It features arguably the greatest guitar riff of all time and almost certainly the most recognizable one. It was the first American Number One hit single for the band that recorded it. Rolling Stone ranks it #31 on their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. It’s enshrined in the Grammy Hall of Fame and the National Recording Registry of the U.S. Library of Congress.
And it’s one of the first songs Bruce Springsteen ever covered.
The Rolling Stones released “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” on June 5, 1965, and by October, sixteen-year-old Bruce Springsteen was covering it at a wedding reception with his high school band, The Castiles.
If only there was a surviving recording of that.
Unfortunately there isn’t, and it would be almost a quarter-century before that young high school student would play “Satisfaction” again on stage. But I have to imagine that was worth the wait, because that next time would be at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony in January 1988, and this time Bruce would be singing it with the man who sang on the original record.
The 1988 induction ceremony was all about The Beatles, Bob Dylan, and The Beach Boys, and The New Dylan was on hand to deliver the induction speech for OG Dylan. Following the ceremony, the assembled artists gathered on stage for an epic (and crowded) jam session featuring songs made famous by the newly inducted artists. The final song of the night, however, belonged to a group that everyone knew was bound to be in the following year’s class.
Mick Jagger took center stage for “(I Can’t Get No)” Satisfaction, and while many iconic musicians can be spotted arrayed across the stage, only Bruce Springsteen got the nod to join Jagger at the mic. Watch that performance below and feel Bruce’s palpable thrill.
The Rolling Stones were indeed inducted a year later, and while Bruce joined The Stones on stage for “Satisfaction” again that night, this time he stayed very much in the background.
It would be decades before Bruce performed it again, but in 2009 he broke it out twice by request during his Working on a Dream Tour. He played it by request in 2014, too, in a terrific performance by the super-sized E Street Band, which in this case included a special guest performer–the young girl who requested the song.
Bruce hasn’t played “Satisfaction” since, but it’s clear from the performance above that he always has that riff at the ready.
And why shouldn’t he? He started practicing it 57 years ago.
(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction
First performed: October 1965 (Monmouth County, NJ)
Last performed: April 17, 2014 (Nashville, TN)
I didn’t see the video where he sang with Mick but the video with the girl is priceless. He is so great with younger fans!