meaning in context - What does "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" mean?


This song by The Rolling Stones, "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction".
As a non-native speaker, I always wondered what's the exact meaning of this phrase?



  • Is it "I'm not getting any satisfaction" (this seems to be the most widely met translation; double negation used where single negation should have been used).

  • Or is it "I want my satisfaction, I cannot leave without getting some" (makes much more sense to me).


Or is it something else?
I've always had troubles understanding double negation as applied to English. First I was taught it's a mistake to use double negation at all, and then I see it everywhere.



Answer



The reason you were told it’s a mistake is because it is a usage found in dispreferred dialects. Similar to use of ain’t, double negation—also known as negative concord—is quite common in many dialects of English, but it is not part of any formal register of English—that is to say, it is not a feature of the standard English taught in schools. Negative concord is a feature of the standard dialect of many languages, such as Spanish—just not standard English.


“I can’t get no satisfaction” in formal standard English would be “I can’t get any satisfaction” or “I can get no satisfaction”. However, it’s important to note that although formal modern English does not have a negative concord rule, such a rule is not inherently “illogical”, as many commenters who try to explain English’s rule claim.


Here is a post on Language Log about “overnegation”.


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