You Can't Always Get What You Want

Let It Bleed
Track 9
"You Can't Always Get What You Want" – 7:30




This song has by now been reduced to a baby boomer cliché, wistful nostalgia and sepia hues. I wonder if there's any life in it at all.

Do you ever feel that way? I'm sure you have. I used to love this song. I was born just as the sixties culture was dying, and YCAGWYW helped me understand a little of what went on during that time. But now... I don't know. All I can hear is Mick and the band embarrass themselves on stage, performing this song to an uncritical audience who doesn't want to be challenged, just reassured that some things will not change.

Isn't it funny that I can feel that way about some songs, and not about others? I don't even know where this feeling is coming from. But it stands to reason, that if there are songs that are filled with possibilities, there is the chances that these possibilities will fade over time. Why this has happened to "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and not, say, "In My Life" is a mystery to me.

I'll leave you with this clip, the second one I have posted which features Keith forgetting to bring a guitar strap to a television taping: