Today in Music (1965): The Rolling Stones Out of Our Heads released in the U.S.

Out of Our Heads The Rolling Stones

Released: 7/30/1965 (US), 9/24/1965 (UK) Peak: 13 US, 2 UK, -- CN, 2 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.2 US, -- UK, 2.5 world (includes US and UK), 16.81 EAS Genre: classic rock

Tracks (U.S. version): Click on a song title for more details. Mercy, Mercy [2:45] Hitch Hike [2:22] The Last Time [3:35] That’s How Strong My Love Is [2:23] Good Times [1:57] I’m All Right [2:21] I Can’t Get No Satisfaction [3:45] Cry to Me [3:08] The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man [3:10] Play with Fire [2:15] The Spider and the Fly [3:30] One More Try [1:58] Total Running Time: 33:24 Tracks (UK version): Click on a song title for more details. She Said Yeah [1:35] Mercy, Mercy [2:45] Hitch Hike [2:22] That’s How Strong My Love Is [2:23] Good Times [1:57] Gotta Get Away [2:07] Talkin’ ‘Bout You [2:31] Cry to Me [3:08] Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin’) [2:09] Heart of Stone [2:49] The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man [3:10] I’m Free [2:24] Total Running Time: 29:21 The Players: Mick Jagger (vocals, tambourine, harmonica) Keith Richards (guitar, backing vocals) Brian Jones (guitar, backing vocals, harmonica, tambourine, maracas) Bill Wyman (bass, backing vocals) Charlie Watts (drums)

Rating: 4.173 out of 5.00 (average of 26 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album Not only was the U.K. album of the same name a mess (its 12 songs were spread out over three U.S. albums – see above), but even the album cover was confusing. The U.K. cover for Out of Our Heads was later used for the U.S. version of December's Children. “Things moved fast back in the day: The Rolling Stones' first four albums came out between May 1964 and July 1965, and all four are essential to an understanding of the origins of blues-based rock & roll. Out of Our Heads was the last in that series, and it culminated the Stones' commercial breakthrough in America.” AD “To make the album, the Stones returned in May 1965 to Chess Studios, in Chicago, home of their blues idols and the place where the Stones themselves had recorded parts of 12 x 5 the year before. They completed Out of Our Heads at sessions in Hollywood and London.” AD “Like its three predecessors, Out of Our Heads draws heavily on the work of American R&B musicians who were all but unknown to white teenagers both in this country and in the United Kingdom. The Stones delivered raw covers of Don Covay's Mercy Mercy, Otis Redding's That's How Strong My Love Is (an apex of Stones live shows of the period), Sam Cooke's Good Times, Solomon Burke's Cry to Me and Marvin Gaye's Hitch Hike.” AD “I'm All Right (based on a Bo Diddley sound) showed their '65 sound at its rawest, and there are a couple of fun, though derivative, bluesy originals in The Spider and the Fly and The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man.” RU The album’s breakthrough, however, was that “the Stones finally proved themselves capable of writing classic rock singles that mined their R&B/blues roots, but updated them into a more guitar-based, thoroughly contemporary context.” RU On The Last Time and “the riff-driven” RU Satisfaction “Jagger found the theme – petulant dissatisfaction – that best suited the persona he had been developing, and Keith Richards assumed his mantle as King of the Riff.” AD The latter “made them superstars in the States and defined their sound and rebellious attitude better than any other single song.” RU It “pegged the Stones as the bad boys of rock. The song's sexual references triggered hand-wringing in the mainstream media, bringing down precisely the kind of heat the band thrived on. Their defiance made the Stones heroes of the then-burgeoning counterculture.” AD Also included is the “menacing, folky” RU Play with Fire. However, this and the aforementioned singles didn’t make the cut on the British version of the album. “The usual assumption is that the British-issued Rolling Stones albums of the mid-'60s are, like the Beatles' British LPs of the same era, more accurate representations of the group and their work than their American equivalents; the latter were tailored to the U.S. market and usually had singles that had been recorded and released separately added to their programming. The reality, however, is that the group's British LPs were almost as much of a hodgepodge, but just devised differently.” BE Only six songs appear on both albums; the other half dozen tunes from the U.K. edition of Out of Our Heads show up on the U.S. albums Now! and December’s Children (And Everybody’s). The Songs Here’s a breakdown of each of the individual songs.

Mercy, Mercy The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Don Covay, Ronnie Miller Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

Hitch Hike The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Marvin Gaye, Clarence Paul, William “Mickey” Stevenson Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

The Last Time The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Recorded: ? Released: 2/26/1965 (single), Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) (1966), More Hot Rocks (Big Hits & Fazed Cookies) (1972), The Singles Collection: The London Years (1989), Forty Licks (2002), Grrr! (2012) Peak: 9 BB, 10 CB, 10 HR, 5 CL, 1 UK, 9 CN, 2 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: A

That’s How Strong My Love Is The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Roosevelt Jamison Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965), Grrr! (2012) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

Good Times The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Sam Cooke Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

I’m Alright The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Bo Diddley Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Recorded: May 12, 1965 at RCA in Hollywood, California Released: 6/4/1965 (US single), 8/20/1965 (UK single), Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) (1966), Hot Rocks (1971), The Singles Collection: The London Years (1989), Forty Licks (2002), Grrr! (2012) Peak: 1 BB, 1 CB, 1 HR, 19 RB, 1 CL, 1 UK, 3 CN, 1 AU Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 6.0 radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: A

Cry to Me The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Berns Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): The Rolling Stones as Nanker Phelge Recorded: ? Released: 6/4/1965 (B-side of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” US), Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Out of Our Heads (UK, 1965), The The Singles Collection: The London Years (1989) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

Play with Fire The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): The Rolling Stones as Nanker Phelge Recorded: 1/11/1965 to 2/18/1965 at RCA in Hollywood, California Released: 2/26/1965 (B-side of “The Last Time”), Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), Big Hits (High Tide & Green Grass) (1966), Hot Rocks (1971), The Singles Collection: The London Years (1989), Grrr! (2012) Peak: 96 BB, 10 CL Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Song: A

The Spider and the Fly The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Recorded: ? Released: 8/20/1965 (B-side of “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction,” UK), Out of Our Heads (US, 1965), The Singles Collection: The London Years (1989) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

One More Try The Rolling Stones

Writer(s): Mick Jagger, Keith Richards Recorded: ? Released: Out of Our Heads (US, 1965) Peak: -- Click for codes to charts. Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK) Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, -- video, -- streaming About the Song: A

Resources/References: AD Anthony DeCurtis, RollingStone.com BE All Music Guide review of UK version by Bruce Eder MG Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon (2022). The Rolling Stones: All the Songs. Hachette Book Group: New York, NY. RU All Music Guide review of US version by Richie Unterberger US Related DMDB Pages: First posted 4/1/2008; last updated 12/12/2025.