The Satisfaction riff: a sleeping idea becomes a Rolling Stones hit
Keith Richards woke with a small piece of music in his head. He had heard a three-note run in a dream, and he reached for a tape recorder to save it. Along with the figure, he mumbled the words about getting no satisfaction, then went back to sleep. That was the beginning of the Satisfaction riff, the opening of the Rolling Stones' (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. A brief interruption of sleep preserved the idea that would become their first American number-one single, with Mick Jagger joining Richards in the songwriting and Andrew Loog Oldham producing the recording.
Before the song reached listeners, its hook gave the band pause. They were concerned that it resembled Martha and the Vandellas' Dancing in the Street, but they decided to record it anyway. Work at RCA Hollywood Studios gave the guitar line its distinctive fuzz sound. Richards imagined that sound as a sketch for a horn section: the fuzzbox added sustain and suggested what horns could eventually play. His conception of the line was therefore different from its final identity as a famous guitar opening. The band first recorded the song at Chess Studios in Chicago on May 10, 1965, with Jones playing harmonica. Two days later they recorded it again in Hollywood with a different beat.
Richards and Jagger were outvoted on releasing the track as a single. Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and Bill Wyman supported the choice, as did manager and producer Oldham and engineer David Hassinger. The Satisfaction riff reached the public in the form the guitarist had imagined replacing. Its success also drew attention to the equipment, with the available stock of Gibson fuzzboxes selling out by the end of 1965. Behind the striking electric guitar were other contributions: Jones played acoustic guitar, Wyman played bass, Watts played drums, and session musician Jack Nitzsche added piano and tambourine to the recording.
The arrangement gives the opening time to establish itself. The guitar begins alone, with bass joining partway through the figure; drums and acoustic guitar accompany repeated statements before Jagger's voice enters. The song is in E major, with some lowered scale degrees lending a mellower color to parts of the verses. Its accompanying E, D and A major chords draw on the Mixolydian sound common to blues and rock. Jagger moves between cynical commentary and frustrated protest, then pushes into a chorus where the familiar guitar figure returns. The ending moves from a subdued repetition of the title into a full shout, with the final words repeated during the fade-out.
The dissatisfaction extends beyond romance. The singer faces a radio full of useless information and television advertising about white shirts and cigarette brands. Commercial messages become part of the pressure of modern life, alongside the strains of celebrity and touring. The Satisfaction riff carries that frustrated voice through a song whose sexual references also unsettled some listeners and broadcasters. During a performance on Shindig in 1965, a line about trying to make a girl was censored.
London Records released the single in the United States in June 1965, with The Under-Assistant West Coast Promotion Man on the other side. It stayed on the Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen weeks and held the top position for four. Shipments of more than a million copies brought the band its first American gold disc award. The song also appeared on the American edition of Out of Our Heads. Britain waited until August for the single because Decca was already preparing a live Rolling Stones EP. Once released there, it also reached number one, holding that position for two weeks.
The Satisfaction riff eventually received the horn treatment Richards had imagined. Otis Redding recorded the song for Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul in 1965, using horns for the central line. His lyrics took their own course. Guitarist Steve Cropper recalled copying words from the Stones' performance and handing them to Redding, who threw the paper aside before the recording was finished. Redding acknowledged using different words because he did not know all the original lyrics. His soul arrangement gave the opening a new instrumental voice, and he performed the song at the Monterey International Pop Festival in June 1967.
The Stones kept the song in their concert repertoire on nearly every tour after its release. Live versions appeared on albums including Still Life, Flashpoint, Live Licks and Havana Moon. On the 1972 tour, the band joined Stevie Wonder's musicians for a rendition paired with Wonder's Uptight, a performance preserved in Robert Frank's film of that tour. At the February 2006 Super Bowl halftime show, Satisfaction was the only one of the three Stones songs broadcast without censorship; Start Me Up and Rough Justice both had words removed for the television audience.