Can I Always Get "You Can't Always Get What You Want?" Pt. 2

I've GOT IT... again.

I've figured out why this particular version of "You Can't..." is set apart from the others.

It's a Joe Cocker version.

See it this way: Cocker covers the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends" in what has to be one of the best covers at the time, maybe ever since I can't see how he got that kind of intensity out of what is essentially a flowery Ringo tune. It's that intensity that fueled the original version of "You Can't..." to be so great. The intensity that comes with having a boys' choir backing you.

Now the Stones "couldn't" tour with a full boys' choir (at least not in 1973; I'm fairly certain they could put the money together today), so they had to figure out a way to ratchet up that kind of intensity (yes, I'm going to use that word a lot). And they did it with emotion.

The '73 Tour version has all the lyrics, which the "CIRCUS," "LOVE YOU LIVE" and many subsequent versions do not. It also still has a legitimate horn section, including what sounds to be a French horn at the beginning, but very importantly it does NOT contain a keyboard version of a French horn (I'm looking at you, "LOVE YOU LIVE"). Keyboard substitutions for instruments sound exactly like what they are. That, and crap.

Any time I catch "Satisfaction" again, I'm always kind of amazed at how effectively shouty Jagger is by the end "I can't GET NO's," and he employs that same type of, oh, what's the word, INTENSITY to the build up in this '73 version. By the time we get to that final reworking of the opening stanza, with all the instruments that have picked up as the song has progressed playing at full power, he has nowhere to go but up. And he does it.

That's why this version's the best one. It starts out as a sad song, then gets to a kind of angry sadness that transforms into catharsis.

That and it's in a different key. But that's all tech stuff.

And that's the reason why I'm going to find a way to acquire this version for my own. YouTube has done well to prevent downloads of their videos, so I might just contact the guy who posted it. Hopefully, if he doesn't get spooked into thinking I'm a cop, he'll help me out.