Tag Archives: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Let’s Take A Moment Day 542

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

blog Sept 2021

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

We have yet another rock & roll birthday to celebrate today. Ironically as was the case with the last two artists featured here, this man also died in a plane crash, eight years after Buddy Holly & four years after Patsy Cline. Like her he left behind a young family and like Holly, this year also marks a milestone birth anniversary year. The King of Soul, Otis Redding, was born 80 years ago today on September 9, 1941 in Dawson, GA. His voice is one of the ones I love most in the universe.

The first album I bought by him was Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul which was originally released Sept 15, 1965. But unlike all the other LP’s I ever bought, I could not listen to this one all the way through in one sitting. In fact, It took me days to get through all 11 songs. I just had to hear each track at least a dozen times before I felt I could move on to the next one. And then the same thing would happen all over again.

I had never heard anyone sing with such raw aching unabashed emotion before in my life. He sang of such heartache and pain that every note was like live or die for this beautiful man. I could not help but hurt right along with him while also praying I would someday know what that type of all consuming love felt like.

The album included Redding’s original version of “Respect” along with covers of The Temptations’ “My Girl”, The Rolling Stones’ “Satisfaction” & three Sam Cooke songs. But today’s track was written by William Bell who was another singer on the Stax Label with Redding. It showcases his signature angst ridden soul & leaves you wondering how he will ever get through such immense pain. Redding sang like he had lived 100 lifetimes when in reality he barely lived one. But how he spent his 26 years on this earth is what keeps him alive over five decades later.

“I sit here and wonder
How in the world this could be, my oh my
I never thought, oh, I never thought
You’d ever leave me“.

Otis

Redding family

Top: Otis Redding circa 1967. Bottom: Redding’s family circa 2017 (L-R): Daughter Karla Redding-Andrews, wife Zelma (who never remarried), sons Dexter and Otis III. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

Otis Redding: “You Don’t Miss Your Water” (1965, written by William Bell).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

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Let’s Take A Moment Day 483

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Tom Petty music quote

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are still facing a serious situation but a new year gives us hope for the new days, seasons, opportunities & moments ahead. Still, music is something that will never change for me. It is my refuge, the most comforting part of my life & the one thing I consistently count on. So until a more normal semblance of life returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day. And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Sixteen years after they released their first record together, The Rolling Stones had the #1 album in America on July 15, 1978 with Some Girls. But over a decade earlier, on July 10, 1965, the band had the top hit in the country. It stayed in the #1 spot for four consecutive weeks and went on to become one of their signature songs.

The backstory is Keith Richards wrote this in his sleep. He actually does not remember waking up to write it down but when he got up in the morning, there it was scribbled on the pad on top of his bedside table. If there was any doubt that man was not suppose to have a legendary career in music, that one story alone ended the speculation.

It has been used in dozens of TV shows & movies with great effect. For me it was most memorable when it played as Don Draper walked out of the New York Athletic Cub into the blaring hot summer sun after he started swimming to keep his drinking in check during the season 4 episode 8 of “Mad Men”. When my favorite songs collide with my favorite shows, all is right in my world.

“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”.

Les Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones circa 1965 (L-R):  Bill Wyman, Keith Richards, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts.  (Image found online.  Original source unknown).  

The Rolling Stones: “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” (1965, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 287

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Shakespeare music

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

At some point in the 1970’s Mick Jagger was reported to say that The Rolling Stones did not want to be singing “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” when they were 40 years old. Well, this year Jagger turned 77 and so did his bandmate Keith Richards, who hit that number on December 18. Clearly they changed their minds.

The band has been together for nearly 60 years. They have been through a few personnel changes since 1962 but the core of the group-Jagger, Richards & drummer Charlie Watts-has been together since 1962. Jagger & Richards are the songwriting team that has carried them through almost six decades. And while front man Jagger’s on-stage persona & numerous affairs have kept him in the spotlight all these years, there is no denying the legend Richards is. His musicianship aside, he has survived drug abuse, the loss of a child (a son died from SIDS in 1976), the death of an original bandmate (Brian Jones), and a close friend (Gram Parsons) plus numerous other life happenings.

As for his guitar work, he has been called “the creator of “rock’s greatest single body of riffs” by Rolling Stone magazine. Think about The Stones songs and it is easy to see why: “Gimme Shelter” (Day 4), “Satisfaction”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, “Start Me Up” and today’s song are just a few examples of his remarkable gift. Of course Jagger is the singer, but on a few occasions Richards has taken the lead and he does not disappoint. That is another reason why I love today’s song so much.

“Well I never kept a dollar past sunset
Always burned a hole in my pants
Never made a school mama happy
Never blew a second chance, oh no“.

Stones 1968

Stones 2015

Top: The Rolling Stones circa 1964 (L-R): Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts (seated). Bottom: The Stones circa 2015 (L-R): Watts, Richards, Jagger and Ron Wood. (Images found online.  Original sources unknown.)

The Rolling Stones: “Happy” (1972, written by Mick Jagger & Keith Richards).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.

Let’s Take A Moment Day 156

Posted in Music by

Hi everyone.  Hope you are all well and continue to stay that way during this global health crisis we are facing.  But in addition to protecting your physical wellness, what are you doing to stay mentally healthy today?

Charlie Brown No Music No Life

(Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

I know we are in a serious situation, but I need a break from the gloom, doom and bullying by way of hoarding. Music has always been my refuge and watching those beautiful Italians singing to each other from their balconies reaffirmed my belief that music is the answer. So until the old normal returns, I am going to share a song I listen to that helps me escape the current state of things, if only for a few minutes each day.  And if this helps anyone else, even better.

Time for another mid-week Motown break.  In 1963 Stevie Wonder scored his first #1 song with “Fingertips”.  He was 13 years old.  But for the next two years he could not get a record into the top 20.  When he turned 15 his voice changed and the songwriters he was working with modified their process to adapt to Wonder’s new tenor voice.  He wanted something with a fast tempo to match the pace of The Rolling Stones song, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” which was a huge hit at the time.  The result is today’s song which went to #3 on the charts and began a streak of hit songs that would follow Wonder into the 1970’s.

“No football hero or smooth Don Juan
Got empty pockets, you see I’m a poor man’s son
Can’t give her the things that money can’t buy
But I’ll never, never make my baby cry“.

Stevie Marvin

Stevie Wonder (L) and Marvin Gaye (R) in the Motown studios circa 1965.  Gaye played drums for Wonder and several other Motown artists before his own successful recording career.  (Image found online.  Original source unknown.)

Stevie Wonder:  “Uptight (Everything’s Alright)” (1965, written by Henry Cosby, Sylvia Moy and Stevie Wonder).

I do not own the rights to anything.  I am just sharing what I love and how I am coping with you.

Stay well.