I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1965. Keith Richards woke up one night with the tune in his head, turned on a tape recorder and hummed a few bars, and then fell back asleep. The next morning the recorder played back one minute of one of the greatest hits of all time and 44 minutes of Keith Richards snoring. The song went to the top of the charts then, and is now #2 on the list of the 500 all-time greatest hits.
When this song came out it was the cause of some controversy and many stations refused to play it. Some people said it had too much sex, because the frustration sung about seemed to be in that area of life. Others said the song was not about sex at all, but reflected a frustration with the commercialism of our society. I find most of the words to be incomprehensible, except for that unforgettable title line: “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.”
Do you ever feel like you ‘can’t get no satisfaction?’ Over the years there have been many things in my life that I have been less than satisfied with. In many ways, I am not at all satisfied at this point in my life. I have many frustrations, along with the frustration of being 59 years old already. Where, I’d like to know, did all that time go? I can’t think of any time in my life that I was ever fully satisfied. There have always been things that I would like to see improved. I do need to ask myself, therefore, where is the problem? Is the problem with my life or with me? Actually, I have had a pretty good life, as far as this life goes, and have been richly blessed by God in many ways. I’ve had a good family, good health, good work, not much tragedy, plenty to eat, lots of good times, and so forth. So the problem must be with me– and, I don’t think I am not the only one with the problem. I have been told that I am more easily pleased and more content than most people, so I know that it’s not just me and the Rolling Stones that ‘can’t get no satisfaction.’
Martin Luther, a bachelor until he was 42, once said this about the satisfactions and dissatisfactions of marriage: “To be a single man and remain pure confronts one with temptations that are not trivial. On the other hand, the annoyances of married life are almost unbearable. There is no manner of life that, once undertaken, isn’t a matter of regret at times. This is the fault of our sin which has so infected and defiled all human nature.” Luther then looked up into heaven and said, “Good Lord, how could you ever arrange things to please us?” It is because we are so infected with sin that we are never satisfied, says Martin Luther.
The Bible has something to say to us when we ‘can’t get no satisfaction.’ In Luke 6:21 there are these incredible words of Jesus: “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.” Wouldn’t that be great, for once, to be satisfied? And when will that happen? In verse 23 Jesus adds, “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven.” It will be in heaven, said Jesus, that we will finally be satisfied. (continued…)
I CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION by the Rolling Stones
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 drivin’ in my car
And that man comes on the radio
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 (chorus)
When I’m watchin’ my TV
And that man comes on to tell me
How white my shirts can be
But 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 (chorus)
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 (chorus)
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Ecclesiastes 5:10 — Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.
Jeremiah 31:25 — I will refresh the weary and satisfy the faint.
Luke 6:21 — (Jesus said), “Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.”
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I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever… The eyes of all look to you, O Lord… You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing.
–Psalm 145:1, 15, 16
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A few more notes on this song:
What is this song about? Consider these lyrics:
When I’m drivin’ in my car, and the man come on the radio
He’s tellin’ me more and more about some useless information
Supposed to fire my imagination,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.
To me this is a bit of a jumble. I prefer a good Country Western song even if it tells a sad story of bad choices, failure, and a wrecked life; at least it is understandable. This verse is supposedly an expression of frustration with the commercialism of our society. That’s what the usual interpretation is, anyway. Mick Jagger doesn’t like interviews, and when he does agree to one, he doesn’t say much about his songs. Anyway, the man on the radio (and then the TV) with the “useless information,” probably refers to the endless ads we hear in modern life; ads about “how white my shirts can be,” and then, about being a man because of the kind of cigarettes you smoke; typical of cigarette commercials back when it was still legal for cigarette companies to advertise.
Something about the word satisfaction in connection with cigarettes sounded sort of familiar to me, so I googled ‘satisfied’ and ‘cigarette advertisements.’ What I found brought back memories of what certainly could have been on Mick Jagger’s mind when he wrote those lines. All of these ads were from right around 1965 when the song was written:
“Keep ‘em satisfied with Chesterfield”—with a picture of a nurse handing out cigarettes to soldiers.
“Chesterfield—they satisfy. No cigarette satisfies like Chesterfield.”
“For satisfying pleasure; Kent satisfies best.”
“Nothing satisfies like a Lucky (20,679 physicians say Luckies are less irritating).”
“Camel’s real taste satisfies longer” (always with picture of a tough guy smoking one).
Maybe that’s where Jagger got that line about cigarettes in his song about not getting any satisfaction. Then, Mick Jagger goes on complain about frustration in his sex life:
I can’t get no girl reaction
‘Cause I try and I try and I try and I try
I can’t get no, I can’t get no satisfactionWhen I’m ridin’ ’round the world
And I’m doin’ this and I’m signin’ that
And I’m tryin’ to make some girl, who tells me
Baby, better come back maybe next week
Can’t you see I’m on a losing streak?
What is going on there? When Mick Jagger complains that he can’t get no satisfaction in his sex life, you might be tempted to roll your eyes. What, exactly, might he be complaining about? Does anybody not know about the sex lives of rock and roll singers, especially the likes of Mick Jagger? If any girl, anywhere, told him to come back next week, he could have just gone out into the hotel hallway and invite in the next one in line at the door. And I’m sure he did. He has certainly done enough bragging about it. So, Mick Jagger’s problem could not possibly have been not getting enough sex.
But it could have been the fact that no matter how many sexual partners one has, or how often, even like for him who could have had someone, whenever and wherever he wanted to be satisfied, he still found it to be not satisfying?
That’s true of all of life. No matter what it is you want and what it is you get, you find it never completely satisfying. That is why those cigarette ads were so brilliant—‘satisfied’ and ‘satisfaction’ are such appealing words because we find that satisfaction so seldom in anything. And maybe what Mick Jagger is saying is you can’t find it in clean white shirts, cigarettes, or sex, even if you “try and try and try…”
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