Apparently Keith Richards doesn't like the song Satisfaction

Virgin Radio

22 Jul 2022, 12:41

Is The Rolling Stones guitarist mad? Maybe!

If you've watched the four part BBC documentary My Life as a Rolling Stone already, you'll know that it's one of the greatest insights yet into one of the country's greatest ever bands, telling the extraordinary story of each member of the group via unparalleled access to them.

And yet there's one part of the film that is extremely surprising, when the band discuss their 1965 smash hit single, '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction'.

“There’s this motel in Clearwater, Florida, and I remember sitting with Keith and writing the song ‘Satisfaction',” Jagger says in the first episode in the series.

He continues; “[Then manager] Andrew Oldham said, ‘This is like a No. 1 single — this is great!’ Keith was like, ‘I don’t really like it. It can’t come out as a single.’ And it went to No. 1, like, instantly.”

History has shown that Oldham was correct when he said he'd heard magic in the song.

“It was like a big moment," says Jagger. "It became [our] signature tune, [our] cri de coeur, [our] sexuality, [our] controversy. You need to have that song that everyone remembers. It makes a huge change, and it also brings you into a much more confident era of writing, production and stuff."

In Richard's 2010 memoir Life, the guitarist reflects on the success of the single - which became the Rolling Stones' fourth number one in the UK - and admitted that he “learned” a “lesson” with the song.

“The fuzz tone had never been heard before anywhere," he wrote, "and that’s the sound that caught everybody’s imagination. As far as I was concerned, that was just the dub. [But] ten days on the road and it’s number one nationally! The record of the summer of ’65… I learned that lesson – sometimes  you can overwork things. Not everything’s designed for your taste and your taste alone.”

He went on to tell GQ magazine in 2020 that he'd 'dreamt' the iconic riff to the song.

“[It] was the most superb, lucky song ever," he says. "I’ve never quite dreamt up another one in the middle of the night. But that was very early days for me writing, and just the idea that could actually happen was incredible. I’m still waiting for the next dream, you know..."

'My Life as a Rolling Stone' is available to steam on BBC iPlayer now.