"Get Off of My Cloud" is a song by the English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
.
[ It was written by ]Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
and Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
for a single to follow the successful "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Rolling Stones. A product of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards' songwriting partnership, it features a guitar riff by Richards that opens and drives the song. The riff ...
". Recorded in Hollywood, California, in early September 1965, the song was released in September in the United States and October in the United Kingdom.
It topped the charts in the US, UK, Canada, and Germany and reached number two in several other countries.
Composition
The Stones have said that the song is a reaction to their suddenly greatly enhanced popularity and deals with their aversion to people's expectations of them after the success of "Satisfaction". Richards commented: "'Get Off of My Cloud' was basically a response to people knocking on our door asking us for the follow-up to 'Satisfaction' ... We thought 'At last. We can sit back and maybe think about events'. Suddenly there's the knock at the door and of course what came out of that was 'Get Off of My Cloud'". In 1971 he added:
In a 1995 interview with ''Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...
'', Jagger said, "That was Keith's melody and my lyrics... It's a stop-bugging-me, post-teenage-alienation song. The grown-up world was a very ordered society in the early '60s, and I was coming out of it. America was even more ordered than anywhere else. I found it was a very restrictive society in thought and behavior and dress."
The song opens with a drum intro by Charlie Watts
Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021.
Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...
and twin guitars by Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
and Richards. ''Ultimate Classic Rock'' critic Michael Gallucci called this Watts' best drumming performance, saying that it has "one of the most unconventional drum structures ever employed in a Top 40 hit" in which Watts basically :plays the same 4/4-beat-fill-4/4-beat-fill pattern throughout the song" and does not break the beat even once.
Personnel
According to authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon, except where noted:
The Rolling Stones
* Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...
vocals
* Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943), often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as "Keith Richard", is an English musician and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-princi ...
rhythm guitar, backing vocals
* Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkin Jones (28 February 1942 – 3 July 1969) was an English multi-instrumentalist and singer best known as the founder, rhythm/lead guitarist, and original leader of the Rolling Stones. Initially a guitarist, he went on to prov ...
twelve-string electric guitar, lead guitar, acoustic guitar
* Bill Wyman
William George Wyman (né Perks; born 24 October 1936) is an English musician who achieved international fame as the bassist for the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. In 1989, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member ...
bass, backing vocals
* Charlie Watts
Charles Robert Watts (2 June 1941 – 24 August 2021) was an English musician who achieved international fame as the drummer of the Rolling Stones from 1963 until his death in 2021.
Originally trained as a graphic artist, Watts developed an i ...
drums
Additional musicians
* Ian Stewart piano
* Unidentified musician(s) hand claps
Release
The 1965 single release was a major success for the Rolling Stones. In the US, the single reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 6 November 1965, and remained there for two weeks. The song was included on the band's next American album, ''December's Children (And Everybody's)
''December's Children (And Everybody's)'' is the fifth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 4 December 1965. Compiled from disparate sources across the band's recording career up to that point, includin ...
'', released in December 1965. The song stayed at number one in the UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
for three weeks in November that year. ''Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' described the song as a "wild, far out beat number which will have no trouble topping their 'Satisfaction' smash." ''Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'' described it as a "rollicking, fast-moving blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...
-soaked thumper with an infectious danceable beat" that should be another success after "Satisfaction."
Appearances on later Stones releases include:
*'' Got Live If You Want It!'' (live album, 1966)
*''Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)
''Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)'' is the first compilation album by the Rolling Stones. With different cover art and track listings, it was released on 28 March 1966, on London Records in the US and on 4 November 1966, by Decca Records ...
'' (compilation album, 1966)
*''Hot Rocks 1964–1971
''Hot Rocks 1964–1971'' is a compilation album by the Rolling Stones released by London Records in December 1971. It became the Rolling Stones' best-selling release of their career and an enduring and popular retrospective. The album includes ...
'' (compilation album, 1971)
*''30 Greatest Hits'' (compilation album, 1977)
*'' Singles Collection: The London Years'' (compilation album, 1989)
*''Forty Licks
''Forty Licks'' is a double compilation album by the Rolling Stones. A 40-year career-spanning retrospective, ''Forty Licks'' is notable for being the first retrospective to combine their formative Decca/London era of the 1960s, now licensed b ...
'' (compilation album, 2002)
*''The Biggest Bang
''The Biggest Bang'' is a four-disc concert DVD collection released by the Rolling Stones. The collection documents several shows from the band's 2005–2006 legs of their A Bigger Bang Tour. The DVD debuted at number one on ''Billboard''s musi ...
'' (live DVD-set, 2007)
*''GRRR!
''GRRR!'' is a greatest hits album by the Rolling Stones. Released on 12 November 2012, it commemorates the band's 50th anniversary. The album features two new songs titled " Doom and Gloom" and "One More Shot", which were recorded in August ...
'' (compilation album, 2012)
Chart history
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
Sources
*
*
External links
Complete Official Lyrics
*
{{authority control
1965 songs
1965 singles
The Rolling Stones songs
Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Cashbox number-one singles
Number-one singles in Germany
Number-one singles in South Africa
UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Decca Records singles
London Records singles
Songs written by Jagger–Richards
RPM Top Singles number-one singles
Song recordings produced by Andrew Loog Oldham