Album: Let It Bleed
Year: 1969
. . .
“You Can’t Always Get What You Want” had humble beginnings: a folk song that Mick Jagger wrote by himself, calling it “one of those bedroom songs,” a tiny acorn from which grew an absolutely massive oak.
The first thing you hear on “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” is the London Bach Choir, singing both the first verse and the chorus, as arranged by Jack Nitzche — one last great contribution to their music — and interesting in that they didn’t even hide their Englishness, despite the fact they were taking the place of a gospel choir.
Just one of the many tensions inherent in “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” — perhaps the greatest song ever written about serendipity that was also inspired by watching people succumb to heroin addiction — the biggest album closer that the Rolling Stones ever attempted.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2054: The Rolling Stones – “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”