Rolling Stones: "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (Live - 2006 - Saitama; Japan)

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a song by The Rolling Stones released on their 1969 album Let It Bleed.

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, it was named as the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone (magazine) in its 2004 list of "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was recorded on 16 and 17 November 1968 at London's Olympic Sound Studios. It features the London Bach Choir opening the song, highlighting throughout, and bringing it to its conclusion. Jimmy Miller, the Rolling Stones' producer at the time, plays drums on this song instead of Charlie Watts. Al Kooper plays piano and organ and also played the French horn intro, while Rocky Dijon plays congas and maracas. Nanette Workman sings backup vocals, but she is credited as "Nanette Newman".[citation needed]

Although Jagger and Jimi Hendrix were good friends at the time of the song's release[citation needed], the line "I sang my song to Mr. Jimmy" is a reference to Jimmy Miller. The story about Jagger meeting a drifter named Jimmy Hutmaker is apocryphal[citation needed]. The rest of the line says "and he said one word to me and that was dead"; at that time the Stones and Miller used "dead" to refer to something they really liked[citation needed], so when Jagger sang the original song idea to Miller, his response was "dead!". The song's meeting place for Jagger and Mr. Jimmy is the Chelsea Drugstore, which opened in London in 1968.

Of the song, Jagger said in 2003[citation needed], "'You Can't Always Get What You Want' was something I just played on the acoustic guitar - one of those bedroom songs. It proved to be quite difficult to record because Charlie couldn't play the groove and so Jimmy Miller had to play the drums. I'd also had this idea of having a choir, probably a gospel choir, on the track, but there wasn't one around at that point. Jack Nitzsche, or somebody, said that we could get the London Bach Choir and we said, 'That will be a laugh.'"

In his review of the song, Richie Unterberger says, "If you buy John Lennon's observation that the Rolling Stones were apt to copy the Beatles' innovations within a few months or so, "You Can't Always Get What You Want" is the Rolling Stones' counterpart to 'Hey Jude.'" Jagger said in 1969, "I liked the way the Beatles did that with 'Hey Jude'. The orchestra was not just to cover everything up - it was something extra. We may do something like that on the next album."


- Lyrics:

[chorus]
I saw her today at a reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

No, you can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
And if you try sometime you find
You get what you need

I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was her footloose man

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you might find
You get what you need

Oh yeah, hey hey hey, oh...

And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
Sing it to me now...

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
Oh baby, yeah, yeah!

I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him

You can't always get what you want, no!
You can't always get what you want (tell ya baby)
You can't always get what you want (no)
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You get what you need
Oh yes! Woo!

You get what you need--yeah, oh baby!
Oh yeah!

I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands

You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need

You can't always get what you want (no, no baby)
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need, ah yes...