Mick Jagger explains what makes The Rolling Stones’ I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction) a ‘classic’

I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction) may be a “classic” song to many listeners, but The Rolling Stones‘ frontman has explained why it is.

Mick Jagger suggested the “signature tune” is a staple of the band’s discography for a few reasons. It wasn’t a pre-made hit like As Tears Go By, but a youthful song of “alienation” with a “very catchy title”. Those ingredients proved essential for the band, which had some of their earliest success with I Can’t Get No (Satisfaction). The song would feature on the American version of Out of Our Heads, and it’s since been covered by everyone from Devo to Britney Spears. Devo’s version is a particular favourite of fans, who believe a live version is superior to the official cover version from the Whip It hitmakers. But the magic of the original piece has since been shared by Jagger, who says it’s all to do with a youthful spirit.

Speaking to Rolling Stone Magazine founder Jann Wenner, Jagger would share what he believed made the song a classic. He said: “Well, it’s a signature tune, really, rather than a great, classic painting, ’cause it’s only like one thing – a kind of signature that everyone knows.

“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 kind of songs. Which was alienation. Or it’s a bit more than that, maybe, but a kind of sexual alienation. Alienation‘s not quite the right word, but it’s one word that would do.”

Jagger would credit guitarist Keith Richards with writing the “riff” of the song and says Chuck Berry had a hand in the making of the song. He shared: “Yeah, it’s being in your 20s, isn’t it? Teenage guys can’t often formulate this stuff – when you’re that young.

“Well, Keith wrote the lick. I think he had this lyric, ‘I can’t get no satisfaction,’ which, actually, is a line in a Chuck Berry song called 30 Days.” Jagger doesn’t think he knew Richards was lifting from 30 Days and its line “I can’t get no satisfaction from the judge”, but it made it onto the song nonetheless.

Jagger added: “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.”

The Rolling Stones would collaborate with Stevie Wonder for a wild performance of the hit song, which was dubbed “awesome” by fans. Wonder had been performing as the opening act on The Rolling Stones’ American tour in ’72, and joined the band on stage for a wild and wonderful cover. Some fans consider it the “best arrangement” of the song to date, while others were simply blown away by the cover.