Can’t Always Get What You Want

Can’t Always Get What You Want

Life is always full of dissatisfaction. Its dissatisfaction, however, is also a fascination. The song You Can’t Always Get What You Want by the Rolling Stone explicitly expresses this idea, and it draws connection to the main characters, Jake and Brett, in the book The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway. The song conveys the idea that “you can’t always get what you want” but “you get what you need”, which is exactly Jake’s situation.

Jake wants Brett so much that he can do anything for her. His desire is shown throughout the scenes. However, because of his disability, Brett refuses to have psychological relationship of love with him. Jake’s behavior has shown his “want”. When Jake and Brett agree to meet one day, Jake shows up early and looks for Brett. “At five o’clock I was in the Hotel Crillon waiting for Brett. She was not there.” “Brett did not turn up, so about quarter to six I went down to the bar and had a Jake Rose with George the barman.” “Brett had not been in the bar either, so I looked for her up-stairs on my way out, and took a taxi to the Cafe Select.” (48). Although Jake does not write in his emotions and feelings, his dissatisfaction connects to the lyrics “you can’t always get what you want”. Jake waits for Brett for a long time, then he looks for her in the bar and upstairs. Brett’s absence does not fulfill Jake’s “want”. Even when Jake is willing to abandon his own dignity, Brett still refuses. When Jake asks Brett to live with him, Brett thinks that she will always cheat on him. However, Jake responds: “I stand it now” (62). Jake rather willing to watch Brett cheating on him than being apart with her. At this moment, his “want” is extremely strong, but Brett still refuses to fulfill his “want.

Although the lyrics of the song conveys states:  “you can’t always get what you want”, its following sentence expresses the optimistic future that “you get what you need”. Jake gets what he “need” at the end of the book: relief. When Brett says: “we could have had such a damned good time together”, Jake responds: “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” He states that the idealized relationship Brett just described has never happened. His emotion has changed from “want” to ‘think’, as he fully understands the reality that they can’t be together. He buries his dream into fantasy, and he stopped wanting. He is finally tired of trying and relieved. In Jake’s perspective, this is his “need”: to realize the reality that Brett is unapproachable for him. So he can escape from emotional breakdown of disappointment on Brett.

The lyrics of the song You Can’t Always Get What You Want are  the conclusion of Jake’s love on Brett. In his process of trying, he realized the fact that “you can’t always get what you want”. The realization itself is the “need” that Jake gets. Dissatisfaction makes life not so boring, and it makes people move forward to fulfill their needs.