100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: PAINT IT BLACK- THE ROLLING STONES

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The Rolling Stones – Paint It, Black (1966, Vinyl) - Discogs

100 Great Songs From The British Invasion: 1963-1966. Paint It Black- The Rolling Stones. Paint It Black released in the US as a single in May 1966- became the 3rd #1 hit in the US for The Rolling Stones. By this time they were superstars this being their 5th Top 10 hit in a row. Written by the team of Mick Jagger-Keith RIchards- bassist Bill Wyman over the years has been critical of Mick and Keith hogging the songwriting credit on this- because the song came from a studio improvisation of Brian Jones, Charlie Watts and Wyman. The song has Brian Jones on the sitar and has Indian, Middle Eastern and Eastern European influences. Jones a multi- instrumentalist-who died in 1969- has over the years been ‘written out of’ The Rolling Stones story by Mick and Keith- the survivors- but the influence of Jones was very big up until his demise. Mick Jagger has called ‘Paint It Black’ a kind of Turkish song. In 2018 It made the Grammy Hall of Fame. Rolling Stone Magazine ranked it at #213 in their 500 Greatest Songs Ever list. There have been over 400 cover versions of Paint It Black.

  • Single: ‘Paint It Black- The Rolling Stones
  • Record Company- London
  • Genre: Rock
  • Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards
  • Time: 3:46
  • B-side: ‘Stupid Girl’
  • Album- Aftermath
  • Grade: A+
  • Peaked at #1 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100. #1 in UK.

9 responses to “100 GREAT SONGS FROM THE BRITISH INVASION: PAINT IT BLACK- THE ROLLING STONES”

  1. This is such a cool psychedelic song. It’s unfortunate Bill Wyman, Brian Jones and Charlie Watts didn’t receive co-credits.

    This doesn’t reflect particularly well on Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. I love these guys, but why can’t you acknowledge the contributions of others? It doesn’t take away anything from your greatness as an artist.

    Perhaps it’s all about cold hard cash coming from songwriting royalties. Or big egos in rock & roll. Or both!

    • I always liked how U2 has done it- the songwriting credits are U2.. I am sure there are other bands who have also done it that way..

  2. A great song, and different from other ’66 fare.
    The Jones factor is similar to considering Syd Barrett- what would the Stones or Pink Floyd have been had these two early influences been strong enough to continued?

    • Those songs with Jones – with his instrumental contributions- significant- their music was very different after his demise.

  5. Seems as if everyone learned to pluck a few strings on the Sitar back then. Ravi Shankar was most likely laughing his ass off. Out of the few that tried, George Harrison faired the best. He could actually play the crazy instrument. Kudos to Jones for trying. The Stones were still a blues band, and Jagger and Richards fought Jones to keep it that way. Perhaps that’s why he split, then drowned. Sitar playing should have stayed in India back then. But now, everybody in England is from India. Go figure.

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