Mick Jagger shares the one song he thinks The Rolling Stones ‘shouldn’t play at every gig’

A song which features frequently in The Rolling Stones‘ setlist shouldn’t be played every night, according to Mick Jagger.

The veteran frontman does not sound tired of the song, but did suggest it was a track he was looking to drop from the setlist. Keith Richards had reportedly tried to stop the song from being released at the time, though the “monster hit” for the band, propelling them into stardom and cementing them as all-time greats in music history. Jagger has since shared that the song, which has Chuck Berry to thank for its origins, should not be performed every night. The frontman has suggested he tries to give the song something new each night, but appears to be struggling to give it a more “melodic” feel.

Speaking to Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone Magazine, Jagger confirmed he had help from the Chuck Berry track, 30 Days, when writing the song he no longer feels the band should perform all the time. Richards “wrote the lick” and Jagger pieced together the lyrics.

He said (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction was not intentionally “nicked” by the blues rock popularised in the United States, but that there was certainly a lot of credit to be given to the genre. Jagger shared: “No, I didn’t know it, but Keith might have heard it back then, because it’s not any way an English person would express it.

“I’m not saying that he purposely nicked anything, but we played those records a lot. Yeah, that was just one little line. And then I wrote the rest of it. There was no melody, really.”

Jagger went on to confirm he was struggling to bring a more “melodic” touch to the one of the group’s defining songs. A few changes to the verse are all he has for now, and it appears the group is not letting up when it comes to performing (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, despite Jagger’s wishes.

He said: “Well, I try to do it as well as I can, and I do the verse softer, so I give it some sort of dynamic. I try to make it melodic. Maybe we shouldn’t really do it every night; I don’t know.”

The band has performed the song over a thousand times in concert, most recently at their Thunder Ridge Nature Arena set on July 21, 2024. The band closed out their set with (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. The set also featured Let it Bleed, Sympathy for the Devil, and Paint it Black.

The Rolling Stones has only played four songs more than (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. Their 1,217 performances of Jumpin’ Jack Flash is top of the list, followed by Honky Tonk Woman at 1,158, Tumbling Dice with 1,142 performances, and Brown Sugar with 1,138 features in the setlist.

Start Me Up is just sixty two performances away from joining the thousand club. It is yet to be seen whether The Rolling Stones tour again, though fans remain hopeful after it was alleged the group were looking to perform a string of UK shows this year.