The Rolling Stones: All Number 1 Songs Ranked Worst To Best
2. Paint It Black
US & UK #1, 1966
By early 1966, the Stones had shifted almost exclusively to original compositions by Jagger and Richards. Tired of being overshadowed by the two, Brian Jones experimented with Eastern instrumentals, especially the Indian sitar, hoping to expand the band's sound. The eerie, hypnotic and multicultural music of Paint It Black came from an improv session with drummer Charlie Watts; Jagger and Richards added the bleak lyrics, and one of the grimmest chart-toppers of all time was born.
Paint It Black alludes to a deceased lover without ever making it explicit, but the focal point of the song is on the interpreter's all-consuming depression. Mick Jagger embodies the role to a tee, starting the song with a blank, neutral delivery that immediately bursts into seething anger; throughout the track, his vocals flip-flop between self-restraint and explosiveness, as if portraying someone experimenting multiple stages of grief all at once, and the instrumentals match every note of his.
Despite its lack of a refrain, Paint It Black draws you in from start to finish, and while the subjects at play might not be apparent to the casual ear, the inherent darkness is ever-present and chill-inducing. You may not know what all is going on, but you're spooked all the same.
Fun Fact: The song was often compared to the Beatles' Norwegian Wood, on which a sitar had also been used. Jones argued that, per that logic, every group using a guitar was copying each other. In the current climate of songwriters being sued left and right, maybe we should all just take a page out of Jones' book.