Did Otis Redding sell "Satisfaction" to The Rolling Stones?

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Mistermono, Aug 30, 2011.

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  1. Mistermono

    Mistermono Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    This is excerpted from an article that appeared in the May 3, 1969 edition of The Globe & Mail under the title "Is moss growing on the Stones?" It was written by Ritchie Yorke.

    [​IMG]

    This is the first time I have heard this claim (and I'm by no means a Stones expert). Has this surfaced elsewhere over the years and been debunked?
     
  2. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    I can't see the article but I've read many books and articles and never once have I heard this.

    Besides, it doesn't sound like an Otis song, either musically or lyrically.
     
  3. Pseudonym

    Pseudonym Senior Member

    Location:
    Detroit, MI
    This has been debunked pretty thoroughly. Bill Wyman's Stone Alone maps out the timetable which would have made it impossible for Redding to even have heard the song; the Stones recorded the song six months before they'd ever been to Memphis. There's also a quote from Steve Cropper refuting it.
     
  4. JohnnyH

    JohnnyH Senior Member

    Location:
    England
    Another vote for pure bunkum - didn't Otis also claim to have written 'Day Tripper'?
     
  5. houston

    houston Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas, USA
    Otis did, indeed, sell "satisfaction" to the Stones....but it wasn't a song, it was a small group of Memphis hookers ;)
     
  6. Ski Bum

    Ski Bum Happy Audiophile

    Location:
    Vail, CO
    In his autobiography "Life", Keith says he found the core of the song one morning on the tape of the previous night's songwriting session.
     
  7. Mistermono

    Mistermono Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Hey thanks guys for confirmation that this is a myth/falsehood.
     
  8. seed_drill

    seed_drill Senior Member

    Location:
    Tryon, NC, USA
    I do recall Kieth saying Otis CLAIMED to have written it, at some point. But, as indicated above, pure buncombe. (Which shoud be spelled thusly, as it comes from a politician famous for his BS, who came from Buncombe Co., NC)
     
  9. mretrain

    mretrain Forum Resident

    Location:
    London
    And Karla Redding - Otis' daughter - told me that the reason that the myth grew up was because Otis sang different lyrics to the song, apparently because he couldn't remember the proper ones!
     
  10. Matthew B.

    Matthew B. Scream Quietly

    Location:
    Tokyo, Japan
    Redding denies writing it here.

    (From David Brackett's The Pop, Rock, and Soul Reader via Google Books)
     
  11. jbg

    jbg Senior Member

    Location:
    SC

    I don't think Otis Redding ever claimed to have written Day Tripper or Satisfaction. I think what he did say was that he had a hard time figuring out the lyrics.
     
  12. Hey Vinyl Man

    Hey Vinyl Man Another bloody Yank down under...

    On a tangent but still, I think, on topic: there is a rumor that Redding was planning to cover Neil Young's "Mr. Soul" for his next single when he was killed. There is some doubt as to whether that is true (I seem to recall Young has been quoted as saying he doesn't remember Redding expressing interest in the song), but here's the catch: "Mr. Soul" is very similar to "Satisfaction," and in particular to Redding's version of it. I find it hard to believe he'd have any interest in a song that similar to another song to which he had an illegitimate link of any kind.
     
  13. Jim B.

    Jim B. Senior Member

    Location:
    UK
    Otis was quite canny in his choice of covers, appealing to the white audience with Beatles and Stones covers (quite ironic given the Stones covered him first, and the Beatles and all the UK british bands were in awe of people like Otis). Same with Motown groups.

    I expect he maybe would have continued this trend.
     
  14. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Pure bunk!
     
  15. BS. Everyone knows "Satisfaction" was written by Gram Parsons. :winkgrin:
     
  16. keef00

    keef00 Senior Member

    Judging from the prevalent attitude toward the Stones here, some probably think a 16-year-old Mick Taylor wrote it.
     
  17. kingofthejungle

    kingofthejungle Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jonesboro,AR USA
    Otis Redding sells satisfaction to anyone who buys his records.
     
  18. I thought it was Paul McCartney who wrote it ;)
     
  19. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    Funny. I once had a bet with a guy at work about who did "Satisfaction" first - he was sure Otis did it and then the Stones covered it. Maybe he's the one who wrote the article! :D
     
  20. Purple Jim

    Purple Jim Senior Member

    Location:
    Bretagne
    Otis wrote Bohemian Rhapsody.
     
  21. scottc1963

    scottc1963 Forum Resident

    I have NEVER once heard that Otis claimed he wrote Satisfaction or Day Tripper. I have read that they were a song short and Steve Cropper when to the Satellite record shop and brought back a 45 copy of Satisfaction to learn it, so when Otis came back to Stax later that evening to finish recording the band knew it, but Otis could it remember the lyrics,so they went with what they had, so to speak.
     
  22. lukpac

    lukpac Senior Member

    Location:
    Milwaukee, WI
    I believe that is related in Rob Bowman's book. Either that, or liner notes he wrote in one of the various reissues.

    Also, that Otis didn't know or wasn't paying a ton of attention to the lyrics, so it came out as "Satisfashion".
     
  23. Larry Mc

    Larry Mc Forum Dude

  24. vanhooserd

    vanhooserd Senior Member

    Location:
    Nashville,TN
    Otis & The MGs' version is pure genius-they really re-made the song.
     
  25. dustybooks

    dustybooks rabbit advocate

    Location:
    Wilmington, NC
    yeah don't tell anyone but I prefer it to the Stones'. which is a great record but I don't listen to it nearly as much.

    I love Television's version from Blow Up also.
     
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