You Can't Always Get
What
You
Want
Composers: Mick Jagger &
Keith Richards
Recording
date: February-March
1969
Recording location: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England
Producer:
Jimmy Miller
Chief engineer: Glyn
Johns
Performed
onstage: 1968,
1972-73, 1975-76, 1981-82, 1989-90, 1995, 1997-98,
2002-03, 2005-07, 2012-19, 2021-22, 2024

Line-up:
Drums: Jimmy Miller
Bass: Bill Wyman
Acoustic guitars: Keith Richards & Mick
Jagger
Electric guitar: Keith Richards
Lead vocal: Mick Jagger
Background vocals: Madeline
Bell, Nanette
Newman, Doris
Troy & the
London Bach
Choir
Piano: Al Kooper
Organ: Al Kooper
French horn: Al Kooper
Maracas: Rocky Dijon
Congas: Rocky Dijon
Tambourine: Rocky Dijon
I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in your hand
I knew she would meet her connection
At her feet was a footloose man
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
And if you try sometime, you'll find
You get what you need
I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was going to meet her connection
At her feet was a 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, well you might find
You'll get what you need
Ah baby, yeah
Oh
And I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing We're
going
to vent our frustration
If we don't, we're going to
blow a 50 amp fuse
Sing it to me
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'll get what you need
Ah baby, yeah
Ah
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 was cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yes, 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, yeah
You can't always get what you want, no
But if you try sometimes, you just might
find
You get what you need
Oh yeah
You get what you need
Yeah
Ah baby, ah 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, yes
You can't always get what you want, ooh yeah
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 yeah, ah baby
Ah you can't always get what you want, no, no,
baby
You can't always get what you want, tell me now
You can't always get what you want
If you try sometimes, you just might find,
you just might find
You get what you need
Ah yeah, ah (...)
TrackTalk
You
Can't Always Get What You Want was basically
all Mick. I remember him coming into the studio and saying,
I've got this song. I said, you got any verses? And he said, I
have, but how is it going to sound? Because he'd written it on
guitar, it was like a folk song at the time. I had to come up
with a rhythm, an idea...
- Keith Richards, Life (2010)
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.
- Mick Jagger, 2003
Jimmy
Miller sat down at the drums and remained there playing on the
take. Charlie was not happy but was graceful about it. Mick
and Keith played acoustic guitars, I played piano, Bill was on
bass and Brian lay on his stomach in the corner reading an
article on botany throughout the proceedings. I then
overdubbed the organ... I have Nicky (Hopkins) to thank,
because I was in England and he was in the United States. They
called me because he wasn't there.
- Al Kooper
Jimmy
Miller played drums on a couple of tracks on Let It Bleed,
including You Can't Always Get What You Want, which I
subsequently copied. That's how good Jimmy was at hearing
songs. He wasn't a great drummer, but he was great at playing
drums on records, which is a completely different thing. You
Can't Always Get What You Want is a great drum track.
Jimmy actually made me stop and think again about the way I
played drums in the studio and I became a much better drummer
in the studio thanks to him.
-
Charlie Watts, 2003
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.
- Mick Jagger, March
1969
It's a
good song, even if I say so myself. (It's popular bec)ause
it's got a very sing-along chorus. And people can identify
with it: No one gets what they always want. It's got a very
good melody. It's got very good orchestral touches that Jack
Nitzsche helped with. So it's got all the ingredients.
- Mick Jagger, 1995
(Mick is told that before he used to
sing "I can't get no satisfaction", and that now he sings
"You can't always get what you want".) Now YOU also
can't get what YOU want. The same goes for me. I'm saying the
same thing as when I said, I can't get no satisfaction,
only articulated differently. It's all a question of personal
orientation. As one gets older and has read more, as one knows
more, one is hit with a variety of influences, one naturally
writes different texts.
- Mick Jagger, c.
1969
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