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I saw her today at the reception
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was footloose man
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need
I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
You get what you need, yeah, oh baby
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
A glass of wine in her hand
I knew she was gonna meet her connection
At her feet was footloose man
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you might find
You get what you need
I went down to the demonstration
To get my fair share of abuse
Singing, "We're gonna vent our frustration
If we don't we're gonna blow a 50-amp fuse"
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
I went down to the Chelsea drugstore
To get your prescription filled
I was standing in line with Mr. Jimmy
And man, did he look pretty ill
We decided that we would have a soda
My favorite flavor, cherry red
I sung my song to Mr. Jimmy
Yeah, and he said one word to me, and that was "dead"
I said to him
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You get what you need
You get what you need, yeah, oh baby
I saw her today at the reception
In her glass was a bleeding man
She was practiced at the art of deception
Well I could tell by her blood-stained hands
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes well you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
You can't always get what you want
But if you try sometimes you just might find
You just might find
You get what you need
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A glass of wine in her hand
**Beautiful, classy, elegant, sophisticated woman
At her feet was a foot-loose man
**Mick speaking of himself. Foot-loose and fancy free...a contrast to this woman. She is a Capricorn...serious, reserved, cold exterior...to his Leo...warm, play-boy, flamboyant. He is "at her feet" a man who adores her...and the feet/foot-loose use of alliteration and a play on words...
It may even be the first time he saw her...she was engaged to be married then and he ended up stealing her away years later and this could be a reflection of how he thought he wanted this girl, and at the time he couldn't have her. You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need...even though what you think you want and can't have, regardless of whether or not you get that "thing" it will never be what you want, but it will be exactly what you need...for good or bad
The next verse is a statement on the political climate of the time. The demonstration...and there were many...protested the war mainly. The abuse came from the status quo that wanted the demonstrations quelched. Mick says they will vent their frustration via the power of music and do it loudly enough or blow out some speakers trying
Again...they may not get what they want, but what is needed will inevitably occur.
Mr. Jimmy has to be the manager. It's his "friend" and it's someone he is singing a song [he wrote] to. The response "Dead" likely refers to his managers dislike of it...or belief that it won't be a hit. Maybe it was Paint it Black. A song about death. The red door painted black (soda cherry red). Perhaps Jimmy thought it too depressing to be a hit. Mick tells him...you can't always get what you want...yeah, yeah, yeah...
The composition of the song nicely returns to the first verse...the beauty Mick saw originally in Marianne has now died. He is the bleeding man in the glass. He thought he "wanted" her (when she was someone else's) and now that he has gotten her, he ends up getting busted and spending time in jail. He blames the girl...or maybe he blames heroin (also a girl) but he didn't get what he wanted...but is coming to terms with getting what he needs...which is a wake-up call to the path his life was heading in.
the life of a righteous girl.
Jimi was in love with a woman who also loved Mick jagger.
Mick knew she was a witch
and tried to tell Jimi
about her.
No, the song is about daily activities in his life from the late 60's - in the studio, with girlfriends, etc, all connected by a central and clearly stated theme in the refrain. The Mr. Jimmy in the song is actually Jimmy Miller, the Stone's producer. Note the reference to a song being "dead". Typical studio shop talk.
But the song was carefully constructed both lyrically and musically to reflect a darker and more poignanat theme. Hence you have other hints of what was going on in Jagger's mind (also reflected in other songs from the period) - drug abuse, hopelessness, death, cynacism. A brilliant song.
But lets forget the Mr. Jimmy from MN nonsense.
Keith's book "Life" lends some great perspective on the jagger/richards songwriting process. Many times the songs weren't dedicated to one particular subject matter, but consisted of a collection of verses that were sometimes inter-related and sometimes not. Many times the first lines of the song were contributed by Keith and the rest by Jagger, so right there the original intent of the song becomes somewhat disjointed.
Heavy emphasis is placed on vowel-ing (selecting words or phrases based on how they contribute to the song's sound or feel). Keith talks about the song governing the musicians, not vice-versa. So in the interest of getting the right sound or feeling for a song, it might be necessary to stray yet again from the intended topic of the song.
Even more amazing than all of this, is the short of amount of time it takes them to come up with lyrics. Shortly after YCAGWYW is recorded they will work on a new piece that will become "Brown Sugar" (based on a sequence of chords that Mick showed Keith). According to spectators at Muscle Shoals studios, it takes Jagger a mere 45 minutes to create these lyrics! He spends 45 minutes writing them, we spend decades over-analyzing them!
So in light of their song writing style, I now tend to not place too much emphasis on any subtle underlying song meaning. What I hear is a song of four verses loosely connected to each other by feelings of "want" and "need". I see content that consists of Jagger/Richards drawing from past experiences of "want" and "need". Could very well be the case that Jagger's experience in Excelsior led to the Mr. Jimmy verse (I doubt he would admit to it and risk having to concede royalty rights to the poor guy).
And do not overlook the feel of the song. Looking beyond the song content, the song always leaves me with this feeling of melancholy, almost regret. I, too, tend to lean towards the song being about the drug culture of the sixties. Don't forget, it was at this time when his close circle of friends (Keith, Marianne, Anita, Brian, Jimmy M to name a few) are becoming afflicted with these debilitating heroin habits (Jagger was astute enough to stay away from the stuff).
So it is a sorrowful Jagger that I hear, lamenting (and in the case of Marianne, more like grieving) over their slow but sure descent into heroin oblivion.