I wonder how he feels about the rampant commercialism that spans the globe today and must eclipse that which he saw in 1965.
We are bombarded with advertising in the media all day long, it is very hard to escape, even if, like me, you take steps to do so. Jagger's simple yet profound words get straight to the root of the sinister strategy which advertisers use to control their audience.
Satisfaction is the key. Advertisers subtly sow dissatisfaction in consumers by presenting idealised lifestyles and then fool these consumers into the false belief that if they just buy their product, they will be satisfied at last. It is a despicable industry, sowing fear in people and making them feel that they are inadequate, then making false promises about their product's ability to make them a better person, to make them happy. It leads to massive psychological problems as people lose sight of the fact that what is valuable about them is what they do and who they are, not what they can buy, how slim they are or whether their hair has enough volume.
The bottom line is, if you try to do it by buying things, you 'can't get no satisfaction'. I would venture further and suggest that human beings are not meant to be satisfied. Dissatisfaction is what drives us to grow and to achieve more. The problem comes when we try to assuage this dissatisfaction not by creating, but by consuming.
There is also a misunderstanding between satisfaction and happiness. I would say that I am never satisfied but I am very definitely happy. The dissatisfaction drives me forward, makes me want to get up in the morning so that I can do more of the things that I have learned make me very happy. Those things primarily involve giving. The exact opposite of consumerism which is all about getting, getting things which ultimately are worthless.
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