"Paint It Black"[a] is a song by the Englishrock bandthe Rolling Stones. A product of thesongwriting partnership ofMick Jagger andKeith Richards, it is araga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European influences and lyrics about grief and loss.London Records released the song as a single in May 1966 in the United States, andDecca Records in the United Kingdom. Two months later, London Records included it as the opening track on the American version of the band's 1966 studio albumAftermath, though it is not on the original UK release.
Originating from a series of improvisational melodies played byBrian Jones on thesitar, the song features all five members of the band contributing to the final arrangement although only Jagger and Richards were credited as songwriters. In contrast to previous Rolling Stones singles with straightforward rock arrangements, "Paint It Black" has unconventional instrumentation, including a prominent sitar, aHammond organ andcastanets. This instrumental experimentation matches other songs onAftermath. The song was influential to the burgeoning psychedelic genre as the first chart-topping single to feature the sitar, and widened the instrument's audience. Reviews of the song at the time were mixed, and some music critics believed its use of the sitar was an attempt to copythe Beatles, while others criticised its experimental style and doubted its commercial potential.
"Paint It Black" was a major chart success for the Rolling Stones, remaining 11 weeks (including two at number one) on the USBillboard Hot 100, and 10 weeks (including one atop the chart) on theRecord Retailer chart in the UK. Upon a reissue in 2007, it reentered theUK Singles Chart for 11 weeks. It was the band's third number-one single in the US and sixth in the UK. The song also topped charts in Canada and the Netherlands. It received a platinum certification in the UK from theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) and from Italy'sFederazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI).
In 1965, popularity ofthe Rolling Stones increased markedly with a series of international hit singles written by lead singerMick Jagger and guitaristKeith Richards.[2] This success attracted the attention ofAllen Klein, an American businessman who became their US representative in August whileAndrew Loog Oldham, the group's manager, continued in the role of promoter and record producer.[3] One of Klein's first actions on the band's behalf was to forceDecca Records to grant a $1.2 million royalty advance to the group, bringing the members their first signs of financial wealth and allowing them to purchase country houses and new cars.[4] TheirOctober–December 1965 tour of North America was the group's fourth and largest tour there up to that point.[5] According to the biographerVictor Bockris, through Klein's involvement, the concerts afforded the band "more publicity, more protection and higher fees than ever before."[6]
By this time, the Rolling Stones had begun to respond to the increasingly sophisticated music of the Beatles, in comparison to whom they had long been promoted by Oldham as a rougher alternative.[7] With the success of the Jagger–Richards-penned singles "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud" (1965) and "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966), the band increasingly rivalled the musical and cultural influence of the Beatles, and began to be identified as one of the major pillars of theBritish Invasion.[8] The Stones' outspoken, surly attitude on songs like "Satisfaction" alienatedthe Establishment detractors ofrock music, which music historian Colin King explains, "only made the group more appealing to those sons and daughters who found themselves estranged from the hypocrisies of the adult world – an element that would solidify into an increasingly militant and disenchantedcounterculture as the decade wore on."[9]
"Paint It Black" came at a pivotal period in the band's recording history. TheJagger–Richards songwriting collaboration had begun producing more original material for the band over the past year, with the early model of Stones albums featuring only a few Jagger–Richards compositions having been replaced by that of albums such asOut of Our Heads andDecember's Children (and Everybody's), each of which consisted of half original tracks and half cover songs.[10][11] This trend culminated in the sessions forAftermath (1966) where, for the first time, the duo penned every track on the album.[12]Brian Jones, originally the band's founder and leader over the first few years of its existence, began feeling overshadowed by the prominence of Jagger and Richards' contributions to the group.
Despite having contributed to early songs by the Stones via theNanker Phelge pseudonym, Jones had less and less influence over the group's direction as their popularity grew primarily as a result of original Jagger–Richards singles. Jones grew bored attempting to write songs with conventional guitar melodies.[13] To alleviate his boredom, he began exploring Eastern instruments, specifically the Indiansitar,[14] with a goal to bolstering the musical texture and complexity of the band's sound. Amulti-instrumentalist, Jones could develop a tune on the sitar in a short time; he had a background with the instrument largely from his studies underHarihar Rao, a disciple ofRavi Shankar.[15]
Over 1965, the sitar had become a more and more prominent instrument in the landscape of British rock.The Yardbirds had attempted to record "Heart Full of Soul" with the sitar as part of the arrangement in April; however, they had run into problems getting the instrument to "cut through" the mix, and the session musician responsible for playing the instrument had trouble staying within the 4/4 time signature of the song.[16] Ultimately, the final version of "Heart Full of Soul" featured a fuzz guitar in place of the sitar, although the song's distinctively Indian timbre remained. Following similar Indian-influenced experimentation bythe Kinks on "See My Friends" that nonetheless still used guitar as the primary instrument, the first British band to release a recording featuring the sitar was the Beatles, with "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" released that December on the albumRubber Soul. Following a discussion with the Beatles' lead guitaristGeorge Harrison, who had recently played the sitar on the sessions for "Norwegian Wood" in October 1965, Jones began devoting more time to the sitar, and began arranging basic melodies with the instrument. One of these melodies morphed over time into the tune featured in "Paint It Black".[17]
Jagger and Richards wrote the lyrics and much of the chord progression of "Paint It Black" the previous December during the first sessions for the then untitled albumAftermath, and while on the1966 Australian tour.[18][19] Initially, the first group of sessions were to be released as an album by themselves, then titledCould You Walk on the Water?[20] In mid-January 1966, the British press announced that a new Rolling Stones LP carrying that title would be released on 10 March.[21] InRolling with the Stones, Wyman refers to the announcement as "audacity" on Oldham's part.[22] A Decca spokesman said the company would not issue an album with such a title "at any price"; Oldham's idea upset executives at the company's American distributor,London Records, who feared the allusion toJesus walking on water would provoke a negative response fromChristians.[23]
The title controversy embroiled the Stones in a conflict with Decca, delaying the Stones' next studio album's release from March to April 1966.[24] The delay, however, gave the Stones more time to record new material for the upcoming album, which had now been retitledAftermath. Upon their return from Australasia, it was one of the new songs worked on for the revised new album. "Paint It Black" was recorded as the Stones had begun to take more time recording their material. Referring to the atmosphere of the Stones' sessions at the time, Richards toldBeat Instrumental magazine in February 1966: "Our previous sessions have always been rush jobs. This time we were able to relax a little, take our time."[25]Sound engineerDave Hassinger recorded the song on 6 and 9 March 1966 atRCA Studios inLos Angeles.[26][27][28]Andrew Loog Oldham produced the track, as with all of the Stones' recordings until 1967.[27] Both the single's US and UK B-sides were also recorded on these dates, as were a majority of album tracks forAftermath.[29]
"Paint It Black" follows a simple verse form that lacks arefrain. It starts with five consecutive 16-bar verses before relaxing into a chanted section and finishing in a franticcoda.[30] The song was written originally as a standardpop arrangement in aminor key similar to "The House of the Rising Sun", which Jagger humorously compared to "songs forJewish weddings".[31] The Stones were dissatisfied with this version and considered scrapping the song altogether. During a session break,Bill Wyman twiddled with aHammond organ in search of a heavierbass sound; Wyman's playing inspired theuptempo and Eastern melody. The sitar was brought into themix when Harihar Rao walked into the studio with one in hand.[31] With the sitar, Jones combined his recent melodic improvisations with the chord progression and lyrics provided by Jagger and Richards. Soon after the recording session, Richards felt that the track's conclusion was over-recorded and that it could have been improved.[15][31]
This song may have the first recorded example of afretless bass guitar. Wyman had removed the frets from a bass intending to replace them, but became enamoured with the fretless sound. This can be most easily heard near the end of each vocal line, when Wyman plays high on the bass's neck, using the upper register.[32][33][34]
Wyman was later critical of Oldham listing Jagger and Richards as songwriters to the exclusion of the rest of the Stones.[35] He felt that "Paint It Black" should have been credited to the band's pseudonym,Nanker Phelge, rather than Jagger–Richards, since the song's final arrangement originated from a studio improvisation by Jones, Watts and himself, and Jones was responsible for providing the melody line on the sitar.[36][37] In the view of pop historian Andrew Grant Jackson, "Paint It Black" bears a strong resemblance tothe Supremes' 1965 hit "My World Is Empty Without You", which used "a foreboding minor key with harpsichord and organ".[38]
Featuring asitar line, "Paint It Black" is anuptempo Indian song that describes the grief suffered by one stunned by the sudden and unexpected loss of a partner.
In a 1995 interview, commenting on the musical styles found onAftermath, Jagger described "Paint It Black" as "this kind of Turkish song".[39] According to music scholar James E. Perone, although the introductory sitar passage is played in an Indian fashion, "the rhythmic and melodic feel of the Eastern-sounding phrases actually call to mind the Middle East more than India".[17] Jagger'sdroning and slightly nasal singing complement themotif Jones plays on the sitar.[40] Wyman's heavy bass,Charlie Watts' low-pitch drumming and Richards'bolero-drivenacoustic guitar outro drive "Paint It Black".[15][31] Commentators and reviewers have classified "Paint It Black" asraga rock,[41][42]psychedelia,[43][44][45] andpsychedelic rock.[46] Perone named "Paint It Black" as one of the Stones' 1966 songs that acts as an explicit attempt to transcend the blues-based rock and roll conventions of the Stones' previous songs, along with otherAftermath songs such as "Stupid Girl", "Lady Jane" and "Under My Thumb".[47]
Using colour-based metaphors, the song's lyrics describe the grief suffered by someone stunned by the sudden and unexpected loss of a partner,[31][48] leading to what author Tony Visconti terms "a blanket worldview of desperation and desolation, with no hint of hope."[40] The lyrics have also given rise to alternative interpretations scholars consider less likely, ranging from abad trip on hallucinogens to theVietnam War.[49] Perone noted in 2012 that the lyrical content – a character "so entrenched in his depression and rage that he has lost all hope" – establishes a rough concept forAftermath's American edition, the following songs offering insight into "the darkness of his psyche" and possible reasons for its darkness.[17] Perone argues the resulting connections among the songs onAftermath lend it a conceptual unity which, although not sufficient for it to be considered aconcept album, allows for the record to be understood "as apsychodrama around the theme of love, desire and obsession that never quite turns out right". As Perone explains:
The individual songs seem to ping-pong back and forth between themes of love/desire for women and the desire to control women and out-and-outmisogyny. However, the band uses musical connections between songs as well as the sub-theme of travel, the use of feline metaphors for women and other lyrical connections to suggest that the characters whom lead singer Mick Jagger portrays throughout the album are really one and perhaps stem from the deep recesses of his psyche.
The Village Voice music criticRobert Christgau described "Paint It Black" as an example of the Stones' development as artists. According to Christgau, the texture of the Stones' blues-derivedhard rock is "permanently enriched" as Jones "daub[s] on occult instrumental [colours]".[50] Christgau praised Mick Jagger specifically for his influence on the Stones' artistic identity on their 1966 material, describing him as a lyricist "whose power, subtlety and wit are unparalleled in contemporary popular music", and additionally suggested that Jagger and Richards rank second as composers of melody in rock, behind onlyJohn Lennon and Paul McCartney.[51]
London Records released "Paint It Black" as a single in the US in May 1966;Decca Records released it on 13 May in the UK.[52] "Paint It Black"'s UKB-side was "Long Long While", a song that was not released on any of the band's studio albums.Richie Unterberger ofAllMusic later described "Long Long While" as an underappreciated song, with a "considerably different" tone than most of the band's work, and commented that it was better than many of the tracks the Stones selected for their studio albums.[53] The song was later used in the movieCasino.[54]Upon their original release, the songs were credited to "Jagger-Richard", as Andrew Loog Oldham advised Keith Richards to use the surname Richard professionally on the Stones' releases during the 1960s.[55] Later releases of the song have changed the credit to "Jagger-Richards".
In the US, "Stupid Girl" was chosen as its US B-side.[49] Both songs were included in the American release ofAftermath, with "Paint It Black" being a new addition when compared to the earlier British edition[56] "Paint It Black" becameAftermath's opening track,[57] replacing "Mother's Little Helper", while "Stupid Girl" remained as the second track on the album.[19] Its delayed North American release allowedpirate radio stations to play the single up to two weeks before the album appeared.[58] The song was originally released as "Paint It, Black", thecomma being an error by Decca, which stirred controversy over its racial interpretation.[1][59] The Stones performed "Paint It Black" live onThe Ed Sullivan Show on 11 September.[60][61]
Due to "Paint It Black" not appearing on the UK edition ofAftermath and being released as a non-album single, its first album release in the UK came on the UK edition of the compilationBig Hits (High Tide and Green Grass) (1966), though the album was not released with the song as part of its track listing in the US. The first release of the song on a compilation album in the US came onThrough the Past, Darkly (Big Hits Vol. 2) (1969).[62]
Initial reaction to "Paint It Black" was mixed. Somemusic critics found the addition of the sitar to be simply a case of the band copying the Beatles.[56] In his bookBrian Jones: The Making of the Rolling Stones,Paul Trynka comments on the influence of Harrison's sitar playing on the Beatles' song "Norwegian Wood" from theRubber Soul album and draws parallels with Jones' droning sitar melody on "Paint It Black".[72] Responding to claims that he was imitating the Beatles, Jones replied: "What utter rubbish", comparing the argument to saying that all groups using a guitar copy each other merely by using the instrument.[31]Jonathan Bellman, an Americanmusicologist, agreed with Jones, writing in a 1997 issue ofThe Journal of Musicology that the events are an example of concurrent musical and instrumental experimentation.[73] Jones' sitar part on the track influenced the development of a whole subgenre of minor-key psychedelic music.[15]
Lindy Shannon of theLa Crosse Tribune felt that "Paint It Black",the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" and the Beatles' "Rain" were straying from the "commercial field" and instead "going into a sort of distorted area of unpleasant sounds".[74] Staff atMelody Maker lauded the track, calling it "a glorious Indian raga-riot that will send the Stones back to number one".[19] Writing forDisc and Music Echo,Penny Valentine praised Jagger's singing, writing that it was "better than ever" but was critical of the track's sitar.[75]Guitar Player'sJesse Gress cited "Paint It Black" as originating the 1960s ragarock craze.[76] In a review forNew Musical Express (NME), Keith Altham considered "Paint It Black" the band's best single since "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was released the previous year.[77] A reviewer forBillboard predicted thatAftermath would become another hit for the band, citing "Paint It Black" as the focal point of thishard rock album and praising Oldham's production.[78]Record World said "Guys are in depressed mood, but the rhythm is anything but depressed. Irrepressible hit."[79]The Herald News considered the song a "top record... for teeners",[80] and inThe Sunday Press Nancy Brown described it as a "pulsating, blues-soaked romantic tear-jerker".[81] In theSan Francisco Examiner,Ralph J. Gleason lauded the song for its "hypnotizing tone" and "same qualities of ambiguity and obscurity as some of the previous Stones hits".[82] In April 1967, while hosting the television documentaryInside Pop: The Rock Revolution,Leonard Bernstein praised the song for its "arab café" sound, and cited it as an example of contemporary pop music's ability to evoke disparate moods through instrumentation.[83]
In a retrospective review, Richie Unterberger ofAllMusic called the song an "eerily insistent" classic that features some of "the best use of sitar on arock record",[57] and in anotherAllMusic review wrote it is "perhaps the most effective use of the Indian instrument in a rock song".[84] Writing on the song's 50th anniversary in 2016, Dave Swanson ofUltimate Classic Rock considered the song, like its parent albumAftermath, to be a major turning point in artistic evolution for the band, noting: "'Paint It, Black' wasn't just another song by just another rock group; it was an explosion of ideas presented in one neat three-minute package."[45] In 2017, rankingAftermath as one of the best albums of the 1960s, Judy Berman ofPitchfork described the song as "rock's mostnihilistic hit to date".[85] David Palmer, editor ofthe Cullman Times, wrote that the "attitude" songs onAftermath – particularly "Paint It Black" – influenced the nihilistic outlook ofpunk music.[86]Stereogum critic Tom Breihan praised the song as a strong example of the band's brand of "swirling doom-blues", and praised its heavy sound and dark lyrics as ahead of its time when compared to the landscape of popular music in 1966.[87]
In the UK, "Paint It Black" peaked at number one on theRecord Retailer chart during a 10-week stay, becoming the Rolling Stones' sixth UK number one.[27][92] Seven days after its UK release, "Paint It Black" had sold 300,000 advance copies; theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) later certified it platinum.[93] In 2007, the song entered the UK Singles chart at number 70 for an 11-week stint.[94][95] In Germany, "Paint It Black" peaked at number two on theMusikmarkt Hit-Parade;[96] theBundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) certified the 2018 re-issue gold.[97] The single was a top five hit in other European countries, peaking at number two in Austria, Ireland and Norway; number three in Belgium; and number four in Spain. After its 1990 reissue, "Paint It Black" charted at number 61.[92] The single's 2007 reissue charted at number 49 on the Official German Charts[98] and its 2012 re-issue charted number at 127 in France.[99]
"Paint It Black" debuted at number 48 on the USBillboard Hot 100 chart for the week of 14 May 1966.[100] The song took three weeks to rise to number one,[101] where it stayed for two consecutive weeks,[102][103][104] being replaced byFrank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night".[105] Its stint at number one made it the band's third in the US[56] and the first song to feature a sitar to peak at number one in the country.[106] By June, it had sold more than a million copies.[107][108] It rose to number one in a "violent shakeup" of the list where 10 of its 20 songs appeared for the first time.[109] "Paint It Black" remained on the chart for 11 weeks.[110] Further reissues of the single have not peaked on theBillboard Hot 100,[111] but 2008 sales saw "Paint It Black" reach number 73 on theBillboardHot Canadian Digital Song Sales.[112] According to the pop historian Richard Havers,Aftermath's 1966 chart run in the US, where it reached number 2 on theBillboard chart and number 1 on those published byCash Box andRecord World, was assisted by the success of "Paint It Black".[113] "Paint It Black" also topped singles charts in Canada and the Netherlands,[114][115] and was ranked within the Top 10 highest performing singles of the year in Austria, despite not reaching number 1 on the weekly charts.
In a KEYS national survey taken in June 1966, "Paint It Black" was number one in the United States.[116] Surveys conducted by theAssociated Press andUnited Press International identified the song as ranking No. 1 in the US the week of 12–19 June 1966.[117][118] On the 1966 year-end charts, "Paint It Black" ranked number 34 on the USBillboard Hot 100[119] and number 30 on theRecord Retailer chart.[120] The 1990 reissue of "Paint It Black" topped the NetherlandsSingle Top 100[121] and peaked at number 11 in Belgium.[122]
The Rolling Stones performed "Paint It Black" during their tours of America and England in 1966, following its release, along with other songs fromAftermath such as "Under My Thumb" and "Lady Jane",[123] One notable live performance of the song was as the opening song of the Stones' performance at theRoyal Albert Hall, a performance remembered for ending prematurely due to a riot, which led to rock bands being banned from performing at the venue. Footage of the riot would later be used in the promotional video for the Stones' next single, "Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?". Despite its status as a hit single and as a staple of these shows, "Paint It Black" was not included on the Stones' live album documenting their tour of England,Got Live If You Want It!.[124]
In Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon's bookThe Rolling Stones All the Songs, they add a question mark after Jones' guitar contribution and credit "tambourine,bongos, castanets" to "unidentified musicians".[134] In the bookRolling Stones Gear by Babiuk and Prevost, they credit an acoustic guitar contribution to Jones, maracas and cowbell to Wyman and tambourine and castanets to Watts.[135]
Bahamian musicianExuma included a cover of the song on his 1973 albumLife.[174]
English all-femalepost-punk band theMo-dettes released their version in 1980 which just missed theUK top 40, peaking at No. 42.[175]
American Hard Rock/Heavy Metal bandW.A.S.P. recorded a cover of "Paint It Black" as the B-side to their 1984 7" single "School Daze". It was also included on the 1998 CD reissue of the bands first self titled albumW.A.S.P.
Canadian rock bandSum 41 recorded a cover for their eighth and final albumHeaven :x: Hell, released in 2024. The cover seems to be inspired by guitarist Tom Thacker's other bandGob's version.
Canadian punk rock bandGob recorded a cover for their albumHow Far Shallow Takes You, released in 1998. The song was on the US album release.
Czech singerKarel Gott made a German cover of the song named "Rot und Schwarz" for his 1969 album "In mir klingt ein Lied".
^Margotin, Philippe (2016).The Rolling Stones : all the songs : the story behind every track. Jean-Michel Guesdon, Richard George Elliott (First English ed.). New York.ISBN978-0-316-31774-0.OCLC943689429.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^The album : a guide to pop music's most provocative, influential, and important creations. James E. Perone. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger. 2012.ISBN978-0-313-37906-2.OCLC768800346.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
^Christgau, Robert (1998).Grown up all wrong : 75 great rock and pop artists from vaudeville to techno. Cambridge, Massachusetts.ISBN0-674-44318-7.OCLC39189996.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Greenfield, Robert (23 January 2015)."Keith Richards: The Rolling Stone Interview".Rolling Stone. Retrieved16 May 2023.There were some weird letters, racial letters. 'Was there a comma in the title? Was it an order to the world?'
^Valentine, Penny (14 May 1966). "Stones Single – Your verdict".Disc and Music Echo.
^Gress, Jesse (August 2005). "15 of Keith Richards' Classic Rolling Stones Riffs: Licks of Wealth and Taste".Guitar Player. Vol. 39, no. 8. New York. pp. 50–54, 56, 58, 60,63–64, 66, 69.
^Altham, Keith (27 May 1966). "Stoned Again! That was the fate of Keith Altham when he interviewed Mick Jagger & Keith Richard".New Musical Express (NME).
^"Top 20 Nationally".The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. The Associated Press. 19 June 1966. p. 84.Archived from the original on 9 May 2021. Retrieved9 May 2021.
^Rusten, Ian (2018).The Rolling Stones in concert, 1962/1982 : a show-by-show history. Jefferson, North Carolina.ISBN978-1-4766-3443-2.OCLC1057472067.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Hallberg, Eric; Henningsson, Ulf (1998).Eric Hallberg, Ulf Henningsson presenterar Tio i topp med de utslagna på försök: 1961–74. Premium Publishing. p. 313.ISBN919727125X.
^Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005).Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 [Only successes: year after year] (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Spain:Fundación Autor-SGAE.ISBN978-84-8048-639-2.
^"Melody Maker Pop 50".Melody Maker. 28 May 1966. p. 2.
Perone, James E. (2012).The Album: A Guide to Pop Music's Most Provocative, Influential and Important Creations. Santa Barbara, CA:Praeger.ISBN9780313379062.
Philo, Simon (2015).British Invasion: The Crosscurrents of Musical Influence. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.ISBN9780810886278.
