I wonder
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, no!
Expert: Stonesdoug
Date: 8/29/2005
Subject: "can't always get what you want" source
Question
Hi--
Not really a question--more of a correction. I saw that you told someone who asked about the origin of "You can't always get what you want" that it has no ties to Excelsior, Minnesota. Not so!
On 6/12/64, the Stones played a concert at Danceland in Excelsior, Minnesota during their first ever US tour. At the time they were a little-known band, performed poorly and drunkenly, and got booed off the stage.
During this visit (in fact, the next morning), Mick went into Bacon Drug Store, an Excelsior store with a soda fountain, to get a prescription filled. Jimmy Hutmaker, a.k.a. "Mr. Jimmy", a "local color" guy who had met Mick at the concert then night before, and who has some mental difficulties (although is pretty lucid most days--he still wanders the streets of Excelsior every day visiting with everyone he meets, he's now around 75), was in the store in line in front of Mick at the moment, ordering a cherry coke. Problem--they were out of cherry juice. So the guy behind the counter gave Mr. Jimmy a regular coke. Jimmy shrugged his shoulders, turned around to Mick, and commented that, "You can't always get what you want"--and a mega-hit was born.
This version of the song's origin is confirmed by both Mr. Jimmy and the pharmacist who made Jimmy the soda. The references in the song to Mr. Jimmy, Mick's prescription, a cherry coke, and others, are all believed to refer to this encounter. In fact, most people familiar with the story believe that there is no reference to Chelsea Drugstore in the song--it's just a misheard reference to Excelsior Drugstore (the middle two syllables of "Excelsior" sound a lot like "Chelsea", hence the misunderstanding).
If you're wanting to learn more, come visit Excelsior and do some research!
--Bill Verkuilen
currently of Brooklyn Park, MN; formerly of Minnetonka (neighboring Excelsior), MN
I wonder
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, no!
Expert: Stonesdoug
Date: 8/29/2005
Subject: "can't always get what you want" source
Question
Hi--
Not really a question--more of a correction. I saw that you told someone who asked about the origin of "You can't always get what you want" that it has no ties to Excelsior, Minnesota. Not so!
On 6/12/64, the Stones played a concert at Danceland in Excelsior, Minnesota during their first ever US tour. At the time they were a little-known band, performed poorly and drunkenly, and got booed off the stage.
During this visit (in fact, the next morning), Mick went into Bacon Drug Store, an Excelsior store with a soda fountain, to get a prescription filled. Jimmy Hutmaker, a.k.a. "Mr. Jimmy", a "local color" guy who had met Mick at the concert then night before, and who has some mental difficulties (although is pretty lucid most days--he still wanders the streets of Excelsior every day visiting with everyone he meets, he's now around 75), was in the store in line in front of Mick at the moment, ordering a cherry coke. Problem--they were out of cherry juice. So the guy behind the counter gave Mr. Jimmy a regular coke. Jimmy shrugged his shoulders, turned around to Mick, and commented that, "You can't always get what you want"--and a mega-hit was born.
This version of the song's origin is confirmed by both Mr. Jimmy and the pharmacist who made Jimmy the soda. The references in the song to Mr. Jimmy, Mick's prescription, a cherry coke, and others, are all believed to refer to this encounter. In fact, most people familiar with the story believe that there is no reference to Chelsea Drugstore in the song--it's just a misheard reference to Excelsior Drugstore (the middle two syllables of "Excelsior" sound a lot like "Chelsea", hence the misunderstanding).
If you're wanting to learn more, come visit Excelsior and do some research!
--Bill Verkuilen
currently of Brooklyn Park, MN; formerly of Minnetonka (neighboring Excelsior), MN