Why the London Bach Choir Wanted Their Name Off the Rolling Stones Single

The biggest headache wasn’t the choir’s disapproval of the lyrics — it was getting their 40 voices onto a four-track tape. In 1969, the Rolling Stones recorded “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” at Olympic Sound Studios, and they wanted a proper classical choir for the opening. Problem was, the studio’s four-track machine couldn’t handle a full choir separately without eating up tracks needed for the band. Engineer Glyn Johns ended up placing the London Bach Choir in a circle around one stereo microphone pair and recorded them live to two tracks, essentially committing the whole performance to tape in one take. No overdubs, no fixes.

Conductor Sir John Alldis wasn’t thrilled with the result — not sonically, but morally. After hearing the finished track, he felt the choir’s dignified sound was attached to a drug reference (the line “I saw her today at the reception / a glass of wine in her hand” was less the issue than the general “counterculture” vibe, though some accounts point to the chorus’s “shoot” in the line “I went down to the demonstration / to get my fair share of abuse”). Alldis requested the choir’s name be removed from the single credit to avoid association. The Stones obliged, listing them only as “The London Bach Choir” on the album — but on the single, it just said “Choir” or nothing at all, depending on the pressing.