Paint It Black
A sitar-led single about grief, a number one in the United States and the opener of the American Aftermath.
The Rolling Stones, from Aftermath (1966)
- Written by
- Mick Jagger, Keith Richards
- Released
- May 1966
- Length
- 3:46
- Album
- Aftermath
The band recorded it on 6 and 9 March 1966 at RCA Studios, with Oldham producing and Hassinger engineering. Jones played sitar, Wyman played pedals on a Hammond organ, Watts drummed and Nitzsche played piano. Wyman argued that it should be credited to Nanker Phelge.
Decca released the single in Britain on 13 May 1966, and London released it in the United States that month, where it reached number one for two weeks. It also opened the American edition of Aftermath. The lyric, with its colour imagery, reads most plausibly as grief after the sudden loss of a partner.
Live
The band played it on the Ed Sullivan Show on 11 September 1966. It opened the Royal Albert Hall show that was cut short by a riot, and setlist.fm counted 394 performances in May 2019.
Covers and versions
- Eric Burdon and War (1970)
- The Mo-dettes (1980) A UK number 42.
- U2 (1992) A B-side.
- Vanessa Carlton (2002)
- Ciara (2015)
- Duran Duran (2023)
More songs by The Rolling Stones
(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, Sympathy for the Devil, Gimme Shelter, Brown Sugar
Sources
- Paint It Black, Wikipedia
- Aftermath (Rolling Stones album), Wikipedia
- The Rolling Stones' setlist by the numbers, Consequence (2019-05-22)