On this day in 1966, The Rolling Stones released “Paint It Black” in the UK

Written during a tour of Australia, the song was written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards during a period where they began to establish themselves as primary songwriters for the Rolling Stones material. This left Brian Jones with plenty of time to experiment and as a result he began practicing the sitar with Harihar Rao, a student of Ravi Shankar, who he had studied with as early as 1961. Harihar Rao was responsible for introducing the sitar to the mix for “Paint It Black”.

The lyrics of “Paint It Black” feature themes of grief, despair and loss. Many assume the song was written as a response to the Vietnam War raging at the time, with some believing it to be about post-war PTSD and depression. This association became stronger when the song started to be used in Hollywood films and TV shows, famously being used as the credits song for Stanley Kubrick’s Full Metal Jacket as well as the the theme song for CBS-TV show Tour of Duty.

“Paint It Black” quickly went to the number one spot in both the UK and the US and the song went platinum in the UK after just seven days. It became the first song to feature a sitar to make the number one spot in the US. Some critics at the time panned the record, claiming the addition of the sitar was an attempt to copy The Beatles. Others however praised the song highly, and it has remained a highly regarded classic to this day, with it making number 176 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.