Video hit Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones - You Can't Always Get What You Want (live)

You Can't Always Get What You Want is a song by the Rolling Stones 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 the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

Of the song, Jagger said: "'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 of Allmusic said: "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."

The three verses (along with the varied theme in the fourth verse) address the major topics of the 1960s: love, politics, and drugs. Each verse captures the essence of the initial optimism and eventual disillusion, followed by the resigned pragmatism in the chorus.

Unterberger concludes of the song, "Much has been made of the lyrics reflecting the end of the overlong party that was the 1960s, as a snapshot of Swinging London burning out. That's a valid interpretation, but it should also be pointed out that there's also an uplifting and reassuring quality to the melody and performance. This is particularly true of the key lyrical hook, when we are reminded that we can't always get what we want, but we'll get what we need."

A man named Jimmy Hutmaker of Excelsior, Minnesota claimed that he was the "Mr. Jimmy" mentioned in the song and that he said the phrase "you can't always get what you want" to Jagger during a chance encounter at a drug store in Excelsior in 1964.

David Dalton, a writer for Rolling Stone who witnessed the filming of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus claims in his commentary track for the DVD of the concert that "Mr Jimmy" refers to Jimmy Miller, the producer of all of the Rolling Stones' albums from Beggar's Banquet through Goat's Head Soup, and the drummer on "You Can't Always Get What You Want".

The song is also very popular at Rolling Stones shows in part because of its sing-along chorus, and is played at almost every show, where it is customary for Jagger to change the lyrics from "my favourite flavour, cherry red" to the question "What's your favourite flavour?" to which the audience replies "Cherry red!" Live recordings appear on the albums Love You Live, Flashpoint, and Live Licks, as well as on The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, filmed in 1968.

The song was performed live with members of Voce Chamber Choir and London Youth Choir for the Stones' 2012 reunion shows in London, November 25 and November 29. The same choir also performed on the track at Glastonbury and two performances at Hyde Park in 2013.

In advertising

The song was used prominently in US TV commercials for Coca-Cola's "low-carb" C2 cola in 2004.

The song is used in advertisements for Simon mall gift cards during the holiday season. It portrays people opening their presents, but the presents were not what they wanted. The tagline is to get people to give gifts the receiver will want.

The song was used in Sky Sports adverts promoting the start of the 2012/13 Premier League season.

The lyrics:

Well, I saw her today at the reception

A glass of wine in her hand

I knew she would go meet her connection

At her feet was her footloose man

No, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

No, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

No, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

But if you try sometime, you just might find

You get what you need

And I went down to the demonstration

To get my fair shares of abuse

Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration

And if we don't, we don't blow a 50-amp fuse", yeah

And no, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

No, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Well, no, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

But if you try sometimes you just might find

You get what you need, baby

And I went down to the Chelsea drugstore

To get your prescriptions filled

I was standin' in line with Mr. Jimmy

And man, did he look pretty ill

We decided to have a soda

"Whatcha favorite flavor?", "Cherry red"

And I sung my song to my friend Jimmy

And he said one word back to me, that was "Dead"

I said

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

But if you try sometimes, you just might find

You get what you need

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

You can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

You can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

You can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

And I saw her today at the reception

In her glass was a bleeding man

And she was practised that the art of deception

I could tell by her blood-stained hands

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

Oh, you can't always get what you want

aaaahhwaw

But if you try sometimes you just might find

You get what you need