You Can’t Always Get What You Want

“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is the ninth track off of The Rolling Stones 1969 album: “Let It Bleed”. It was named the 100th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine and was in its 2004 list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.

The track was the first song recorded for the “Let It Bleed” album and exists in two versions – a five minute long single version and a seven minute and 28 seconds long album version. The song centres around the theme of drugs, politics and love – major topics of the 1960’s. The track also features the London Bach Choir singing the intro, adding a multi-layered vocal feel to the song. The song emphasizes that you won’t always get what you desire, but rather what you require.

In 2016, Donald Trump used the song during campaign appearances during the 2016 Republican primaries and the presidential election, as well as his nationally televised acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July. After the convention, the band stated publicly and that they do not endorse Trump and requested that he cease all use of their songs immediately. Trump ignored the request and continued to use the song at campaign rallies before and after the 2016 election. Jagger stated that the band found the song as a theme tune for the rallies odd, considering it is a “sort of doomy ballad about drugs in Chelsea”.

There is no official music video for the track, however in 2012, the official The Rolling Stones music channel uploaded a video of the band playing the track live at Twickenham Stadium in August 2003. The video has over 7 million views.

Release Date: 4th July 1969

Songwriter/s: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards

Producer/s: Jimmy Miller

Label/s: Decca (UK) / London (US)

Chart Rankings: #68 in Canada & #42 in the Billboard Hot 100.