♫ Paint It, Black ♫

Posted on January 29, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I really didn’t intend to go on a Rolling Stones streak this week, but I’ve already played a couple, so I might as well go for an even three, right?

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards in 1966, all five band members contributed to the final arrangement. In contrast to previous Rolling Stones singles with straightforward rock arrangements, Paint It Black has unconventional instrumentation including a prominent sitar, the Hammond organ, and castanets. The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2018, and Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song number 213 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

While the lyrics appear to tell the story of a girl who died …

“I see a line of cars and they’re all painted black” – The hearse and limos.
“With flowers and my love both never to come back” – The flowers from the funeral and her in the hearse. He talks about his heart being black because of his loss.
“I could not foresee this thing happening to you” – It was an unexpected and sudden death.
“If I look hard enough into the setting sun, my love will laugh with me before the morning comes” – This refers to her in an afterlife.

… when asked about the meaning, Mick Jagger replied that “It means, ‘Paint It, Black.’ ‘I can’t get no satisfaction’ means ‘I can’t get no satisfaction.’”

Inspired by more Indian and Mid-Eastern sounds, the song was written while the band was in Fiji for three days. Adding to their musical experiments, guitarist Brian Jones first introduces the sitar into the mix—and marked the first time the Stones featured the instrument in their music—and would often play the wooden instrument, sat cross-legged, during television appearances. The sitar was most likely a discovery during the band’s break in the South Pacific around a tour in Australia. Keith Richards said …

“They make sitars and all sorts of Indian stuff. We had the sitars, we thought we’d try them out in the studio. To get the right sound on Paint It Black we found the sitar fitted perfectly. We tried a guitar but you can’t bend it enough.”

Released in the midst of the Vietnam War, the song was later used on the late 1980s TV series Tour of Duty about the ongoing war and Stanley Kubrick even used the song in closing credits of his 1983 war classic Full Metal Jacket. There were never blatant political references in the song, but nonetheless it quickly became an anthem for a very culturally conscious and dissonant youth during the war.

This hit #1 in Canada, the UK and the U.S., and either #1 or #2 in many other countries.

Paint It, Black

Rolling Stones

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore, I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I see a line of cars and they’re all painted black
With flowers and my love, both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a newborn baby it just happens ev’ryday

I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and I must have it painted black
Maybe then I’ll fade away and not have to face the facts
It’s not easy facing up when your whole world is black

No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes

I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes

I want to see your face painted black, black as night, black as coal
Don’t want to see the sun, flying high in the sky
I want to see it painted, painted, painted, painted black, yea

Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ Honky Tonk Women ♫

Posted on January 28, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

A few days ago when I played Get Off Of My Cloud by the Rolling Stones, this one was mentioned by a couple of you in comments, and I was rather surprised to find that I hadn’t played it here before, but according to my archives, I haven’t (sometimes those archives lie to me, though). Funny … I always thought this was “Honky Tonk Woman”, but it’s not … it’s “Women” plural! Learn something new every day!

This was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. According to Keith Richards, the song had its origins …

“… in Brazil. Mick and I, Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg who was pregnant with my son at the time. Which didn’t stop us going off to the Mato Grasso and living on this ranch. It’s all cowboys. It’s all horses and spurs. And Mick and I were sitting on the porch of this ranch house and I started to play, basically fooling around with an old Hank Williams idea. ‘Cause we really thought we were like real cowboys. Honky tonk women. And we were sitting in the middle of nowhere with all these horses, in a place where if you flush the john all these black frogs would fly out. It was great. The chicks loved it. Anyway, it started out a real country honk put on, a hokey thing. And then couple of months later we were writing songs and recording. And somehow by some metamorphosis it suddenly went into this little swampy, black thing, a Blues thing. Really, I can’t give you a credible reason of how it turned around from that to that. Except there’s not really a lot of difference between white country music and black country music. It’s just a matter of nuance and style. I think it has to do with the fact that we were playing a lot around with open tunings at the time. So we were trying songs out just to see if they could be played in open tuning. And that one just sunk in.”

Lead guitarist Brian Jones was a founding member of the group and was considered their leader in their early years. Unfortunately, drug abuse made him pretty much worthless by 1969, and when The Stones finished recording Honky Tonk Women on June 8, 1969, they drove to his house and fired him. The single was released July 3, 1969, the same day Jones was found dead in his swimming pool. The single was given away to all the fans who helped clean up after The Stones free concert in Hyde Park on July 5, 1969. This was the first concert Mick Taylor played with the band. A life-size cutout of Brian Jones, who died two days earlier, was kept on stage and the show was dedicated to him.

Mick Taylor had taken over for Brian Jones on lead guitar, and this was his first appearance on a Stones recording. Taylor claims he came up with the famous guitar riff, even though Richards plays it.

This was banned in China. When the group made arrangements to play there for the first time in 2003, they had to agree not to play this, “Brown Sugar,” “Let’s Spend The Night Together,” and “Beast Of Burden.” They ended up not playing because of a respiratory disease that was going around China.

This song hit #1 in both the UK and U.S., and was in the top #5 almost everywhere it played!

Honky Tonk Women

Rolling Stones

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis
She tried to take me upstairs for a ride
She had to heave me right across her shoulder
‘Cause I just can’t seem to drink you off my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

I laid a divorcée in New York City
I had to put up some kind of a fight
The lady then she covered me with roses
She blew my nose and then she blew my mind

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues
It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

It’s the honky tonk women
Gimme, gimme, gimme the honky tonk blues

Writer/s: Keith Richards, Mick Jagger
Publisher: Abkco Music Inc.
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

♫ Get Off Of My Cloud ♫

Posted on January 24, 2023 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, guns, History, music, Personal

I’ve only posted this one once, in August 2019. It’s more … loud … than my usual fare, but tonight I’m angry, I’m hurt, I’m in the mood for loud and raucous … I want people off of my damned cloud! I want mass shootings stopped, I want guns all destroyed, I want war banned, I want … I want … I want peace. I want radicals, bigots, and greedy, arrogant people off my damned cloud.

I’ve been doing music posts long enough that you all know by now this song is not my normal style. I only vaguely remember loving the Rolling Stones, but I don’t think it was their music that was the draw as much as it was Keith Richards’ … er … um … cuteness? Hey, gimme a break … I was 14 years old and just discovering that boys were good for something other than playing football & baseball with!

At any rate … moving along …

This song, released in 1965, was the Stones’ follow up to their #1 hit, Satisfaction. According to co-writer Keith Richards …

“‘Get Off My Cloud’ was basically a response to people knocking on our door asking us for the follow up to ‘Satisfaction,’ which was such an enormous hit worldwide. This, to us, was mind-blowing. I mean not only was it a #1 record but, boom! We thought, ‘At last. We can sit back and maybe think about events.’ Suddenly there’s the knock at the door and of course what came out of that was ‘Get Off Of My Cloud.’ Because within three weeks, in those days hey, they want another single. And we weren’t quite ready for that. So it was our response to the knock at the door: Get off of my cloud. And I’m surprised that it did so well. I mean it has a certain charm but I really remember it as a knee-jerk reaction. And it came out better than I thought.”

And from the other co-writer, Mick Jagger …

“That was Keith’s melody and my lyrics. It’s a stop-bugging-me, post-teenage-alienation song. The grown-up world was a very ordered society in the ’60s, and I was coming out of it. America was even more ordered than anywhere else. I found it was a very restrictive society in thought and behavior and dress.”

The song has energy … I’ll say that about it. Today, it wouldn’t be a favourite of mine. And yet … as I was tidying the kitchen this evening, it just popped into my head. And so …

Get Off Of My Cloud
The Rolling Stones

I live in an apartment on the ninety-ninth floor of my block
And I sit at home looking out the window
Imagining the world has stopped
Then in flies a guy who’s all dressed up just like a Union Jack
And says, “I’ve won five pounds if I have his kind of detergent pack”

I says, “hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd
On my cloud, baby”

The telephone is ringing
I say, “hi, it’s me, who is there on the line?”
A voice says, “hi, hello, how are you?”
“Well, I guess I’m doin’ fine”
He says, “it’s three a.m., there’s too much noise
Don’t you people ever want to go to bed?
Just ’cause you feel so good
Do you have to drive me out of my head?”

I says, “hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd
On my cloud, baby, yeah”

I was sick and tired, fed up with this
And decided to take a drive downtown
It was so very quiet and peaceful
There was nobody, not a soul around
I laid myself out, I was so tired
And I started to dream
In the morning the parking tickets were just
Like a flag stuck on my window screen

I says, “hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd
On my cloud, baby”

“Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Hey, you, get off of my cloud
Don’t hang around ’cause two’s a crowd
On my cloud, hey, you

Songwriters: Keith Richards / Mick Jagger
Get Off Of My Cloud lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc

♫ Ruby Tuesday ♫ (Redux)

Posted on September 8, 2022 by jilldennison under Bits 'n Pieces, History, music

I haven’t played this in over two years now, so it’s fair game for a redux under the Filosofa Policy Manual. This one is for our friend David who holds a special place in my heart, just ’cause I wanted to make him smile! As you can see from the first paragraph below, I wasn’t any better three years ago at staying on top of my request lists than I am today!

Back in April (2019), I had a request for a song that I was familiar with by an artist I was not familiar with. Confused yet? Well, the song, as you can see from the title, is Ruby Tuesday, and I was familiar with the Rolling Stones’ version, but the one requested was by a singer, Melanie, with whom I was not familiar. As so often happens, life interfered (more likely Donald Trump interfered with my life), and I forgot all about it. Tonight, I wanted to play something special for the requester of the song, so I dug back through my notes and said … AHA!!!

By the way … any of you who have requested a song that I haven’t played … feel free to nudge or remind me, for I truly am a very forgetful old woman these days, and my intentions are good, but …

This was the fourth US #1 hit for the Rolling Stones in 1967, written by Keith Richards, who says of the song …

“It was probably written about Linda Keith not being there. I don’t know, she had pissed off somewhere. It was very mournful, very, VERY Ruby Tuesday and it was a Tuesday. That’s one of those things – some chick you’ve broken up with. And all you’ve got left is the piano and the guitar and a pair of panties. And it’s goodbye you know. And so it just comes out of that. And after that you just build on it. It’s one of those songs that are easiest to write because you’re really right there and you really sort of mean it. And for a songwriter, hey break his heart and he’ll come up with a good song.”

Originally called Title B, this was mainly written by Brian Jones and Keith Richards, but in keeping with Stones tradition, it was credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. The Stones’ version hit #1 in the U.S., #2 in Canada, and #3 in the UK. And then along came …

Melanie Anne Safka, better known as just Melanie, is best known for the 1971/72 global hit Brand New Key, her composition What Have They Done to My Song Ma, and her 1970 international breakthrough hit Lay Down (Candles in the Rain), inspired by her experience of performing at the 1969 Woodstock music festival. She was at Woodstock and still I haven’t heard of her? Odd that. Now, I listened to the first two mentioned and I have to admit that I wasn’t fond of either. And, sorry David, but I still prefer the Stones’ version of this one.

And with all that said, I now offer you Ruby Tuesday by both Melanie, and the Rolling Stones! Oh … Rod Stewart also covered the song in 1993, so maybe I’ll throw that one in just for fun, too. Which is your favourite?

Ruby Tuesday
The Rolling Stones (also Melanie, Rod Stewart)

She would never say where she came from
Yesterday don’t matter if it’s gone
While the sun is bright
Or in the darkest night
No one knows, she comes and goes

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

Don’t question why she needs to be so free
She’ll tell you it’s the only way to be
She just can’t be chained
To a life where nothing’s gained
Or nothing’s lost, at such a cost

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

“There’s no time to lose, ” I heard her say
Catch your dreams before they slip away
Dying all the time
Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind
Ain’t life unkind?

Goodbye Ruby Tuesday
Who could hang a name on you?
When you change with every new day
Still I’m gonna miss you

Songwriters: Keith Richards / Mick Jagger
Ruby Tuesday lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc

♫ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction ♫

Posted on July 18, 2021 by jilldennison under music, Social commentary

I was surprised to find that I haven’t yet played this song here on my music posts, in fact have played very few Rolling Stones — one, to be exact, Get Off Of My Cloud, which I played back in August 2019. Back in the day … and I do mean way back in the day, I was a fan of the Stones, but as I grew older I leaned toward more … mellow, for lack of a better word … music. At any rate, for no reason in particular, this one popped into my head today … it was later chased out by a song Clive played on his blog, which I shan’t divulge, for I am hoping that he will allow me to re-blog his post in the coming few days … but as I sat staring at the laptop tonight, wondering if there was any song to be had, this one returned to my consciousness.

There’s some interesting history regarding the writing of this song. According to one story, Keith Richards wrote this in his sleep on the night of May 6th after the Stones’ concert at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida. He claimed to have written it while sleeping in his hotel room and recording it on a cassette player, still sleeping, and then lapsing into snores which were heard on the recording when he took it to a studio a few days later. But, according to his latest autobiography, he was in his flat in Carlton Hill, St. John’s Wood. He specifies that Mick Jagger wrote the lyrics by the pool in Clearwater, four days before they went into the studio. So, who knows? It doesn’t really matter … just makes for an interesting tidbit of trivia.

The song was released in the U.S. on June 5th, 1965 and made it into the top 100 in the U.S. the following week. It was in the top 10 by July and ultimately hit #1. Interestingly, Satisfaction was not released in the UK until late August. Why? Well, I’ve heard two versions. One said they didn’t want to release it in the UK until they returned there from their U.S. tour, but another, I think the more credible explanation, is that it was initially was played only on pirate radio stations, because its lyrics were considered too sexually suggestive! Oh how times have changed, eh?

According to The Conversation …

The scandal surrounding the lyrics has to be understood in the context of two issues. First, Andrew Loog Oldham had worked hard to establish the Stones as the anti-Beatles. Already, the Stones had been promoted as the bad boys of pop in the UK, though in the US the worst anybody had been able to say is that they were shaggy and, perhaps, rude.

Second, just before the release of Satisfaction, the Kingsmen’s Louie, Louie had created a stir with lyrics that were purported to be obscene. The FBI was even called in to investigate the track (though a cursory listen to the Richard Berry 1957 original or the Rockin’ Robin Roberts 1961 cover makes it clear that the lyrics are far from obscene).

In the case of Louie, Louie, the seriousness of the charge significantly outweighed the validity of the evidence, at least in the popular imagination. The idea that a rock song could be dirty, after all, was not too far removed from the swiveling hips of Elvis Presley a few years earlier, or hokum blues tracks like Big Joe Turner’s Shake, Rattle, and Roll (1954). The Rolling Stones were simply the most recent example of the of rock music troublemakers.

Ultimately the scandal was forgotten and it later became the Rolling Stones’ fourth #1 hit in the United Kingdom.

It is one of the world’s most popular songs, and is second on Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998, and it is the 10th best ranked song on critics’ all-time lists according to Acclaimed Music. The song was added to the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2006.

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
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 the man come 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
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 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

I can’t get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That’s what I say
I can’t get no satisfaction, 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

When 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?
I can’t get no, oh, no, no, no, hey, hey, hey
That’s what I say, I can’t get no, I can’t get no
I can’t get no satisfaction, no satisfaction
No satisfaction, no satisfaction
I can’t get no

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Keith (gb) Richards / Mick Jagger / Gary Barlow / Author Unknown Composer
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ You’re So Vain ♫

Posted on May 25, 2021 by jilldennison under music

I last played this one in April 2019 and had a lot of fun with it back then. So, tonight being one of those nights when there isn’t a song in my heart and I’m too tired to try to put one there, I’m replaying it!

An old friend sent me a text message yesterday:

Got a song that you may want to delve in. “You’re So Vain” by Carly Simon. A good investigating song. Try and figure out who the three men are that it’s about.

Well, me being me … half deaf and never paying much attention to music trivia until recently … I had no idea that the song was actually ‘about’ anybody, but his challenge piqued my curiosity.

The song, written by Carly Simon herself in 1971, was released the following year, and apparently each of the three verses is about a different ‘vain’ man. In 2015, she admitted that one of the men was Warren Beatty, but other than that she has only given clues, such as that one of the men’s name contains ‘A’, ‘E’, and ‘R’. She has also said it is not about Mick Jagger, who contributed uncredited backing vocals to the song, or her ex-husband James Taylor. Wait … what??? I never knew that James Taylor was married to Carly Simon! And here I thought James Taylor was saving himself for me! Where have I been all my life?

In 2015, Simon published her memoir titled “Boys in the Trees”, but she gave away no answers to the puzzle there, either, and the book is largely about her often tumultuous relationship with Taylor.

In short, I don’t know the answer. Howard Stern does, for she reportedly told him, but swore him to secrecy. But here are some of the possibilities:

Sean Connery
Marvin Gaye
Terrence Malick (who???)
Bob Rafelson (again, who???)
Jack Nicholson
Kris Kristofferson
Cat Stevens

It is said that during each of the verses, you can hear a whisper of the name that verse is about. Now, since I do well to even hear the words that are sung, I’ll leave it up to you guys to listen for the whisper. And thank you, J.R., for issuing the challenge … it was fun!

You’re So Vain
Carly Simon

You walked into the party
Like you were walking on a yacht
Your hat strategically dipped below one eye
Your scarf, it was apricot
You had one eye on the mirror
And watched yourself gavotte
And all the girls dreamed that they’d be your partner
They’d be your partner, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain,
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?

Oh, you had me several years ago
When I was still naive
Well, you said that we made such a pretty pair
And that you would never leave
But you gave away the things you loved
And one of them was me
I had some dreams, they were clouds in my coffee
Clouds in my coffee, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain, you’re so vain
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?

Well I hear you went to Saratoga
And your horse, naturally, won
Then you flew your Learjet up to Nova Scotia
To see the total eclipse of the sun
Well, you’re where you should be all the time
And when you’re not, you’re with some underworld spy
Or the wife of a close friend,
Wife of a close friend, and

You’re so vain
You probably think this song is about you
You’re so vain, you’re so vain
I’ll bet you think this song is about you
Don’t you?
Don’t you?

Songwriters: Carly E. Simon
You’re So Vain lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group

♫ As Tears Go By ♫ (Redux)

Posted on March 24, 2021 by jilldennison under music

I have only played this once, three years ago, so it should still be “like-new”, yes?

This song was written by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and was one of the first original compositions by Jagger and Richards, as until that point The Rolling Stones had chiefly been performing blues standards. A story surrounding the song’s genesis has it that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham locked Jagger and Richards in a kitchen in order to force them to write a song together, even suggesting what type of song he wanted: “I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex.”

In a 1992 interview with Guitar Player magazine, Keith Richards said:

“… suddenly, ‘Oh, we’re songwriters,’ with the most totally anti-Stones sort of song you could think of at the time, while we’re trying to make a good version of (Muddy Waters’) ‘Still A Fool.’ When you start writing, it doesn’t matter where the first one comes from. You’ve got to start somewhere, right? So Andrew locked Mick and myself into a kitchen in this horrible little apartment we had. He said, ‘You ain’t comin’ out,’ and there was no way out. We were in the kitchen with some food and a couple of guitars, but we couldn’t get to the john, so we had to come out with a song. In his own little way, that’s where Andrew made his great contribution to the Stones. That was such a flatulent idea, a fart of an idea, that suddenly you’re gonna lock two guys in a room, and they’re going to become songwriters. Forget about it. And it worked. In that little kitchen Mick and I got hung up about writing songs …”

And per Mick Jagger …

“I wrote the lyrics, and Keith wrote the melody. It’s a very melancholy song for a 21-year-old to write: The evening of the day, watching children play – it’s very dumb and naive, but it’s got a very sad sort of thing about it, almost like an older person might write. You know, it’s like a metaphor for being old: You’re watching children playing and realizing you’re not a child. It’s a relatively mature song considering the rest of the output at the time. And we didn’t think of doing it, because the Rolling Stones were a butch Blues group. But Marianne Faithfull’s version was already a big, proven hit song… It was one of the first things I ever wrote.”

The song was first recorded by Marianne Faithfull in 1964, and a year later the Stones recorded their own version. I prefer the Stones version, but I understand that Faithfull’s was more popular in the UK, so I offer both here. First, The Rolling Stones …

And then, Marianne Faithfull …

As Tears Go By
The Rolling Stones

It is the evening of the day
I sit and watch the children play
Smiling faces I can see
But not for me
I sit and watch
As tears go by

My riches can’t buy everything
I want to hear the children sing
All I hear is the sound
Of rain falling on the ground
I sit and watch
As tears go by

It is the evening of the day
I sit and watch the children play
Doing things I used to do
They think are new
I sit and watch
As tears go by

♫ (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction ♫

Posted on March 9, 2021 by jilldennison under music

I am not a huge Rolling Stones’ fan, and although I have tremendous respect for their work, there are a few songs I really like. That said, some nights, there is nothing quite like this one to let go of all the pent-up angst.

According to SongFacts …

On May 6, 1965, The Rolling Stones played to about 3,000 people at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater, Florida while on their first US tour. According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, about 200 young fans got in an altercation with a line of police officers at the show, and The Stones made it through just four songs as chaos ensued. That night, Keith Richards woke up in his hotel room with the guitar riff and lyric Can’t get no satisfaction in his head. He recorded it on a portable tape deck, went back to sleep, and brought it to the studio that week. The tape contained his guitar riff followed by the sounds of him snoring. Richards was staying at the Fort Harrison Hotel (known at the time as the Jack Tar Harrison Hotel) when he rolled out of bed with the idea for this song. The hotel still exists.

This was released in the United States on June 6, 1965, just a month after Keith Richards woke up with the guitar riff in his head. In the UK, it wasn’t issued until August 20, since The Stones did not want to release it in England until they were there to support it. While they were touring in America, they became very popular in England, so they kept recording singles in the States to keep their momentum until they could return for a tour.

Mick Jagger (1968): “It sounded like a folk song when we first started working on it and Keith didn’t like it much, he didn’t want it to be a single, he didn’t think it would do very well. I think Keith thought it was a bit basic. I don’t think he really listened to it properly. He was too close to it and just felt it was a silly kind of riff.”

Richards ran his guitar through a Gibson Fuzz Box to create the distortion effect. He had no intention of using the sound on the record, but Gibson had just sent him the device, and he thought the Fuzz Box would create sustained notes to help sketch out the horn section. The band thought it sounded great and wanted to use the sound because it would be very unusual for a rock record. Richards thought it sounded gimmicky and did not like the result, but the rest of the band convinced him to ditch the horn section and use the distorted guitar sound.

Mick Jagger wrote all the lyrics except the line “Can’t get no satisfaction.” The lyrics deal with what Jagger saw as the two sides of America, the real and phony. He sang about a man looking for authenticity but not being able to find it. Jagger experienced the vast commercialism of America in a big way on their tours, and later learned to exploit it, as The Rolling Stones made truckloads of money through sponsorships and merchandising in the US.

The Stones performed this on their third Ed Sullivan Show appearance, which took place February 13, 1966. The line, “Trying to make some girl,” was bleeped out by Sullivan’s censors, as it was a family show. Sullivan was perhaps the only host that could get away with this, as he helped launch the band in America.

Mick Jagger said in 1995:

“People get very blasé about their big hit. It was the song that really made The Rolling Stones, changed us from just another band into a huge, monster band. You always need one song. We weren’t American, and America was a big thing and we always wanted to make it here. It was very impressive the way that song and the popularity of the band became a worldwide thing. 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 kinds 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.”

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
Song 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 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

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Keith (gb) Richards / Mick Jagger / Gary Barlow / Author Unknown Composer
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction lyrics © Abkco Music, Inc, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Ruby Tuesday ♫ (Redux)

Posted on January 10, 2020 by jilldennison under music

As sometimes happens, I had a certain song in mind to play tonight, for after chatting with a friend about it, it’s been stuck in my poor head all day. But, as often happens, I spent a great deal of time tonight working on my a.m. post, then on a project that Jeff and I are launching later today, and then answering comments, and … long story short, it is late and I am exhausted! So, I am re-duxing one that I played in September for the same friend I played it for then. Tap ‘dem toes, David!

Back in April, I had a request for a song that I was familiar with by an artist I was not familiar with. Confused yet? Well, the song, as you can see from the title, is Ruby Tuesday, and I was familiar with the Rolling Stones’ version, but the one requested was by a singer, Melanie, with whom I was not familiar. As so often happens, life interfered (more likely Donald Trump interfered with my life), and I forgot all about it. Tonight, I wanted to play something special for the requester of the song, so I dug back through my notes and said … AHA!!!