Some thoughts about the greatest single ever made.

It was 60 years ago, more or less, today that the greatest single of all time, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction by The Rolling Stones was released.
Sixty blooming years. Let’s just put that into context.

If you go back 60 years before its release, to 1905, you’d probably be listening to songs like Yankee Doodle Dandy and Give My Regards To Broadway by Billy Murray, or perhaps What You Goin’ To Do When De Rent Comes Round? By Arthur Collins.

Radio or gramophones hadn’t been invented so you’d have to had visited the local musical hall to hear these tunes.

Now jump forward to the present day and while pop music has changed a lot since then, the fundamentals of an insistent beat and highly catchy chorus as heard in the Stones’ hit is still the currency by which pop acts draw in their listeners.

Not only that but the song is still an evergreen classic, wheeled out time and again with versions covered by punk, soul, pop, country, salsa and experimental artistes as diverse as Otis Redding, Devo, The Residents, Britney Spears and even Dolly Parton over the years.

Play it at any club or party and just watch the floor fill with people punching the air and sing along to its defiant lyrics.
So what is it about the song that makes it so great, so universal and so timeless?

For starters, lyrically, the song is all about frustration and in particular, sexual frustration….

“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, maybe next week
'Cause you see I'm on a losing streak
I can't get no,
Oh no, no, no”

It’s one of the most common feelings of discontent expressed in art that can be traced right back to the English metaphysical poet Andrew Marvel and his poem To His Coy Mistress and quite possibly beyond.

And then there’s that double negative – Can’t and No in the space of five words. It’s a powerful statement of anger. Marry that to one of the most incessantly catchy and repetitive riffs and choruses of all time and you’ll have people singing along before the song’s over.

But the frustration is also aimed at commercialism and the first great era of advertising. The song was written while the Stones were on tour in America and you can imagine the band hearing the same advertising slogans on the radio everywhere they went.

“When I'm drivin' in my car
And the man comes on the radio
He's tellin' me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination”
And then:
“When I'm watchin' my TV
And a man comes on and tells me
How white my shirts can be
But he can't be a man 'cause he doesn't smoke
The same cigarettes as me”

That feeling of claustrophobia, of being caught in a trap is really brought home by that sledgehammer of that three note riff, like a pneumatic drill tattooing the notes to your brain over and over again.

And that riff is so simple but also brilliant at the same time – it’s just three different notes struck nine times before starting up over again.

There’s momentum and an urge to move but it ain’t going anywhere – just two notes forward and two notes back, repeated throughout its three minutes and forty-five seconds.

And before anyone hauls me up on this, the song was first released on June 4 1965 in America (which is still today over there) and went straight to the top of the charts. Oddly, it was held back for release in the UK until August 20, also getting to number one. In fact the song was so popular that it topped the charts in 11 countries. Happy Birthday Satisfaction!

One of the greatest songs of all time

Happy Birthday Satisfaction! This song came in like a hammer at the time in my youth, one of their greatest songs, I still have the 1965 Satisfaction single, it reached nr 1 in the Dutch topcharts 14-8-1965. It’s still a joy listening

One of the greatest songs ever.My favorite live performances are from the 1989-1990 shows

Here's some great clips of them playing it in 1965.































Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2025-06-05 19:05 by Silver Dagger.

That iconic guitar riff utilizing that fuzz pedal sound was ahead of its time and made that tune. Satisfaction contains all the ingredients that make a great hit. Its catchy, has a great hook, and its lyrics resonate and makes a powerful cultural statement. Certainly, a signature and career defining record for the Stones.

I almost never listen to it nowadays but a legendary song nonetheless, and every now and then I hear it and remember how incredible it is. Oddly just don't feel the need to go to it as much as I do other hits like Jumpin Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, etc.

My 60th birthday too june 6th
Long live rock and roll

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KeithNacho
My 60th birthday too june 6th

Thanks for making me feel really really old!

However, that's the coolest imaginable birth date. Congratulations.

Captain Corella

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RollingFreak
I almost never listen to it nowadays but a legendary song nonetheless, and every now and then I hear it and remember how incredible it is. Oddly just don't feel the need to go to it as much as I do other hits like Jumpin Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, etc.

I’m exactly the same: I rarely listen to it; in fact, I’ll skip it. However, when it does come on… WOW. That riff; the groove; the lyrics. The recording’s impact and importance reaches far beyond the music, itself. It’s an expression of 1965. The song is, literally, the 1960’s.

Remember buying this single on it,s release day in Patersons Record Shop, Buchanan Street, Glasgow.Still have my copy too.A landmark release for The Stones.

Funny thing is that after performing it following more or less the original arrangement from 1965 to 1967 and almost always as the last song in the set list, first, in 1969, they felt the need to deeply rearrange the song, then in 1971 they redid it completely omitting the riff, then they almost abandoned it until the big comeback in 81, when it returned in its full rock and roll format!

C

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Big Al

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RollingFreak
I almost never listen to it nowadays but a legendary song nonetheless, and every now and then I hear it and remember how incredible it is. Oddly just don't feel the need to go to it as much as I do other hits like Jumpin Jack Flash, Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, etc.

I’m exactly the same: I rarely listen to it; in fact, I’ll skip it. However, when it does come on… WOW. That riff; the groove; the lyrics. The recording’s impact and importance reaches far beyond the music, itself. It’s an expression of 1965. The song is, literally, the 1960’s.

It's also the central nerve which runs through US garage rock, punk, and many other forms of guitar pop ever since.

This song is my go to workout song, great for running to.

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CaptainCorella

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KeithNacho
My 60th birthday too june 6th

Thanks for making me feel really really old!

However, that's the coolest imaginable birth date. Congratulations.

Come on CC, for sure you’re younger than Mick J. And he’s still young…
Ah, I feels like yesterday, walking on the street after school finished and singing Satisfaction loud and cheerful, making my statement.


I'm a GHOST living in a ghost town

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liddas
Funny thing is that after performing it following more or less the original arrangement from 1965 to 1967 and almost always as the last song in the set list, first, in 1969, they felt the need to deeply rearrange the song, then in 1971 they redid it completely omitting the riff, then they almost abandoned it until the big comeback in 81, when it returned in its full rock and roll format!

C

In 1969 they took the Otis Redding version and rocked it up a little.

The Knebworth version remains my favorite.

Mathijs

satisfaction works for older me.the words ring true.it works for this social media world..yes i can t get no

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Mathijs

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liddas
Funny thing is that after performing it following more or less the original arrangement from 1965 to 1967 and almost always as the last song in the set list, first, in 1969, they felt the need to deeply rearrange the song, then in 1971 they redid it completely omitting the riff, then they almost abandoned it until the big comeback in 81, when it returned in its full rock and roll format!

C

In 1969 they took the Otis Redding version and rocked it up a little.

The Knebworth version remains my favorite.

Mathijs

Hi Mathijs, I think this might be from my recording of the show. I was standing more to the right of the stage and got a Keith heavy guitar sound -

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Mathijs

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liddas
Funny thing is that after performing it following more or less the original arrangement from 1965 to 1967 and almost always as the last song in the set list, first, in 1969, they felt the need to deeply rearrange the song, then in 1971 they redid it completely omitting the riff, then they almost abandoned it until the big comeback in 81, when it returned in its full rock and roll format!

C

In 1969 they took the Otis Redding version and rocked it up a little.

The Knebworth version remains my favorite.

Mathijs

Forgot the Knebworth version, absolutely great!!! Ollie Brown should have been made a permanent member of the Stones.

And to expand my ramblings of my previous post, just listen to Bill. In the studio version he came up with what is now acknowledged as an iconic bass line, live he couldn't care less and funks it up to the max!

C

Happy anniversary indeed. If not their greatest song, their greatest single and maybe the greatest single of all time.

It elevated them into the superstardom which they've never looked back from.

I try to never listen to it anymore because I so overplayed it in 1980 or so when I started getting into the band.

Now when it comes on somewhere on the radio or at a party I can still enjoy it.