When you went to the store last time, did you get what you wanted? With supply chain issues, goods aren’t always arriving on time. Sometimes you don’t know if they will get to the store at all. You may ask, ‘When is the next truck coming in?’ Then you can be there when the goods are in stock. You can’t control the supply chain, but you can control being there as a good strategy to get what you want when it arrives.

Or maybe you ordered something from a store as we did. We were excited and waited a few days for the order to arrive. However, when it didn’t show up, we called to check on it. We were we informed that they ran out of stock. Well, the lesson is that “you can’t always get what you want”. We’ll share a story about when we lived in Excelsior that fits with how that popular saying may have come to be.

There’s a famous song by the Rolling Stones with the title, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want.” Here might be how the Rolling Stones came up with that song and title. It was June 13, 1964. At that time, Excelsior had a big amusement park. The Rolling Stones had just played a concert at the park. The next day, Mick Jagger, lead singer from the group, went to downtown Excelsior’s drugstore, Bacon Drug. He sat down at the counter to get some refreshment and, it so happened that a local townsperson, Jimmy Hutmaker, was sitting next to him. Jimmy was known to everyone in town as “Mr. Jimmy”. As the story goes, and as Mr. Jimmy told it, Mr. Jimmy wanted a Cherry Coke. The lady who served the Coke even remembered that the syrup needed for the soda had run out. So, Jimmy had to settle for regular Coke instead of Cherry Coke. Mr. Jimmy looked at the rock star sitting next to him and said, “You can’t always get what you want.”

From that simple statement, it’s possible that the song was born. The lyrics of The Rolling Stones song reflect segments of what happened at the drugstore – meeting Mr. Jimmy is mentioned and a cherry red soda – and then the famous line, “You can’t always get what you want” is repeated over and over in the lyrics.

We both knew Mr. Jimmy. Mr. Jimmy was loved by the residents of Excelsior. He had a characteristic look – a bit disheveled, often wearing a top hat and smoking a cigar. He roamed the streets and was friendly to everyone. He often sat on a bench downtown and enjoyed talking about spiritual topics or almost anything. People who knew him discovered a very caring person with an almost photographic memory. I (Lynn) was fortunate to get in on some of his conversations. Several times Doug drove Mr. Jimmy to where he wanted to go.

We went to a Christmas Pageant in Excelsior where Mr. Jimmy sang. A friend of Mr. Jimmy’s, Bob Bolles, got Jimmy a tuxedo for the event. By the excited crowd you would have thought it was the most famous opera star singing. But Mr. Jimmy’s singing was more meaningful to the audience than if it were that top opera star. You can’t always get what you want, but the audience at that performance did get what they wanted! And Mr. Jimmy was invited as the star for more Christmas Pageants!

Mr. Jimmy wondered how he would be remembered. He left us with many special memories and life lessons. Of course, one is – you can’t always get what you want. Another is to not judge people just by what you see. Get to know them and you might just find a treasure like Mr. Jimmy.

How about you? Mr. Jimmy made the best of his life and contributed to the lives of others. Are you getting what you want in life? Take time to look at what you really want, not just at the store, but in areas of your life such as relationships, health, work, leisure, and spirituality. Determine what’s in your control and what’s not.

The Serenity Prayer can be helpful. It goes like this: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.” That wisdom can help you find peace and make good choices in serious situations and simpler ones, such as when you’re at the store and you can’t always get what you want.

Chanhassen MN residents, Doug and Lynn Nodland are success coaches and owners of The Balance Center in Excelsior. Contact them at WeCare@TheBalanceCenter.com

© Doug and Lynn Nodland 2023 Articles and videos may be shared in their entirety with attribution.