Sam Fender’s John Lewis ad and the Rolling Stones covers that have come before

Singer Sam Fender covers The Rolling Stones classic You Can’t Always Get What You Want for this year’s John Lewis Christmas advert, but he is not alone in covering one of Britain’s best-loved bands.

The 32-year-old’s rendition – recorded with the children’s choir from his old school, John Spence Community High School, and the Easington Colliery Band – comes off the back of a successful last few years for the singer, who won the 2025 Mercury Prize for his album People Watching, and saw his duet with Olivia Dean, Rein Me In, become the longest-running number one single in British history, spending 23 weeks at the top.

His new version of the Stones’ classic song has been backed by frontman Sir Mick Jagger, who said: “I’m a fan of Sam’s work, so I was pleased to hear he was covering one of my songs. I think he’s done a great job with it.”

It is not the first festive track for the singer after Fender previously recorded a cover of Lindisfarne’s Winter Song as part of a Christmas fundraising campaign for The Big Issue.

The Rolling Stones have seen their music translated into different languages and genres, from David Bowie’s glam rock take on Let’s Spend The Night Together to Susan Boyle’s surprise rendition of Wild Horses.

(left to right) Ronnie Wood, Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones (Ian West/PA)

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– Sam Fender, You Can’t Always Get What You Want

Fender’s attempt at the Stones’ Let It Bleed (1969) cut soundtracks John Lewis’s 2026 festive advert, which stars actress Dame Kristin Scott Thomas and a pull-along wooden dog voiced by comedian Paul Whitehouse in a story about finding a thoughtful gift.

– Susan Boyle, Wild Horses

Susan Boyle covered the Stones’ Wild Horses (Andrew Milligan/PA)

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After winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2009, Boyle appeared on The X Factor six months later singing this ballad from the Stones’ Sticky Fingers (1971) album, a surprising choice for the Scottish star who rose to fame singing songs from musicals.

The track featured on Boyle’s debut album I Dreamed A Dream (2009).

– Otis Redding, (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction

Redding’s rendition of the Stones’ number one single sees the original fuzz guitar line replaced by horns and the singer presents a yearning, soulful rendition of the song on his 1965 album Otis Blue.

The single, which reached number 33 on the UK singles chart, made Redding the first black artist to have a hit with a song by a British invasion group.

– Bryan Ferry, Sympathy For The Devil

Ferry has covered Sympathy For The Devil (Ian West/PA)

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The Roxy Music frontman’s rendition of Sympathy For The Devil, which tells parts of world history from the viewpoint of satan, is a much lighter take thanks to Ferry’s space age warble and featured on his 1973 solo debut album These Foolish Things.

– Devo, (I Can’t Get Me No) Satisfaction

Perhaps one of the best-known Stones covers, Devo’s version of (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction strips away Sir Mick’s sexual longing on the original and introduces a jerky almost emotionless rhythm drenched in anxiety.

The song saw the US punk band slightly change the track title to (I Can’t Get Me No) Satisfaction and became their highest charting single in the UK reaching number 41.

– The Who, The Last Time/Under My Thumb

The Who covered two Stones songs in protest at Sir Mick and Richards’ imprisonment (James Manning/PA)

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When Sir Mick and guitarist Keith Richards were sent to prison on drugs charges in 1967, The Who responded in protest by recording a double a-side of The Last Time and Under My Thumb to keep their music in the public conscience while they were in jail.

Upon the single’s release, however, both Sir Mick and Richards had been freed following a newspaper campaign in The Times and the record charted at number 44 in the UK singles chart.

– The Soup Dragons, I’m Free

Featuring on the Stones’ 1965 album Out Of Our Heads, I’m Free was transformed for the dancefloor by indie dance outfit The Soup Dragons in 1990, introducing an interpolation of Donovan’s 1969 song Barabajagal and a baggy backing beat, scoring them a UK top 10 single.

Sir Rod Stewart – Street Fighting Man

Sir Rod covered Street Fighting Man on his debut solo album (Andrew Milligan/PA)

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Sir Rod’s elongated five-minute cover of the Beggar’s Banquet (1968) track opens his 1970 debut solo album An Old Raincoat Won’t Ever Let You Down with backing from Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood and pianist Ian McLagan.

– Eric Burdon and War, Paint It, Black

First covered by Burdon with The Animals in a psychedelic fashion on 1967’s Winds Of Change, his take on Paint It, Black with funk band War is a 13-and-a-half minute epic with seven different movements, which opens their second studio album The Black-Man’s Burdon (1970).

– David Bowie, Let’s Spend The Night Together

Bowie covered Let’s Spend The Night Together on Aladdin Sane (Yui Mok/PA)

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Appearing on Bowie’s 1973 glam rock classic Aladdin Sane, his take on Let’s Spend The Night Together features the recognisable throb of Mick Ronson’s guitar and an added spoken word part in the middle.

The Stones’ original version was released as a double a-side single with Ruby Tuesday, reaching number three on the UK singles chart and getting banned by the BBC for its suggestive lyrics.