Keith Richards Wasn’t Sure If a Line in The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ Was a ‘Sly’ Drug Reference

Keith Richards initially had issues with The Rolling Stones‘ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” He was asked if one line from the song included a reference to drugs. Subsequently, Richards said he wasn’t sure about the line’s meaning.

Why Keith Richards took issue with The Rolling Stones’ ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ and didn’t want it to be a single

The book Keith Richards on Keith Richards: Interviews & Encounters contains an interview from 1971. In it, he discussed “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” “I couldn’t see getting excited about [it],” he said. “I’d really dug it that night in the hotel but I’d gone past it. No, I didn’t want it out, I said. I wanted to cut it again.” 

Richards got more specific about his issues with the track. “It sounded all right but I didn’t really like that fuzz guitar,” he said. “I wanted to make that thing different. But I don’t think we could have done, you needed either horns or something that could really knock that riff out.”

The Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards discussed his views on song lyrics

Richards asked about the reference to different kinds of cigarettes in “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” “A lot of them are completely innocent,” he said. “I don’t think that one is. It might have been. I don’t know if it was a sly reference to drugs or not.”

Subsequently, Richards discussed his views about writing in general. “After a while, one realizes that whatever one writes, it goes through other people, and it’s what gets to them,” he opined. “Like the way people used to go through [Bob] Dylan songs. It don’t matter. They’re just words. Words is words.”

How ‘(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was a huge hit in the United States. The tune topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks and stayed on the chart for 14 weeks altogether. “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was the band’s first song to reach No. 1 in the U.S. The tune appeared on the compilation album Hot Rocks 1964–1971. The album hit No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 394 weeks, lasting longer on the chart than any other Rolling Stones studio album or compilation album.

According to The Official Charts Company, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was No. 1 for two weeks in the United Kingdom, staying on the chart for 12 weeks in total. Meanwhile, Hot Rocks 1964–1971 reached No. 3 in the U.K. and remained on the chart for 58 weeks.

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was a hit even if Richards wasn’t sure what it meant.