A cover of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction has been praised as the “best cover” of The Rolling Stones‘ classic by frontman Mick Jagger.
It’s a high bar for the artist in question, who are considered to have the superior cover to even Otis Redding. Jagger would share as much in an interview with The Face, where he was asked about his favourite cover of the hit song. It’s a classic song from the band’s discograpyh which even Jagger believes has a vibrancy that lasts today. 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.
But when it came to covers of the song, it appears the legendary Otis Redding was second only to Devo. Jagger would share: “Yeah, I thought it was the best version since Otis Redding.” Devo fans would agree with Jagger, sharing a specific version of the song as the best version of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction since the original.
The performance from 1977 is a slightly slower version of the one featured in their live shows throughout 1978. But it’s a cover which has seen fans call on it to be released on streaming services, or even as a single. It may be unlikely, but fans are hoping to hear Devo’s (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction in a better quality and on a different platform.
One listener wrote: “Damn, I dig this version. They should release it. I’ve been a fan of Devo since the start, and never heard this before. Love it!” Another added: “Captain Beefheart, Devo, The Stranglers … pure geniuses that shared a lot of their inventiveness and rawness.” A third called the song “simply genius,” a feeling shared by other users.
