You Can’t Always Get What You Want…

by Emmanuel Legrand

This may not be the best rendition of ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ but it is certainly the most cheerful of all (check it out on YouTube).

It was shot in a rehab centre where patients with severe physical damages try to get on with their lives. Theirs is a world of broken bones and shattered lives, with lots of pain. And yet, through this version of the Rolling Stones classic, they manage to bring a smile to your face and lift your spirit.

The video is the brainchild of an old friend, Eric Dufaure, whose life was turned upside down in August when he was run over by a bus in Paris while cycling.

One of his legs is in pieces and he’s been in this rehab centre ever since, following multiple surgeries. He is now allowed to go back home for the weekends.

Eric’s life has always been about music. He was destined to be a banker after completing his Harvard MBA. But then, at the end of the 70s, Chris Blackwell (whom he was related to by his mother), tempted him to work in the music industry. “Come on,” he said, “you are not going to be a banker all your life.”

Eric jumped ship and never looked back. While in New York he ran Blackwell’s management company and started a music production company (Whale), an indie label, Cachalot Records (Comateens, Thomas Leer), wrote a few songs (‘Pigalle La Blanche’ with Bernard Lavilliers), and got married to Carol.

Eventually he went back to France, where he secured a job at France’s rights society Sacem, and went on working for EMI Music Publishing, before launching a new music company, Beluga.

A huge fan of the Beatles, Eric has music in his blood. He is a relentless optimistic, and that’s what transpires in this short movie. Thanks for the music. And bonne chance!