"Paint It Black" by The Rolling Stones is one of their most well-known songs in their tack list. It has reached the top of charts in countless countries and remains as one of my personal favorites from their music. The song itself has one of the darker themes, as it delves into the loss of a loved one and the slow descent into depression of the main character. We really don’t know the cause of death of the main character’s lover, we just know that it was an untimely death that left a great impact. Lamenting the loss of a loved one is a recurring theme among darker themes in fiction and I love reading about how the character copes with loss. Most of the time the character usually copes with the pain in unhealthy, unconventional ways such as drinking or drugs. I never really listened to The Stones when I was younger, I heard “Paint it, black” in a commercial for a video game some years ago and fell in love with the sound. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the song’s darker theme did NOT fit the mood of the game being shown. It makes me chuckle that advertisers do not care about the message of the song; they only care about the music sounding good. Song choice matters in whatever you want to apply the music to, and I feel this song fits perfectly with life and joy being snuffed from existence. One could draw parallels between Cass and the main character in the story, it truly was a tragedy that Cass’s life was cut short, just when the right person for her finally showed up.
Love and Desolation
Charles Bukowski’s “The Most Beautiful Woman in Town” is one of the more nihilistic stories I have read in the course. It centers around the dysfunctional relationship of a mysterious woman named Cass, and an unnamed male who falls hopelessly in love with her. Cass was a wild spirit that could not be tamed, she dealt with personal issues like alcoholism, prostitution, and self-harm. Her family and sisters reject her and her lifestyles, the only people that give her the time of day are other males that are only interested in her body. She attracted the main character while they were both drinking at the same bar, the denizens of the establishment already aware of her rebellious nature. The two hit it off almost instantly, starting an unconventional relationship filled with debauchery. During their relationship she would never let him grow too attached to her, refusing to even give a name, until she caves in and reveals herself as Cass. What made our main character different from the rest of the men that Cass had been with was him being interested in what thoughts and emotions lied beneath her beguiling exterior. Cass would always be told by him about her “ruining” her looks by adorning herself with piercings. Cass reveals to him that beauty is all she has, she feels people only talk to her because of her looks and without it, she is a nobody. After some more drinks at the bar, they usually meet in, they left to reconcile and talk more. Much to the main character’s horror, Cass removes her dress, revealing a large scar across her neck. Cass inflicted harm onto her body with a broken bottle. After sharing a long passionate night together, the two continued seeing each other. The man would eventually ask Cass to move in together, only for her to reject him. That same night, they would go back and drink at the same bar, call it a night and leave early. After finding a new job, the man would go back to the bar and wait for her like usual. Minutes would turn into hours as he waited for his lover to arrive. The bartender would break the saddening news to him. Cass would not show up because she had committed suicide. The man would continue drinking late into the night, coping with the tragedy he had just been told. He would keep drinking back home at his apartment, lamenting Cass’s death and how he could have prevented it, blaming himself for losing someone so near and dear to him.
The scene that sticks out to me the most is when the bartender breaks the news of Cass’s suicide. Our main character was struck with sheer shock. Disbelief that the person he fell in love with had ended her own life, he requests another drink. I can relate to this scene in the sense of losing a person I am close to. It’s hard to accept when the news is broken to you; you can’t quite comprehend the truth until reality slowly sets in. I didn’t spend my time looking for a solution to my sorrow at the bottom of a bottle like our narrator, his way of mourning is different than that of mine. We all grieve in our own ways. This scene in particular is what made me think most of The Rolling Stone’s hit “Paint It, Black.” The story ends with not much of an ending, the narrator goes home pondering about what might have been and dreading the new coming day, unable to move on. Cass’s death weighed heavy on the narrator’s head,. The coming night would come and as much as he tried, there was nothing that could be done about it.
A Symphony of Despair
“I see a red door and I want it painted black.” This line combined with the hypnotic melody with the sitar in the song “Paint it, Black” creates an eerie, almost haunting tone. The pessimistic theme is what I think fits perfectly with “The Most Beautiful Girl in Town.” In The Rolling Stone’s hit song, it speaks of a person who has had a loved one ripped away from them in an abrupt manner. The plot to Bukowski’s short story is similar to the song, the man who falls for Cass comes to grips with grief and copes with it in an unhealthy manner. When Mick Jagger sings about painting everything black, its like the saying “if I can’t be happy then nobody can.” Frustration that one can nobody can find joy in things that normally make living worth it. Although this mindset isn’t found in the story, it is still an unhealthy response to a tragic event. After Cass’s death, our unnamed male lead decides to drown his sorrow through bottles of alcohol, a coping mechanism that we have become desensitized to in film and media. People resort to alcohol and substance abuse to escape the pressure and avoid the harsh realities of a difficult situation. Even though the person in the song acknowledges the grim situation of his girlfriend’s death, his outlook on life is permanently changed for the worse. I have a feeling that Cass’s lover will walk away with a rational, healthy mindset as well.
From Southern Roots
Love, heartbreak, joy, and anguish. The blues genre is no stranger to making love and pain the subject of their lyrics. Blues comes from the American South, sang mainly by the impoverished people in Southern states. The African Americans, descendants of slaves that were ripped from their homes, sang about their hardships and the struggles of living in a country that treated them poorly. Blues was mainly exclusive to the United States until around the 60’s when the genre made its way to Britain. The British loved the new and exciting genre, including members of The Rolling Stones. Band members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards shared a love for the blues and the genre inspired their lyrics and their music style. In fact, the band’s name is a reference to blues legend Muddy Waters’ song “Rollin’ Stone.” The band’s early work consists mainly of covering blues songs that had existed in the US. Maybe it was the topic of heartbreak or the novelty of a new and exciting genre, the influence that blues had on Jagger and Richards was undeniable. It was what brought them together, and the success that it found their band would rival The Beatles. The Stones had a darker broodier image that contrasted with The Beatles’ lighter, family friendly style. It was really the edgier look that set Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones apart from their “poppier” competition, they embraced anguish and pain in some of their songs, something that resonated with teenagers in both the States and England. The Stones would reach success on British charts in 1964. As we all know, this would not be the first or last time the group would get their name on any kind of chart. They would go on to write and perform hits like “Sympathy for the Devil,” “(I Can’t Get Not) Satisfaction,” and a personal favorite of mine, “Paint It, Black.”
Grief and Compassion
Losing somebody you love is one of the most emotionally taxing things somebody could go through. Not everybody walks away from their loved one’s death the same way. We all cope in our own ways, some handle coping better than others. Returning to the solace and normalcy that you had before your traumatic event is the most difficult part of the mourning process. Grieving is part of the human experience just as breathing or drinking water. One cannot experience the joys of living without enduring pain or hardships of reality. Closing yourself off from others is by far one of the worst ways a person can respond to a traumatic event. In my opinion, being left alone with your own thoughts is just as, if not more, horrific than reality itself. Both the song and the story leave the characters alone to face their feelings and emotions, altering their way of thinking and turning them bitter. The apathy displayed is almost a cautionary tale as to what could happen to a person when their life is radically changed for the worse. I wish that everybody be kind to one another, compassion goes a long way, you truly do not know what kind of thoughts plague an individual until you talk to them.
“Paint it Black” – The Rolling Stones |
Black Rose – "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town" |
“It’s not easy facing up when your whole world is black.” What Mick jagger means by this is that there is no point in looking for joy in the world when you are filled with hopelessness. |
“Beauty is nothing. Beauty won’t stay.” Cass says this because her beauty is the cause for her to be objectified. It is the reason why she is wanted by many. All the men who want to “get to know her” ultimately leave her alone without friends. She doesn’t value her beauty because it will inevitably leave just like her “suitors.” |
“I could not foresee this thing happening to you.” The character in the song goes through the same experience. His girlfriend died in an abrupt fashion and mourns his loss. |
“A suicide? Mind telling me how?” “She cut her throat.” The main character is told by the bartender that Cass has committed suicide. |
“Like a newborn baby it just happens every day.” Death is just as normal as being born. Mortality is something everyone has thought about and faced. Death will happen, it is inevitable. |
‘Cass the most beautiful girl in town was dead at 20.’ Death, beauty, and love are the main themes in the story. The main character meets and falls in love with the most beautiful woman he has ever met. The story ends with him coping with her untimely death. |
“Maybe then I’ll fade away and not have to face the facts.” Depression makes some believe they no longer wish to continue living. The weight of reality is too much and living ends up becoming a heavy burden. |
‘I deserved my death my death and hers’. The main character mourns Cass’s death. His grief makes him believe that not only does he deserve to die but that it should be him instead of her.
|
Works Cited
The Rolling Stones. "Paint It, Black." Aftermath, Decca Records, 1966.
“Mick Jagger - Children, Age and Songs.” Biography, 8 June 2020, www.biography.com/musicians/mick-jagger.Links to an external site.
“Biography.” Biography - Mick JaggerMick Jagger, www.mickjagger.com/biography.Links to an external site.
“The Rolling Stones - Paint It, Black (Official Lyric Video).” YouTube, 19 Nov. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4irXQhgMqg.Links to an external site.
“The Most Beautiful Woman in Town by Charles Bukowski.” Hello Poetry, hellopoetry.com/poem/9444/the-most-beautiful-woman-in-town.Links to an external site.
monsteroftheid "The Rolling Stones." 2010, Digital Artwork, Deviantart https://www.deviantart.com/monsteroftheid/art/The-Rolling-Stones-153714137Links to an external site.