"YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT" ● The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones - Promotional Poster / circa 1960s author unknown
"YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT"
Song: You Can’t Always Get What You Want
Writers: Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
Producer: Jimmy Miller
Recorded: November 17th, 1968, at Olympic Studios in London
Released: July 4th, 1969
Players: Mick Jagger -- vocals
Keith Richards -- guitar
Jimmy Miller -- drums
Bill Wyman -- bass
Al Kooper -- piano, French horn, organ
London Bach Choir -- backing vocals
Madelaine Bell, Doris Troy, Nanette Newman -- backing vocals
Jack Nitzche -- choral arrangements
Rocky Dijon -- percussion
Album: Let It Bleed (London, 1969)
Also On: The B-side of "Honky Tonk Women" single (London, 1969)
Hot Rocks 1964-1971 (London, 1972)
Love You Live (Rolling Stones, 1977)
Singles Collection: The London Years (ABKCO, 1989)
Flashpoint (Rolling Stones/Sony, 1991)
Rock And Roll Circus (ABKCO, 1996)
Forty Licks (Virgin, 2002)
Although “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” was recorded a few months before Brian Jones left the band (and then died), he receives no credit for this song or for Let It Bleed. So, technically, "You Can't Always Get What You Want," as the B-side to "Honky Tonk Women," was the Rolling Stones' first Jones-less single.
Bassist Bill Wyman remembered that Jones's contribution to that session was to "lie down on his stomach most of the night, reading an article on botany." Drummer Charlie Watts was also AWOL on the song.
The French horn part was Al Kooper's suggestion during initial recording sessions for the song. Kooper wrote and recorded an entire horn section, but the Stones kept only his intro.
In his memoir, Wyman remembered it as "an extremely long session, running from 10:00 p.m. until 6:15 a.m., and proof that when the mood took the band, the motivation and music was always there."
The Stones performed the song for their Rock And Roll Circus, a lavish televised show held on December 8th, 1968. Unhappy with their performance, the Stones did not release a video and album of the event until 1996, though footage of "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was included in the home video 12x5.
Let it Bleed ● The Rolling Stones
Let It Bleed is the eighth British and tenth American studio album by the Rolling Stones, released on November 28, 1969 by London Records in the USA and on December 5, 1969 by Decca Records in the UK.
Brian Jones left the band in June 1969, and was found dead in his swimming pool on July 3rd, 1969. "You Can't Always Get What You Want" was used in the funeral scene of the movie The Big Chill.
The Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, and Bill Wyman left the Stones in 1993.
The Neville Brothers, Aretha Franklin, Rusted Root, and bluesman Luther Allison have covered "You Can't Always Get What You Want", as have other independent artists.
KWXY plays the music of The Rolling Stones and the Song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is in the station's music library and playlists. Listen to the Sound of the Desert for More than 50 years, bringing independent, and iconic music to Palm Springs, the Desert Cities, and the Coachella Valley.
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