“You Can't Always Get What You Want" was on the Rolling Stones 1969 album Let It Bleed. The 7 1/2-minute song closed out the second side of the record and was released as a single later in 1969 as a 5-minute version on the B side of “Honky Tonk Woman”.

Jagger commented on the song's beginnings:

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" was something I just played on the acoustic guitar—one of those bedroom songs.

In his review of the song, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic said: "If you buy John Lennon's observation that the Rolling Stones were apt to copy the Beatles' innovations within a few months or so, 'You Can't Always Get What You Want' is the Rolling Stones' counterpart to 'Hey Jude'."  Jagger said in 1969, "I liked the way the Beatles did that with 'Hey Jude'. The orchestra was not just to cover everything up—it was something extra. We may do something like that on the next album.”

Al Kooper was enlisted to play the piano, organ as well as the French horn which was played on the opening of the album version of the song after the chorus. The band's drummer, Charlie Watts, did not play on this track as he was having difficulty with the beat for this unusual rhythm. Their producer, Jimmy Miller, played on it instead.

In an interview with NPR, Al Kooper said he observed Jimmy Miller and Charlie Watts working on the drum piece. Watts wasn't getting it quick enough so Miller said, "Here, let me show you." At that point Watts said, "Why don't you play it then" and walked out. Miller stayed and the song was cut.

The choral arranger, Jack Nitzsche, suggested using the London Bach Choir as backing vocalists. Jagger ended up being pleased with the final blend of this slightly tongue-in-cheek masterpiece. The 60 voices of the celestial choir were double tracked to make it sound like there were even more of the singers. However: the London Bach Choir asked for their name to be removed from the album when they found out it was called Let It Bleed and contained the song ‘Midnight Rambler’, written about a serial killer.

It was not lost on people that the man who once sang “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” had now come to the conclusion that “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” When Jagger was confronted with this, he referenced the different perspective in the lyrics as being the key. “Now you also can’t get what you want,” he said at the time of the song’s release. “The same goes for me. I’m saying the same thing as when I said, ‘I can’t get no satisfaction,’ only articulated differently.

Various Sources