Summer is in full swing! July 4th celebration plans are a big draw, although rock music fans flocked to Chicago for an early celebratory weekend with a Rolling Stones concert. Chicago rhythm-and-blues fans Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met in 1961 in London. Initially calling their band Little Boy Blue & the Blue Boys, guitarist Brian Jones snatched their more famous name from Muddy Waters’ 1950 song, Rollin’ Stone. Jones spotted the song’s LP — lying on the floor — just as he was asked by a journalist about the fledgling band’s name.
Also known by their shortened name, The Stones, band members were called to a stage by Muddy Waters for an impromptu jam in 1978. Sample this classic collaboration without having to purchase an expensive ticket: https://news.wttw.com/2024/06/27/rolling-stones-and-chicago-20-memorable-moments-band-s-rich-history-blues-capital-world
Muddy Waters also inspired other white musicians – Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan are two examples. Dylan’s 1965 song, Like a Rolling Stone, is another Waters’ spinoff. Add the magazine copycat, Rolling Stone.
Copying an early English proverb (from around 1500), “A rolling stone gathers no moss,” an original meaning refers to cutting peat (consisting of sphagnum moss) in bogs to prepare for winter fireplaces. Any itinerant travelers were dubbed “rolling stones” as they did not gather the moss needed for heat. The Rolling Stones original duo –together for nearly 60 years — keeps gathering a fan following. Their beat can heat up memories. I still have my husband’s Rolling Stones LP, Sticky Fingers.
There is something poignant about one’s loss of innocence and encountering the “real” world. Consider The Rolling Stones signature song, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, first released in the U.S. in 1965. It made Rolling Stone magazine’s “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Times” list in 2021 as #31. Jagger’s comments about his 60’s lyrics are eerily relevant today: “…it captures a spirit of the times…which was alienation.”
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 comes on the radio
He’s tellin’ me more and more
About some useless information
Supposed to drive my imagination….
I checked with a friend who went to this weekend’s concert and sure enough, I Can’t Get No Satisfaction was on The Stones’ playlist.
I wonder who might feel satisfaction after watching the presidential debate this past week. Alienation is toppling over in the U.S. today. Itinerant voters may not show up for November’s important election. However, circuitous stepping stones may bring people together. We are an interconnected bunch, although we may not acknowledge our earliest common ancestors. We need more cross-culture collaboration like Muddy Waters and the Blue Boys from London enjoyed. Without such acceptance, we act stone-like to one another. And we get no satisfaction.
Pearls of Peace (PoP) Quiz
303. How do you define satisfaction in your life?
304. What drives your imagination?
Pearls of Peace: A Family Psychologist’s Circle-of-Life Blog 