all time, coming in second to Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Like a Rolling Stone
Like a Rolling Stone
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a 1965 song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. Its confrontational lyrics originate in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England...
". Newsweek
Newsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
has called the opening riff "five notes that shook the world".
Jagger has said of "Satisfaction": "It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band... It has a very catchy title. It has a very catchy guitar riff. It has a great guitar sound, which was original at that time. And it captures a spirit of the times, which is very important in those kinds of songs... Which was alienation
Social alienation
The term social alienation has many discipline-specific uses; Roberts notes how even within the social sciences, it “is used to refer both to a personal psychological state and to a type of social relationship”...
." Richards claimed that the song's riff could be heard in half of the songs that The Rolling Stones had produced, saying that "there is only one song — it's just the variations you come up with."
The song has become a staple at Rolling Stones shows. They have performed it on nearly every tour since its release, and concert renditions have been included on the albums Got Live if You Want It!
Got Live if You Want It!
Got Live If You Want It! is the first live album by British rock band The Rolling Stones. It was released in the US in late 1966...
, Still Life (American Concert 1981)
Still Life (American Concert 1981)
"Still Life" is a live album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1982. Recorded during the band's American Tour 1981 in the latter portion of that year, it was released in time for their European Tour 1982 continuation the following summer.The album was preceded by their cover of The Miracles'...
, Flashpoint
Flashpoint (album)
Flashpoint is a live album by British rock band The Rolling Stones. It was released in 1991, having been recorded throughout 1989 and 1990 on the mammoth Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour...
, Live Licks
Live Licks
Live Licks is a double live album by The Rolling Stones and was released in 2004. Coming six years after No Security, this seventh official Rolling Stones full-length live release captures performances from the band's year-long 2002–2003 Licks Tour in support of their career-spanning retrospective...
and Shine a Light. One unusual rendition is included in Robert Frank
Robert Frank
Robert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
's film Cocksucker Blues
Cocksucker Blues
Cocksucker Blues is an unreleased documentary film directed by the noted still photographer Robert Frank chronicling The Rolling Stones' North American tour in 1972 in support of their album Exile on Main St..-Production:...
from the 1972 tour, when the song was performed by both the Rolling Stones and Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's band as the second half of a medley with Wonder's "Uptight".
Personnel
- Mick JaggerMick JaggerSir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
– lead vocals, backing vocals - Keith RichardsKeith RichardsKeith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
– electric guitars, backing vocals - Brian JonesBrian JonesLewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
- acoustic guitar - Charlie WattsCharlie WattsCharles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
– drums - Bill WymanBill WymanBill Wyman is an English musician best known as the bass guitarist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1992. Since 1997, he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings...
- bass guitar - Jack NitzscheJack NitzscheBernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche was an arranger, producer, songwriter, and film score composer. He first came to prominence in the late 1950s as the right-hand-man of producer Phil Spector, and went on to work with the Rolling Stones, Neil Young and others...
- piano, tambourine
Cover versions and samples
Otis ReddingOtis Redding
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. was an American soul singer-songwriter, record producer, arranger and talent scout. He is considered one of the major figures in soul and R&B...
recorded a rendition of "Satisfaction" for his album Otis Blue, 1965. Otis claimed that he did not know the lyrics of the song, saying: "I use a lot of words different than the Stones' version," Redding noted. "That's because I made them up." Redding's soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
-style arrangement featured horns playing the main riff, as Keith Richards had originally intended. In 2003, Ronnie Wood noted that The Rolling Stones' later concert renditions of the number reflect Redding's interpretation. Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann was a British beat, rhythm and blues and pop band of the 1960s, named after their South African keyboardist, Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band...
released a cover version of the song on their 1967 album, The Soul of Mann. Frankie Ruiz
Frankie Ruiz
Frankie Ruiz was a famous Puerto Rican salsa singer.-Early years:Born Jose Antonio Torresola Ruiz, he was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey. His parents moved from Puerto Rico to the United States in search of a better way of life. In Paterson, Ruiz received his primary and secondary...
recorded the song in salsa which peaked at #7 on the Billboard Latin Tropical Airplay chart.
Background
American New WaveNew Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
band Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
released their rendition of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" as a single in 1977. Because of the extensive changes Devo had made to the song, they met with Mick Jagger and his lawyer so Mick could give his blessing. During that visit, Jagger said he liked Devo's version. Gerald Casale
Gerald Casale
Gerald Vincent Casale , often known as Jerry Casale, is a vocalist, bass guitar/synthesizer player, and a founding member of the new wave band Devo...
characterised this meeting as "a setup". After the meeting, he found out that Devo's lawyer told Jagger's lawyer they should approve the song because it would make Jagger a lot of money. Steve Huey of Allmusic stated that the cover version "reworks the original's alienation into a spastic freak-out that's nearly unrecognizable".
Music video
The quirky music video for the song and several others from this album received significant airplay on the upstart MTVMTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
. The video appears on Devo's home videos, The Men Who Make the Music
The Men Who Make the Music
The Men Who Make the Music was the first home video released by new wave band Devo. Finished in 1979, the film was set to be the first Video LPunder the title "DevovVision" , but was shelved by Time Life due to concerns about its anti-music industry content. It was released in 1981...
, We're All Devo
We're All Devo
We're All Devo! is the second home video release by new wave band Devo. Released on VHS and Laserdisc in 1984, We're All Devo! is a collection of Devo music videos from 1976 to 1983.-Synopsis:...
and The Complete Truth About De-Evolution. A notable feature of the video was dancer Craig Allen Rothwell, known as Spazz Attack, whose signature dance move, a forward flip onto his back, drew him significant attention. He later appeared in the music video for Devo's "Peek-A-Boo", and on David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
's Glass Spider tour
Glass Spider Tour
In 1987, David Bowie embarked on The Glass Spider Tour in support of the album Never Let Me Down alongside famed guitarist Peter Frampton. The tour was named after the album track "Glass Spider." The concert tour was the most ambitious by Bowie up to that date, surpassing the Serious Moonlight Tour...
.
Chart positions
| Chart (1977) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
44 |
Background and composition
In 2000, Spears recorded a cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" with producer Rodney "Darkchild" JerkinsRodney Jerkins
Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician. Jerkins received two Grammy nominations in 2011.-Biography:...
. After the 42nd Grammy Awards, on February 24, 2000, Spears went to Pacifique Recording Studios in Hollywood, California with Darkchild and recorded her vocals for the song. The singer revealed it was her idea to record the cover, while commenting, "I was just like, 'I like this song,' and I think it will be a really cool combination working with Rodney and doing a really funky song like that. We're going in to work on it after the Grammys, so I don't have a clue how it's going to sound." The cover was included on Spears' second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!...I Did It Again is the second studio album by American pop singer Britney Spears. The album was released on May 16, 2000 by Jive Records. The album became a commercial success after debuting at top position on the U.S. Billboard 200 selling over 1,319,193 units during its first week...
(2000). After the album's release, Jagger heard Spears' cover through the walls of his daughter's room, revealed Darkchild's publicist Courteney Barnes. As a result, Jagger liked the cover and wanted to colaborate with Jerkins on his third solo studio album. Later in 2001, Jagger met up with Spears on the red carpet of the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards
2001 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2001 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 6, 2001, honoring the best music videos from June 10, 2000, to June 8, 2001. The show was hosted by Jamie Foxx at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City...
.
Critical reception
Spears' cover received mixed reviews from critics. While reviewing Oops!, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic selected the song as Track Pick and said, "Fortunately, [Spears] and her production team not only have a stronger overall set of songs this time [with Oops!], but they also occasionally get carried away with the same bewildering magpie aesthetic that made the first album's "Soda Pop" -- a combination of bubblegum, urban soul, and raga -- a gonzo teen pop classic. It doesn't happen all that often -- the clenched-funk revision of the Stones' deathless "Satisfaction" is the most obvious example -- but it helps give the album character apart from the well-crafted dance-pop and ballads that serve as its heart." David Browne of Entertainment WeeklyEntertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
said, "barring a new Puff Daddy single featuring Jennifer Lopez and a sample of Bad Company's "Shooting Star," there may be no more audacious piece of music [on 2000] than Britney Spears' assault on the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction"." Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau
Robert Christgau is an American essayist, music journalist, and self-proclaimed "Dean of American Rock Critics".One of the earliest professional rock critics, Christgau is known for his terse capsule reviews, published since 1969 in his Consumer Guide columns...
gave the song a 'a pair of scissors', icon on his website that means the cover "is a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money", while a New Musical Express
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
review gave the cover a negative review, saying, "the long-awaited [...] [Spears'] cover of the Stones' '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' is a letdown".
Live performances
Spears first performed the cover on 2000's Oops!... I Did It Again World TourOops!... I Did It Again World Tour
The Oops!... I Did It Again World Tour was the second concert tour by American recording artist Britney Spears. It supported her second studio album Oops!... I Did It Again and visited North America, Europe and Brazil. It marked the first time Spears toured outside North America...
. The performance consisted on Spears singing along her cover, with a dance sequence set to the original version at the end. On September 6, 2000, Spears performed "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" on the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards
2000 MTV Video Music Awards
The 2000 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on September 7, 2000, honoring the best music videos from June 12, 1999, to June 9, 2000. The show was hosted by Marlon and Shawn Wayans at Radio City Music Hall in New York City....
at the Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
in New York City, New York. Before performing "Oops!... I Did It Again
Oops!... I Did It Again (song)
"Oops!... I Did It Again" is a song by American recording artist Britney Spears. The song was written and produced by Max Martin and Rami for Spears' second studio album, Oops!... I Did It Again . It was released on March 27, 2000 by Jive Records, as the first single from the album. "Oops!.....
", the singer appeared behind a backlit screen, and descended down a spiral staircase and started performing the song, while wearing a tuxedo
Tuxedo
A tuxedo is a type of semi-formal dress for men.Tuxedo may also refer to:-Places:Canada* Tuxedo, Winnipeg, Manitoba, a city neighborhood** Tuxedo , a provincial electoral district in Manitoba...
. After performing a shortened version of it, the singer tore the tuxedo off, revealing a skin-tight flesh-colored outfit.
Credits and personnel
Technical- Recorded on February 24, 2000 at Pacifique Recording Studios in Hollywood, California.
- Produced by Rodney Jerkins for Darkchild Entertainment, Inc.
- MixedAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
at The Hit Factory Criteria in Miami, FloridaMiami, FloridaMiami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
, and at The Hit Factory in New York City, New York.
Personnel
- Britney Spears – vocals
- Rodney Jerkins – producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, recording engineer, mix engineer, all instruments, vocal arrangement - Harvey Manson Jr. – recording engineer, pro-tools editing
- Dexter Simmons – mix engineer
- Alfred Bosco – assistant mix engineer
- Flip Osman – assistant mix engineer
- Clayton Wood – assistant mix engineer
- Michael Thompson – guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Nora Payne – background vocals
- Darryl Anthony – background vocals
- LeDon Bishop – background vocals
Source:
External links
- Complete Official Lyrics
- "The Greatest Songs Ever! Satisfaction" at BlenderBlender (magazine)Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....