The Rolling Stones: All Number 1 Songs Ranked Worst To Best
7. Get Off Of My Cloud
UK & US #1, 1965
The year is 1965. You call Mick Jagger on the phone at 3 in the morning and he answers with, 'Hi, it's me, who is it there on the line?' - something that Lionel Richie or Adele could only hope to pull off. You ask Jagger, as politely as you can, to keep the noise down. He tells you, not as politely, to get off of his cloud - and we all know that, were it 2022, the 'get off' of that sentence would be replaced by something even less polite. You get back to bed, muttering something about kids today and their bloody rock music and how things weren't like this back in your day.
Get Off Of My Cloud had everything to be a relatable post-teen cry for release, suitable for anyone feeling overwhelmed by the world around them. Sometimes, you just want to be in your little bubble without meeting people's requirements or expectations. That's totally fair. But we all have to draw the line somewhere, and refusing to turn the noise down at 3 a.m. is that line. More than a realistic look into the conformity or crippling anxiety that the world forces upon us, Get Off Of My Cloud becomes a case study on self-involvement and entitlement. The interpreter's problems are everyone's problems, but not in the way they might seem - they are, in his perspective, everyone else's fault.
Does that make it a bad song? Hell no! Anyone who disagrees can get right on off.
Fun Fact: The anger that permeates this song came from the universal pressure put on the Stones to follow up on their biggest hit up to that point, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction.