You Can't Always Get What You Want: My Life with the Rolling Stones, the Grateful Dead and Other Wonderful Reprobates

by Sam Cutler

Book Overview

A "straight-dope, tell-all account" of touring with two of the world's greatest bands of the 60s and 70s -- A "fast-moving narrative of rock-n-roll excess." (Publishers Weekly)

Sam draws intimate portraits of other stars of the psychedelic circus that was the music industry in the sixties and seventies, including Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, The Band, the Allman Brothers, Pink Floyd, and Eric Clapton

In this all-access...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 155022932X
• ISBN13: 9781550229325
• Release Date: April 2010
• Publisher: ECW Press
• Length: 348 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

The Boomerocity Review

The sixties were both an idyllic and turbulent time. For Sam Cutler, the last year of that decade certainly seemed to have started out as idyllic with him landing what appeared to be the uber sweet gig as road manager for the Rolling Stones' U.S. tour. However, as with society, Cutler's decade ended with a turbulence that would haunt him to this day. This curse - this albatross, as it were, was a disaster called "Altamont". Much has been written and speculated about the horrific concert. A film, Gimme Shelter, was even made of the tragic events on December 6, 1969. And, while lawsuits and trials resulted, a full official investigation into what happened at the northern California festival has never been conducted. For the first time, Sam Cutler tells what he knows, and what he suspects, surrounding the events leading up to, through and after that fateful day. If what he says is even half accurate, the implications can be quite frightening. I'm not going to tell you the story otherwise why bother to purchase the book? As incredible and compelling of a story the whole Altamont event, and Cutler's insight into it, are, Sam has much, much more to share. The book reads like a who's who of rock and roll royalty. You'll also gain incredible insight into the unique world of the Grateful Dead, whom Cutler went to work for after the Stones literally abandoned him immediately after Altamont. For business geeks like me, you'll be mesmerized by the multiple stories of the rough and tumble world of road management in a rock and roll circus. It's tough, it's scary and it's not for the faint of heart. Sam Cutler tells it like it is. The sex. The drugs. The rock and roll. It's all there in all of its glory. So are the stories of our favorite rock icons. Did you know that they're actually human? Who woulda thunk it? If you love classic rock and have a fond appreciation of the sixties and seventies, the Sam Cutler's You Can't Always Get What You Want is a must have for your library. Seriously. You can also track Sam via his website at [...]. He's a guy who still has quite a lot to say. Randy Patterson [...]

Altamont finally explained, plus some tasty memories

A compelling and fun read. Finally a book that actually reflects the significance of r & r to cultures on both sides of the Atlantic in the '60's and '70's. Bringing joy to the gloomy masses, and all. After Altamont, Cutler investigated why things went so terribly and massively wrong. What he found is something of a shocker, although in retrospect it makes perfect sense. If you like the Rolling Stones and/or the Grateful Dead, this is a must. If your knowledge of the popular music industry is more recent, then this is a record of a time when musicians had some control over a new form of music, before the money- and power-hungry goons stepped in and made it something else.

Cudos to you Sam - A Smashing Success

Could not put this down. Could not do another thing until I finished it. Thank you Sam Cutler for a rollicking, rousing, racy and romantic, repartee of your adventures with the Stones and the Dead. You have done a handsome and gracious job of reporting the truths about the music, the times, the people and the total trip that it truly was. Thank you for writing - for all the world to read at last - the story of what really happened at Altamont. Thank you for revealing the politics, the power plays, the Fed/Mafia sabotage. No-one else would do it, or could do it; you have the guts and the data. You're the man, Sam. So glad to know you a little better and very much looking forward to another tome from you. Highly recommended reading to whomever would like to know the truth of the times and the politics that "killed rock and roll" that gruesome December night in 1969.

great book

Would reccomend this book for any fan of the Rolling Stones and/or Grateful Dead, or any knowledge of the people/author/music of this time period.

Rock Noir At Its Most Gripping

"You Can't Always Get What You Want" is a gripping rock 'n' roll saga which should appeal to anyone who is intrigued by authentic 'I was there' memoirs. Sam Cutler's book is not your usual press clippings cut and paste job from a rock journalist, aged groupie or a sycophantic fan. It's the Real Thing, lucidly and well written from a Napoleon styled tour manager's point of view. Cutler's tome doesn't solely focus on his role of tour manager, but starts prior to his career in rock 'n' roll, when he was illegitimately born in a stately home in Hertfordshire during World War 11. He was consequently placed in an orphanage and was adopted when he was three, but didn't discover his true parentage until he was fifteen. His natural mother was Irish from a gypsy family who had been abandoned by his father, a Jewish mathematician who then died on active service in the Royal Air Force. 'In the blood of my veins, I was Irish, Gypsy, and Jew!' Cutler exclaims, thankful he wasn't English but was a mixture of 'three persecuted races', and not of pure English stock like the Cutlers, his adoptive protestant parents who renamed him Sam (his birth name was Brendan Lyons). `All I could think was how grateful I was that I wasn't English and named Cyril, ' Cutler quips which illustrates what a droll writer he is. His adoptive Communistic parents always had music in the house and Sam was raised on 'union songs and paeans to Stalin and the Red Army.` 'One would reasonably think that after countless acid trips and the experiences of the drug-fuelled sixties, the words of obscure political songs would fade from my mind, but to this day they remain eerie reminders of that distant country which is my past,' Cutler reminisces. Sam Cutler's disabled father died when he was eight and when his mother remarried, he was re-located to their new home in the suburbs where in was his own words, he became a 'typical teenager', listened to music and dreamt of going to California. Instead, he became a teacher, ran a folk club and played the guitar. 'I wasn't interested so much in being a performer as in organising shows. Production is a bit like being a general - if you're going to attack Russia, you need a decent plan!' After he stopped teaching and emigrated to London, he quickly became involved in the city's psychedelic music scene. After working on the Pink Floyd's and Blind Faith's free concerts in Hyde Park, the Rolling Stones asked him to be their tour manager after their Brian Jones' 'memorial' concert in the park, and according to Cutler, 'the largest free concert in England.' Fortunately for the reader, Sam Cutler remembers details of events in his life, as well as verbatim conversations with his R.I.P. friends like Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia. After Cutler was anointed the Stones' new tour manager, he went to Los Angeles with the band. 'It's a massive responsibility, looking after people like the Rolling Stones. There are people out there who wa