Get off of My Cloud
Encyclopedia
"Get Off of My Cloud" is a song by the English rock
band The Rolling Stones
. It was written as a follow-up single to the successful "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
". The song topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom in the weeks following its release in November 1965.
and
Keith Richards
, the song was recorded in early September 1965. The song is noted for its drum intro by Charlie Watts
and twin guitars by Brian Jones
and Keith Richards
. The lyrics are defiant and rebellious, which was common practice for the Rolling Stones around that time; they were beginning to cultivate their infamous "bad boy" image. The Stones have said that the song is written as a reaction to their sudden popularity after the success of "Satisfaction". The song deals with their aversion to people's expectations of them.
On the song, Richards said in 1971, "I never dug it as a record. The chorus was a nice idea, but we rushed it as the follow-up. We were in L.A.
, and it was time for another single. But how do you follow-up "Satisfaction"? Actually, what I wanted was to do it slow like a Lee Dorsey
thing. We rocked it up. I thought it was one of Andrew Loog Oldham
's worst productions." In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone
, 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." In the 2003 book According to... The Rolling Stones, Richards says: "'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'."
The song is in E major
and is a variation on the Louie Louie
riff
: I-IV-V-IV, in this case E A B A.
Brian Jones' guitar part can only just about be heard in the mono mix of the song as it is buried under the sound of the other instrument parts. It can only be clearly heard in some, but not all, unofficial stereo remixes.
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
band The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. It was written as a follow-up single to the successful "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
" Satisfaction" is a song by the English rock band The Rolling Stones, released in 1965. It was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. Richards's throwaway three-note guitar riff — intended to be replaced by horns — opens and drives the song...
". The song topped the charts in the United States and the United Kingdom in the weeks following its release in November 1965.
Composition
Written by Mick JaggerMick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and
Jagger/Richards
The songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, known as Jagger/Richards , is a musical collaboration whose output has produced the majority of the catalogue of The Rolling Stones....
Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
, the song was recorded in early September 1965. The song is noted for its drum intro by Charlie Watts
Charlie Watts
Charles Robert "Charlie" Watts is an English drummer, best known as a member of The Rolling Stones. He is also the leader of a jazz band, a record producer, commercial artist, and horse breeder.-Early life:...
and twin guitars by Brian Jones
Brian Jones
Lewis Brian Hopkins Jones , known as Brian Jones, was an English musician and a founding member of the Rolling Stones....
and Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
. The lyrics are defiant and rebellious, which was common practice for the Rolling Stones around that time; they were beginning to cultivate their infamous "bad boy" image. The Stones have said that the song is written as a reaction to their sudden popularity after the success of "Satisfaction". The song deals with their aversion to people's expectations of them.
On the song, Richards said in 1971, "I never dug it as a record. The chorus was a nice idea, but we rushed it as the follow-up. We were in L.A.
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, and it was time for another single. But how do you follow-up "Satisfaction"? Actually, what I wanted was to do it slow like a Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey
Lee Dorsey was an African American pop/R&B singer during the 1960s. Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint with instrumental backing provided by the Meters.-Career:...
thing. We rocked it up. I thought it was one of Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's worst productions." In a 1995 interview with Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
, 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." In the 2003 book According to... The Rolling Stones, Richards says: "'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'."
The song is in E major
Major chord
In music theory, a major chord is a chord having a root, a major third, and a perfect fifth. When a chord has these three notes alone, it is called a major triad...
and is a variation on the Louie Louie
Louie Louie
"Louie Louie" is an American rock 'n' roll song written by Richard Berry in 1955. It has become a standard in pop and rock, with hundreds of versions recorded by different artists...
riff
RIFF
The Resource Interchange File Format is a generic file container format for storing data in tagged chunks. It is primarily used to store multimedia such as sound and video, though it may also be used to store any arbitrary data....
: I-IV-V-IV, in this case E A B A.
Brian Jones' guitar part can only just about be heard in the mono mix of the song as it is buried under the sound of the other instrument parts. It can only be clearly heard in some, but not all, unofficial stereo remixes.
Rolling Stones releases
- December's Children (And Everybody's)December's Children (And Everybody's)-Personnel:*Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica on "I'm Moving On," percussion*Keith Richards – guitars, backing vocals, and string arrangement*Brian Jones – guitars, backing vocals, harmonica on "Look What You've Done," piano, and organ...
(1965) - Got Live If You Want It! (1966)
- Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass)Big Hits is the first official compilation album by The Rolling Stones, released on 28 March 1966, on London Records in the US and on 4 November 1966, by Decca Records in the UK. The two releases featured different cover art and track listing...
(1966) - Hot Rocks 1964–1971Hot Rocks 1964–1971Hot Rocks 1964–1971 is the first compilation album of Rolling Stones music released by former manager Allen Klein's ABKCO Records after the band's departure from Decca and Klein...
(1971) - Love You LiveLove You LiveLove You Live is a double live album by The Rolling Stones, released in 1977. It is drawn from Tour of the Americas shows in the US in the summer of 1975, Tour of Europe shows in 1976 and performances from the infamous El Mocambo nightclub concert venue in Toronto in 1977...
(1977) - Forty LicksForty LicksForty 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 the band's formative Decca/London era of the 1960s, now licensed by ABKCO Records , with their self-owned post-1970 material,...
(2002) - The Biggest BangThe Biggest BangThe Biggest Bang is a four-disc concert DVD/BD collection released by the Rolling Stones. The collection documents several shows from the band's 2005-2006 legs of the A Bigger Bang Tour. The DVD debuted at #1 on Billboard's music video chart selling 20,422 copies during the first week and has...
(2007)
Cover versions
- "Get Off My Cloud" by The Eyes (1965)
- "Get Off My Cloud" by Cary August (1994)
- "Get Off My Cloud" by The BriggsThe BriggsThe Briggs are a punk rock band based out of Los Angeles, California. The Band Formed in 1999 under the name "I Decline" by brothers Joey and Jason LaRocca and bassist Matthew Stolarz . In 2001, with the addition of drummer Chris Arredondo the band adopted the name The Briggs...
(2004) - "Get Off My Cloud" by Alexis KornerAlexis KornerAlexis Korner was a blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as "a Founding Father of British Blues"...
(1975) - UHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other StuffUHF - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other StuffUHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff is the sixth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic. The album featured many music cuts from the film as well as some of the commercials and other parody bits...
, as part of "Hot Rocks Polka" by "Weird Al" Yankovic"Weird Al" YankovicAlfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
(1989) - "Get Off of My Cloud" by The MeteorsThe MeteorsThe Meteors are an English psychobilly band formed in 1980. Originally from London, England, they are often credited with giving the psychobilly subgenre—which fuses punk rock with rockabilly—its distinctive sound and style...
has partially the same lyrics and tune. - "Get Off My Cloud" by The Flying PicketsThe Flying PicketsThe Flying Pickets are a British a cappella vocal group, who had a Christmas number one hit in 1983 in the UK Singles Chart with their cover of Yazoo's track "Only You".-History:...
recorded live at the Albany Empire (1982), and also released on The Best of the Flying Pickets (Only You) EMI 1991 - Nikki BoyerNikki BoyerNikki Boyer is an American actress and singer-songwriter. Boyer hosts Yahoo!'s "Daytime In No Time," receiving millions of hits per day. Boyer is also the former co-host of Watch This! on the TV Guide Channel.- Career :...
recorded an acoustic version of the song in 2003 as part of the tribute CD New Licks: A Tribute to the Rolling Stones. - The improv-comedy show Whose Line Is It Anyway?Whose Line Is It Anyway? (U.S. TV series)Whose Line is it Anyway? is a comedy improv show hosted by Drew Carey on ABC that ran from August 5, 1998 to September 4, 2004, and subsequently on ABC Family since 2005...
featured Colin MochrieColin MochrieColin Andrew Mochrie is a Scottish Canadian actor and improvisational comedian, most famous for his appearances on the British and US versions of television improvisation show Whose Line Is It Anyway?.-Early life:...
making a parody of the song's title for Wayne BradyWayne BradyWayne Alphonso Brady is an actor, singer, comedian and television personality, known for his work as a regular on the American version of the improvisational comedy television series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, and as the host of the daytime talk show The Wayne Brady Show...
and Brad SherwoodBrad SherwoodBradley "Brad" Sherwood is an American actor and comedian. He has worked in entertainment as an actor, comedian, singer, writer, and producer.- Early life and career:...
to make up lyrics to. The song was called "Hey, You! Get Off of McCloud" about the TV detective show McCloud. The guitar and beat sounded more like "Honky Tonk WomenHonky Tonk Women"Honky Tonk Women" is a 1969 hit song by The Rolling Stones. Released as a single on 4 July 1969 in the UK and a week later in the US, it topped the charts in both nations.-Inspiration and Recording:...
" than "Get Off of My Cloud" - The song's refrain is the opening line in Wu Tang Clan's "Method Man"