WRITTEN BY Mick Jagger, Keith Richard
PERFORMED BY The Rolling Stones
APPEARS ON December's Children (And Everybody's) (1965); Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass (1966); Hot Rocks, 1964-1971 (1972); Forty Licks (2002); others.
NOTE 1 "Get Off of My Cloud" is an essential Stones song. If you are only buying one Stones anthology, get one that includes "Cloud." 2 Stupid and Contagious has more about "Get Off of My Cloud" here.
'Ere I am sittin' in me apartment lookin' out the window and finkin' about fings. Big fings, important fings. When wot 'appens but a bloke comes on the telly actin' like I'm no' a bloody Englishman if I don't use 'is detergent to wash me dishes! Wash me dishes? That's wot I've got a maid for, innit? Anyway, leave me alone, mate. You go your way and I'll go mine. Know wot I mean? Bloody 'ell.
So I'm 'avin' some of me mates over and we're all 'avin a good time talkin' 'bout important fings and there's some girls too and we're all drinkin' and smokin' and mindin' our own biz when the phone rings. It's a bloke from maybe the 'undredth floor or some place who says we're makin' too much noise, know wot I mean? 'E just wants me to invite him down so 'e can be part of the 'ole 60s party, but I ain't 'avin' it. Leave me alone, mate, I tell him. You go your bloody way and I'll go mine. Know wot I mean?
The party's gettin' to be a bit much wif the phone calls and the music and the boys and the girls and all, so I go out for a drive. The girls will be there when I get back, y'know? So I drive and drive and drive and find a car park and kick back and relax and fink about fings and it's so nice and no one's there. No one sellin' me dishwashin' soap or bovverin' me wif phone calls or wantin' to know wot I fink. It's all nice and peaceful like so I doze off and when I wake up me Bentley is covered wif parking tickets.
They won't leave you be, know wot I mean? Like Phil and Don sang, all I want to do is dream, right? But no, no one, not the telly, not your neighbors, not your friends, not the Establishment, no one will leave you to yer cloud so you can just fink. Why is that? Well, all I have to say is, "Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!" 'Coz two's a crowd, know wot I mean?
LYRICS
I live in an apartment on the 99th floor of my block
And I sit at home looking out the window
Imagining the world has stopped
Then in flies a guy who's all dressed up like a Union Jack
And says, I've won five pounds if I have his kind of detergent pack
I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd
On my cloud, baby
The telephone is ringing
I say, "Hi, it's me, who is there on the line."
A voice says, "Hi, hello, how are you?"
"Well, I guess I'm doin' fine."
He says, "It's 3 a.m., there's too much noise
Don't you people ever want to go to bed?
Just 'cause you feel so good, do you
Have to drive me out of my head?"
I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd
On my cloud, baby
I was sick and tired, fed up with this
And decided to take a drive downtown
It was so very quiet and peaceful, not a soul around
I laid myself out, I was so tired, I started to dream
In the morning the parking tickets were just like
A flag stuck on my screen
I said, Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Hey! You! Get off of my cloud!
Don't hang around 'cause two's a crowd
On my cloud, baby
Mick looks to be checking out the girls at about 1:20--
Love this song and remember when it first came out! My older brother had the "December's Children" album and we would sing this song to the top of our lungs. Great post!
ReplyDeleteFanks!
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite Stones' songs and one of the great rockers by anybody anywhere at any time. If you don't like "Cloud," you don't like rock-and-roll.
Heh, heh! Yup, we used to sing that one to piss off the adults, too. It was our teenaged version of the raspberry!
ReplyDeleteIt was even more fun when Dylan hit the airwaves with "Idiot Wind":
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin’ south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You’re an idiot, babe.
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
We used to sit in the big front window of Poor Richard's on Thames St. (Newport, RI) and sing that one at the tourists walking by. And I was supposed to be an adult then!
Some kids never grow up.
ReplyDeleteI totally wish I had a cloud right now. So I could tell everyone to get off of it :-)
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ReplyDeleteI can't Adam and Eve it! So you're a fluent Cockney speaker all along, me old china?!
ReplyDeleteGreat piece ... very funny!
Here's the perfect site for you .... http://www.cockneyrhymingslang.co.uk
Great artwork on that LP.
ReplyDeleteI guess Wyman wasn't so happy about the shot though - you need a magnifying glass to see him!!
If the cover was made today, I'd say they Photoshopped him in.
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ReplyDeleteK:
ReplyDeleteThanks for turning me on to this site.
I am a HUGE Stones fan.
Back in the day one was either a Stones fan, or a Beatles fan. Hard to be both. I did not appreciate the Beatles till much later.
The Stones really took the blues to heart.
Thanks, RZ; we have fun with this blog. I like it to be as eclectic as possible.
ReplyDeleteMy late wife was a Beatlemaniac who saw the Fab Four twice. She said that there were screamers and criers, and that she was a crier. She liked the Stones, too. She missed seeing them in 1964 after a local newspaper editorial warned parents to keep their children away!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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