The Definitive 1000 Songs Of All Time 1955 to 2005: Number 767

Number 767

Rolling Stones

"Paint It Black"

(1966)

Genre:Rock

Its so hard to believe i was only 1 year old (aww so cute) when "Paint it black" came out!
It must have been the most "edgiest" song of its day/time. Only the Beatles "Helter Skelter" that i can remember being so diverse in sound being so raw and that wasn't even recorded till 1968!

"Paint It Black" is a song recorded by The Rolling Stones in 1966. It reached number one in both the U.S. and the UK charts. It was released as a single and on the album Aftermath (U.S. version).
As usual, the song was credited to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, although all of the bandmembers contributed substantially to it, especially Bill Wyman, and leader/founder Brian Jones.
Jagger's and Richards' original conception of the song was that of a slow soul song from the viewpoint of a person who is depressed. He wants everything to turn black to match his mood.
The song began with Wyman playing organ at a recording session, in parody of the group's former co-manager Eric Easton, who had been an organist. Charlie Watts accompanied the organ by playing a vaguely Middle Eastern drum part; Watts' drum pattern became the basis for the final song. Brian Jones contributed the song's signature sitar riff (having taught himself to play), and Jagger contributed a lyric seemingly about a man mourning his dead girlfriend.

The song has become associated with the Vietnam War due to its use in the ending credits of Full Metal Jacket and the opening credits of Tour of Duty. It was also used in 2004 in an episode-ending montage in the NBC television show American Dreams, when a major character went missing in Vietnam. Its other film appearances include the closing credits of 1997's The Devil's Advocate. The song, as covered by Gob, was also featured in the film Stir of Echoes. A French version of the song, performed by Marie Laforet, appears in the 2006 film Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.

"Paint It Black" was also used in two PlayStation 2 titles. Conflict: Vietnam used the song during the opening sequence, while Twisted Metal: Black used the beginning of the song in the opening screen, then the whole song again in its end credits.

It has also been covered by many different bands and music artists, including (but not limited to); Inkubus Sukkubus, Judas Priest, Glenn Tipton, Gob, The Hypertonics, The Vines, Deadsy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Kalan Porter, Firewater, W.A.S.P., Deep Purple, Ottmar Liebert, The Agony Scene, The Avengers, Anti-Nowhere League, The Unseen, Rush, Led Zeppelin, 3 Steps Ahead, The Tea Party, Karel Gott (in German as Schwarz und Rot), Eric Burdon and War, U2, London Symphony Orchestra with Marc Almond, Skrewdriver, Earth Crisis, Echo and the Bunnymen, Hikaru Utada, Half Japanese, Vanessa Carlton, Three Sixes, Face to Face, Spanish band M-Clan, Bullet Train to Moscow, No Friends Of Harry, The Mighty Lemon Drops, Statemachine, Hampton String Quartet and others. The song was also covered by country singer Tracy Lawrence, as part of the Stone Country album, featuring prominent country acts covering Stones classics.
In 2004 it was ranked #174 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
"Paint It Black" is also the name of an album from Virgin Records due to be released on October 3, 2006, which is to feature covers of well-known Rolling Stones songs by a variety of artists.

What does Rolling Stone Magazine think about The Rolling Stones?

"Aftermath was the first album of Jagger-Richards originals and the first album the Stones recorded as a coherent whole. It showcases the sauciest Mick, the broodiest Keith, the prettiest Brian, the funkiest Bill, and Charlie -- now and forever, Charlie. It's blues-rock flower power, but all the flowers are painted black, with Brian's marimba and dulcimer adding color to these tough, lean, desperately lonely songs. If the Velvet Underground had ever made an album with the Stax house band, it might have sounded like this: the outrageously funny country honk "High and Dry," the gentle acoustic longing of "I Am Waiting," the 11-minute "Going Home." The U.S. version improves on the original by losing "Mother's Little Helper," always a song worth losing, and adding the sitar-crazed death chant "Paint It Black." Mick trips through the Swinging London scene with tirelessly bitchy ditties like "Under My Thumb," "Think," and "Doncha Bother Me," coming up with sharp lines even when he's just shaking the maracas of his mind to the beat to give his lips something to do."

Best bit of arse licking since "Comical Ali" about his master Saddam Hussein. What more could you expect from a magazine that named itself after one of its "fave" groups. (Ever wondered what hapened to Comical Ali? He know is on the board of directers at Rolling Stone Magazine) It might be a joke but it just wouldn't surprise me.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Songs ranked this song at Number 174 and the Album ranked at Number 108

This song has a total crowbarred rating of 65.4 out of 108

The Rolling Stones Paint It tBlack
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