November 6, 1965
Perched high above all others in the upper stratosphere of the Billboard Hot 100 pop music chart on this day sat the Rolling Stones.
Get Off Of My Cloud ended a 4-week stint at #1 by their British Invasion arch-rivals The Beatles with Paul McCartney‘s signature song Yesterday.
Following the laws of physics – “what goes up, must come down” – the cushy cumulonimbus ride ended for the “Bad Boys of Rock’n’Roll” after just two weeks – succeeded by I Hear A Symphony, the 6th of twelve chart-toppers by Ms. Diana Ross and company, The Supremes.
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Stones head axeman Keith Richards once said of the track from the Stones’ fifth American album, December’s Children (And Everybody’s):
“Get Off My Cloud was basically a response to people knocking on our door asking us for the follow up to ‘Satisfaction’, which was such an enormous hit worldwide. This, to us, was mind-blowing. I mean, not only was it a #1 record but, boom! – 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. Because within 3 weeks, in those days hey, they want another single. And we weren’t quite ready for that.”
“So it was our response to the knock at the door, and I’m surprised that it did so well. I mean it has a certain charm but I really remember it as a knee-jerk reaction. And it came out better than I thought.”
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[Note] Some audio song files may not play on smartphones, tablets or connected devices. A laptop, desktop PC or Mac may be required for optimal enjoyment.
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GET OFF OF MY CLOUD
The Rolling Stones
(Mono Single Version)
[1965]
Being the followup to the heavily sexually-innuendoed #1 mega hit (and ultimately the biggest hit of 1965) ‘Satisfaction’ a few wary radio programmers – based on the title alone – speculated the song was about getting high on drugs, leading to ‘Cloud’ ridiculously being banned by some stations (and so went the 60’s).
https://youtu.be/XAXuVYiKFFc
Besides ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Get Off Of My Cloud’, five more Stones singles would top the Hot 100 between 1966 and 1978 – Paint It, Black (1966), Ruby Tuesday (1967), Honky Tonk Women (1969), Brown Sugar (1971), Angie (1973) and Miss You (1978).
All except ‘Get Off My Cloud’ and ‘Paint It, Black’ sold one million copies.
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BONUS STUFF!
GET OFF OF MY CLOUD
The Rolling Stones
(True Stereo Mix)
[1965]
Here’s a rarely heard version of ‘Get Off Of My Cloud’ in true stereo – meaning the various instruments are heard on BOTH left and right channels, with the lead vocals in the CENTER of the stereo spectrum.
https://youtu.be/kDB_c0MRnp0
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The B-side of ‘Get Off My Cloud’ was called I’m Free – a Stones’ obscurity until 1990 when the Scottish rock-dance fusion band Soup Drag0ns (featuring Junior Reid) charted a cover version on Billboard (#79).
I’M FREE
The Rolling Stones
(B-side of Get Off Of My Cloud)
[1965]
https://youtu.be/kaRUyIrq1qg
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Songs Source: The Music Vault of HouseoftheHits, Inc.
Billboard® Chart Data: Joel Whitburn’s Record Research (eBook Editions)
Record Sleeve & Label Graphics: Courtesy of 45cat
