Despite more than half a century of history, The Rolling Stones song “Paint it, Black” is a “must have” in the playlists of several generations of rock’n’roll fans and self-respecting rock radio stations. With some mystical appeal, it doesn’t get boring even after thousands of listens.

History of the creation of the song “Paint it, Black”

The release date of “Paint it, Black” as a single fell on “Bloody Friday” – May 13th, 1966 (in the UK, and May 7th in the USA).

Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are believed to be behind its creation, for the most part. But it wouldn’t be that catchy hit without Brian Jones’ original riff and Bill Wyman’s work with the lows.

The original plan was for the song to be more rhythmic, groovy and funky. But in the end they decided to replace the regular guitar with an Indian sitar, which the band brought back from Fiji. And, according to Richards, that’s what made the whole song.

Later music critics put forward theories that The Rolling Stones in “Paint it, Black” copied The Beatles, who used sitar in the song “Norwegian Wood” (Jones was familiar with the “Beatle” George Harrison, who was fond of this instrument). But they might as well have criticized the band for playing guitar, drums or any other musical instrument anyone had played before.

Besides, though the official version claims that the Indian instrument appeared in the band’s repertoire under the influence of the Beatles, Mick Jagger mentioned in his interview a “weirdo” playing sitar in some jazz band whom the Rollings had met in the studio while recording “Paint it, Black”. They supposedly liked the unusual muffled sound of the sitar so much that they decided to make it the “basis” for a future hit.

In general, it doesn’t matter how, but it happened, and the instrument was definitely the right one – with an ordinary guitar this song would have hardly become so memorable.

Another experiment was realized by Bill Wyman, who wanted to shade the soft sound of the sitar with deeper bass. But since it was impossible to achieve the desired effect with a bass guitar, Bill sat down at the electric organ. Or rather, lay down. He sprawled out on the floor and pounded the pedals with his fists.

In contrast to the musical component, on which almost all the members of The Rolling Stones worked, the text of “Paint it, Black” was composed by Mick Jagger from the first to the last word.

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The song was released as the title track on the LP of the same name in 1979. The hit conquered the English charts and, for the first time in the history of the band, made its way to the foreign hit lists in the USA, Sweden and Australia.

The prerequisites for the birth of “calling London”

On the eve of the creation of The Clash’s song “London Calling”, in 1979, the band was in crisis. The members were simultaneously pressured by quarrels with their record label over money, the moralizing of producer Bernard Rhodes, and the decline of the British punk movement.

All this forced the band to look for new solutions. The musicians began to draw inspiration from the genres of jazz, rockabilly, reggae – the latter would be noticeable in the song about calling London, which the band had yet to record. And instead of Rhodes, Guy Stevens was invited to produce the new album.

The latter was notable, even for punks, for his unconventional and anarchic methods of work. And he had a passion not only for music, but also for alcohol and drugs. In addition, his first collaboration with the band, in 1976, was unsuccessful.

But the fact that Guy was the producer and manager of Mott The Hoople, the favorite band of Mick Jones, guitarist and vocalist of The Clash, played a decisive role.

True, at the same time as the producer, they had to change the studio, moving from a cozy room in the Camden district to the Wessex Studios, which had been converted for a studio.

But the new studio was in the center of London, and later it was taken over by several other famous bands. Among them were Sex Pistols.

The band started recording the record in the summer of 1979. And for the first time the fans could hear the hit of The Clash “London Calling” in December of the same year.

The main impulse to writing the composition became the impressions of the band members from the greatest nuclear catastrophe in America – the Nuclear Power Plant Three Mile Island (March, 1979).

What is this song about?

The authors of the hit are The Clash vocalists/guitarists Joe Strummer and Mick Jones. It reflects the problems of the band, the themes of national conflicts, unemployment, and a number of current events in the world and Britain at the time.

The literal translation of The Clash “London Calling” is “London Calling” or “London Calling”. The title was borrowed from the BBC station’s call sign – “This is London calling…”. With this phrase radio DJs began broadcasting during World War II.

The text of “London Calling” is a visual reflection of the advice not to read newspapers if you want to stay calm and healthy. All lines are taken from disturbing news headlines and translated into poetics.

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Later this track made its authors really famous and allowed them to surpass, if not eclipse, then certainly the undisputed idols of rock-n-roll – The Beatles.

Besides, it is considered that this song of The Rolling Stones gave the most serious impulse to the development of rock music as a genre, and occupied its place in the history of rock music with the note “classic”.

“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” is a song born in a semi-dream
On the day of this song’s creation, things were not going well for the band. The concert in Clearwater, Florida, on the band’s third U.S. tour was canceled: drunken fans started a brawl, as a result of which the musicians managed to play only four songs.

When Keith Richards returned to the hotel, devoid of energy, almost falling asleep, he began to improvise on the guitar. As a result, he had a riff for a future hit and almost immediately the key phrase of the lyrics – “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” came to mind.

Keith recorded the sketches of the song on a tape recorder and fell asleep. In the morning it turned out that he forgot to turn off the recording on the device. Therefore, the first version of the track contains not only the two-minute melody of the future hit, but also Richards’ 40-minute snore.

In the morning, Keith showed the sketches to the band’s lead singer, Mick Jagger. He grabbed the main line and wrote the rest of the lyrics around it. In fact, Richards is the author of only one line in the song.

The Case That Started a Musical Revolution

The first version of The Rolling Stones “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”, with its harmonica and folk sound, was recorded at Chess studios in Chicago on May 10th, 1965, and then re-recorded at RCA in Hollywood.

Then in June of 1965 the track was released as a single in the USA. In July of 1965 the composition was included in the American version of the album “Out of Our Heads”, which later became “platinum”.

Initially, Keith Richards wanted to include the wind instruments in the introduction. He turned the amplifiers up to maximum and distorted the sound, but nothing worked. Then Ian Stewart, the band’s keyboard player, brought in the first Gibson fuzz.

Everyone liked the new weighted sound of the song, except Keith. He still insisted on brass. But other musicians and managers of the band changed his mind and insisted on recording the song with a fuzz, a slower riff and a different drum part. That was the reason why the band got a lot of fans who were fed up with the light Beatles sound and wanted something heavier.

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But in the end, “Paranoid” (the English translation of “Paranoid”) really surprised its creators. It became the band’s first single to reach #4 in the UK chart. It is also credited with the laurels of a classic example of heavy music and a forerunner of punk rock at the same time.

The “paranoid” wand

The Black Sabbath song “Paranoid” appeared in 1970 – just two years after the young British rock band was formed, which was later destined to become a cult band.

The band recorded this track in a record-breaking half an hour, and much later than the other compositions of the album “War Pigs” (yes, that was the original name of the 2nd LP). Most of the material had been prepared while working on the first album of the same name back in ’70. That’s why it took the musicians only a couple of days to record the new longplay.

But when the work was almost finished, it appeared that there were still 3 minutes of time left on the record which had to be urgently filled with something. This “something” was the song “Paranoid”.

The simple riff was written by guitarist Tony Iommi during the lunch break, when he was alone in the studio. Then Terence “Geezer” Butler returned to the studio to play along with him on bass. And soon the rhythmic sounds of a drum kit were heard: Bill Ward joined the pals.

Ozzy Osbourne, the lead singer, was handed “Paranoid”, which Butler had hastily sketched out. He had nothing else to do but to join the enthusiastically playing trio and start singing the words of the newly written track, reading them from the sheet.

That’s how, almost without saying a word to each other, the members of Black Sabbath composed their first hit single.

They were sure they were just fooling around. The song “Paranoid” looked too “pop” against the background of the other compositions. But producer Rodger Bain convinced them to include the track in the album. After some arguments the quartet gave it the second place on the record.

In many interviews with Black Sabbath, Ozzy and company admitted that no one knew the exact meaning of the word “paranoid” at the time. The phrase was just “in the ear”.

Therefore, the lyrics of Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid” do not fully address the chronic psychosis known as “paranoia.” The lyrics of “Paranoid” are simply the incoherent monologue of a psycho. At least, as Terry Butler imagined him to be (the “diagnosis” was practically made at random).

The successes of “Paranoid”, covers of it and, of course, hints of plagiarism
As soon as the Black Sabbath song “Paranoid” was recorded, it immediately began to dictate its own rules. At first, the album was titled after it. The directors of the record label Vertigo Records insisted on it.

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To some rock music lovers, this choice may seem incomprehensible and unjustified. No way – I didn’t agree with that at first, either. But it all falls into place when you find out that Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” didn’t get this spot for the drive you expect from the #1 rock hit, but for its virtuosity and sarcastic and cynical lyrics that ultimately had the biggest impact on the rock music world.

This song succeeded in breaking the commercial foundations of decades of run-of-the-mill record companies. It is the first track over three minutes long to be released as a single. Also “Like a Rolling Stone” is almost the only song of the 60’s that won the love of listeners not by its snotty romantic lines, but by the lyrics about the fall from the top of the social ladder down into the slums.

Well, for Bob Dylan himself “Like a Rolling Stone” became a “ticket” to the world of rock music and the beginning of a new turn in his musical career.

Like a tumbleweed – from folk singer to rockers

In 1965, Bob Dylan seriously considered leaving the music scene. Four years as a folk singer, the breakup with his solo artist Joan Baez, and a major UK tour that had just ended had him so exhausted that the musician decided to take a break and start composing.

In his attempts to create either a poem or a poem, Bob blotted out about 10-20 pages (even the musician himself mentions different data in his interviews), until one of the composed lines (“How does it feel?”) sounded like a melodic tune (at that moment he happened to be at the piano).

Subsequently, Dylan, like a sculptor, cut away the extra pieces of textual marble, reducing the original version to four verses and one chorus, and soon moved into the studio.

He invited several session musicians to record, including Michael Bloomfield and Al Kooper. In the beginning there were some difficulties: Dylan wanted to get away from the traditional blues sound, there were no sheet music, and the tune was only in his head, so the invited musicians had to play the song by ear. As a result, the basis of the melody was formed as a result of chaotic improvisations.

After trying several variations of the sound and sitting Cooper at the organ, the musicians finally played a version of “Like a Rolling Stone” that has been capturing the hearts of music lovers for over half a century. It went on to define the way Bob Dylan performed for years to come.

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Why are we talking about this particular member of the band? It’s because this song was written entirely by George Harrison. And the majority of the Liverpool Four fans thought that all the songs belonged to McCartney and Lennon. And the band members themselves underestimated the compositional ability of George.

In addition, he had no advisor in the team. Lennon and McCartney competed with each other, but still supported each other when faced with difficulties. The two also perfected writing together.

Harrison, on the other hand, always stayed on the sidelines, creating something that didn’t fit in with The Beatles’ usual creativity, mostly because of his “eastern hobbies”.

How the hit about the gently weeping guitar was created

Harrison began writing the music for the future “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” while in India. And the lyrics were written in England while George was visiting his parents’ home in Warrington, pondering the I-Tsing, the Book of Changes. This philosophical text asserts that everything that happens is destined to happen. That there are no coincidences. That everything always has a meaning.

The lyrics of the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” arose out of Harrison’s desire to test this judgement. The musician decided to create a work based on the first lines of a randomly opened book picked out of a shelf. That’s how the phrase “gently weeps” came to be the starting point of the text.

The difficulties of recording a future hit

When Harrison introduced his creation to the other members of the quartet, they took it with skepticism. The creator of the hit claims that such a reaction was due to the desire to promote only their work.

The work on the record was very hard. A lot of versions were recorded. Some were purely acoustic, others were more electric. But they weren’t good enough for the album. George Harrison wanted the song to be recorded in the acoustic version, but Paul McCartney opposed it. He said the song sounded “un-Beatlesque.

Some believe that McCartney, who had recorded several acoustic songs, was simply afraid that Harrison’s work would overshadow them.

There was also no guitar “wail” that was needed in this song. Harrison and Lennon took turns performing the solo part. But neither of them could achieve that very sound.

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The original guitar riff, the kaleidoscopic clip in red, black and white colors and the breakout tenor of the leader Jack White made the “White Stripes” single an undeniable hit of the “zero years”.

Jack White’s flair for potential hits is no small thing; he put “Seven Nation Army” at #1 on the “Elephant” album for a reason. He would do the same three years later with another hit single, “Steady As She Goes,” which would be recorded with The Raconteurs and become his calling card. In both cases, Jack clearly didn’t miss the mark.

“Seven Nation Army” effortlessly climbed to the top of the Billboard chart, won a Grammy for “Best Rock Song” and became the starting point in the commercial success and true popularity of the “striped” duo. And authoritative music publications – Rolling Stone, Q, New Musical Express – vied with each other to award the top places to the hit song.

And all this was in spite of the fact that the American and British producers said in one voice that the song would ruin the album. They refused to put it at the top of the list. But luckily Jack White had enough persistence to insist on his own.

About the creation of “Army of Seven Nations.”

The hit started a year before the release of the band’s fourth studio work (“Elephant”) in 2002. While tuning up the sound equipment before the next concert in Australia, Jack White composed a simple riff. At that time, the musician’s keen sense did not recognize it as a potential hit. White doubted whether the tune should be used at all.

He asked his friend Ben Swank about it. The latter replied that “you could have done better”, and Jack thought “it seemed good”. In the end, the leader of The White Stripes continued working on the song.

White hastily titled the working version of the song “Seven Nation Army”. Where did that title come from? Quite simply, it was Jack’s childhood name for the Salvation Army.

When the song was totally finished, he decided to keep the working title, because the lyrics were written to fit.

About the meaning and the sounding of the song

After the release of the single, a heated debate flared up about what the lyrics of the song “Seven Nation Army” meant. The most ridiculous versions were put forward: from the cruel world of childhood to the interpretation of the fairytale “Land of Oz”.

The incomprehensible lyrics, full of allusions, contributed to the confusion. In it bizarrely intertwined the search for home, the battle with a mythical army and the Queen of England.
And the ’60s.

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