Occasionally, Mick Jagger has been known to get satisfaction. Most recently, he felt it when he first listened to Sam Fender’s cover of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” “I’m a fan of Sam’s work, so I was pleased to hear he was covering
one of my songs,” Jagger said in a statement. “I think he’s done a great job with it.”
Fender’s rendition, recorded for a U.K. retailer’s Christmas ad, runs only about half as long as the original , but it hits all the right marks: the sentimentality that comes with a horn section and a full choir, the tentativeness that comes with accepting hard truths, and the tone in his voice that reveals both the feelings of disappointment and acceptance that comes with compromising (y’know, the old wants vs. needs debate.)
Fender produced and recorded the song with bandmates Joe Atkinson and Dean Thompson in Tyneside, England. He picked the rest of the supporting musicians from groups that carry a special nostalgia for him. “It was a privilege to rework such an iconic song by such a legendary band,” Fender said. “In the spirit of Christmas, we re-recorded the children’s choir with the kids from my old school, John Spence Community High School, and we arranged a brass section with the Easington Colliery Band.”
Fender put out his latest album, People Watching, last year. It won the Mercury Prize, and Fender won BRIT Awards and a recognition of his songwriting, an Ivor Novello Award, last year as well. So far the only tour dates he has booked for 2027 — a run he’s calling the Proper Massive Stadium Tour — are in Europe.
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