“I Can't Be Satisfied” is a blues song credited to Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield) as both composer and lyricist. Its earlier roots lie in a 12-bar solo acoustic version recorded by Alan Lomax and John Work on 31 August 1941 at Stovall, Mississippi, titled “I Be's Troubled”, which was issued in 1943 on the Library of Congress set Folk Music of the United States. Waters recorded his version in December 1947 in Chicago for Aristocrat (later Chess Records), with Ernest “Big” Crawford on bass. It was released as a 78 rpm single (Aristocrat 1305) in June 1948, with “(I Feel Like) Going Home” on the B-side, credited to “Muddy Waters with Rhythm Accompaniment”. Waters plays bottleneck slide on electric guitar, a step in the evolution of electric blues. The single reached No. 11 on Billboard's Most-Played Jukebox Race Records chart in 1948. Chess reissued it in 1952 as “Looking for My Baby”, and Waters recorded it again in 1977 with Johnny Winter and James Cotton. The Rolling Stones recorded it at Chess Studios in 1964 for their album The Rolling Stones No. 2. Other versions include those by Led Zeppelin, Hot Tuna, Dr. Feelgood and George Thorogood.
