Rolling Stones songs: Gotta Get Away
*Click for MORE ROLLING STONES SONGS 1962-PRESENT

Darlin’, this old room’s falling in on me/ You understand the truth now…

Written by: Jagger/Richard
Recorded: RCA Studios, Hollywood, USA, July 2-12, Sept. 6-7 1965
Guest musicians: James Alexander (tambourine)
*Data taken from Martin Elliott’s book THE ROLLING STONES COMPLETE RECORDING SESSIONS 1962-2012

From the The Rolling Stones – All the Songs book:
“Gotta Get Away” is the only Jagger-Richards song on the first side of the
UK version of the LP Out of Our Heads. Its narrator has had enough of his girlfriend
as a result of all her lies. He can no longer stand to see [her] face, even in
pictures of her on his wall. In short, he has decided: I got to get away. Mick
Jagger sings the song in a tone of justified reproachfulness. The Stones’
singer is thus lifting the curtain on the nature of love: dishonesty in an affair
of the heart can only end badly. This can perhaps be seen as a foretaste of
the sexism displayed (or cultivated?) by the London gang.
“Gotta Get Away” is definitely not the best song written by the duo
during this early stage of their career. This has led some people to suggest
that it was mere filler. Be that as it may, it nevertheless possesses a
particular atmosphere that enabled the Stones to stray off the path of blues,
rock ’n’ roll, and soul and try something new. Could this explain why it was
excluded from the track listing of the US version of the album and instead
released as a single?