“Paint It Black” is undoubtedly one of The Rolling Stones’ most iconic songs. The band released the song as a single in May 1966 and later included it on their studio album “Aftermath”. The song is renowned for its distinctive sitar riff, played by Brian Jones, which gives the song a unique Eastern-inspired sound. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black”.
The Meaning of the Song
“Paint It Black” is a song about the emotional response to the death of a loved one. The lyrics, which express the narrator’s desire to paint the colorful world black, symbolize the emotional response.
In a 1966 interview, Mick Jagger disclosed the song’s meaning. “It’s about somebody dying, a funeral,” he stated. The second verse of the song confirms Jagger’s words, with the ‘line of cars painted black’ and ‘the flowers and love never to come back’ depicting a funeral procession.
The song uses rich metaphors to express the narrator’s grief. Besides black, the song mentions several other colors, including red, which contrasts the grief represented by black as a symbol of love.
There’s no particular event that inspired Jagger to write the song. When asked about why he decided to write a song about death, he replied: “I don’t know. It’s been done before. It’s not an original thought by any means. It all depends on how you do it.”
The Songwriting Process of the Song
Despite crediting Jagger–Richards as the song’s songwriters, “Paint It Black” was a collaborative effort between all Rolling Stones members. The song indeed originated with Jagger and Richards, who respectively wrote the lyrics and the chord progression of the song. But contributions by the other band members turned “Paint It Black” into the version we all know today.
“Paint It Black” originally started out as a slow pop song. “[It] was just going to be like a beat group number,” Mick Jagger stated. “It was just one big joke.”
It wasn’t until bass player Bill Wyman decided to utilize the Hammond organ in an unusual manner the song started to take shape. “I kept saying, ‘It sounds a bit empty in the bottom end,” Wyman told Ultimate Classic Rock Radio. “I said, ‘Can I try something?’ And they said, ‘What?’ And I said, ‘Organ pedals.’ And they said, ‘Yeah, alright.”
“I went out to get on the organ and I realized I wouldn’t be able to play them with my feet, so I just lay on the ground and punched the pedals with my fists. There it was, finished; it sounded brill.”
Read more: The 10 Best Rolling Stones Songs of All Time
Keith Richards later cited Wyman’s inventiveness as essential to the song, as “Paint It Black” sounded nothing like its eventual version until Wyman decided to ‘punch the pedals with his fists’. Drummer Charlie Watts added a double-time drum pattern, giving the song its upbeat driving motion.
Brian Jones’ Iconic Sitar Playing
Despite the essential contributions of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, the most celebrated contribution to “Paint It Black” is Brian Jones’ iconic sitar playing. The original bandleader of The Rolling Stones started using the Indian string instrument during a difficult period as a musician, when he was losing the band’s creative control to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
This shift alienated Jones and resulted in his exploration of other instruments instead of the guitar. Brain Jones reportedly decided to allocate time to learning the sitar after a conversation with The Beatles’ George Harrison, who famously used the instrument on “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” a few months earlier.
“I love the instrument,” Jones said in a 1966 interview. “It gives a new range if you use an instrument like that. It has completely different principles from the guitar and opens up new fields for a group, in harmonics and everything.”
Jones’ sitar playing on “Paint It Black” gave the song its well-known Eastern sound. Despite the contributions, Jones, Wyman, and Watts did not receive a songwriting credit for the song. Wyman later critically commented the song should’ve been credited to Nanker Phelge (the pseudonym for collective Rolling Stones compositions).
The Legacy of Paint It Black
The Rolling Stones released “Paint It Black” as a single in the US on 7 May 1966. A week later, the single was also released in the UK. Record label Decca added a comma to the title (Paint It, Black) upon its release, which caused some controversy. It isn’t exactly clear if the comma was a clerical mistake or done intentionally, but The Rolling Stones originally titled the song without a comma.
“Paint It Black” became a big commercial success. The single was a worldwide top 10 hit and topped the US and UK charts. In The Netherlands, the song even topped the charts twice, both during the original release and the 1990 reissue. The song’s critical reception was mixed, with the main criticism the song was a copy of The Beatles’ “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”.
Over the years, “Paint It Black” became one of The Rolling Stones’ most celebrated songs. Together with “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, “Paint It Black” is the most popular song from the Stones’ early repertoire. Which – all things considered – is a worthy status for the distinctive tune.
Check out more Rolling Stones stories
