Bob Dylan Couldn’t Decide If The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’ Was Better Than This Beatles Song
Bob Dylan discussed his thoughts about The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” and a Beatles song. He said “Paint It Black” was a very bleak song. In addition, he said he could see The Beatles’ song in his mind’s eye.
Bob Dylan compared The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’ to The Beatles’ ‘Paperback Writer’
The Beatles’ “Paperback Writer,” The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” and Frank Sinatra’s “Strangers in the Night” were all popular around the same time in 1966. During a 2022 interview on Dylan’s website, he was asked if 2022 was similar to the time when those three songs were on the pop charts.
“What’s the gold standard for a song these days?” he said. “What song will walk off with the trophy? ‘Paint it Black’ is black as black can be, black as a crow’s head, a galvanizing song. ‘Paperback Writer’ sounds good, too. The biographer, the ghostwriter, doing it longhand. I can visualize that song; see it in my mind’s eye.”
Dylan was a fan of “Strangers in the Night” as well. “‘Strangers in the Night,’ that, too,” he said. “A couple of people who don’t know each other on the dark side of things. I don’t know which one I’d vote for. I have sympathies for them all.”
Bob Dylan discussed how he sees the 1960s versus the landscape of today
Dylan discussed how 2022 is supposedly different from the 1960s. “We’re pill poppers, cube heads and day trippers, hanging in, hanging out, gobbling blue devils, black mollies, anything we can get our hands on,” he said. “Not to mention the nose candy and ganga grass. It’s all too easy, too democratic. You need a solar X-ray detector just to find somebody’s heart, see if they still have one.”
Dylan noted that, in the 1960s, artists as distinct as “Brian Wilson and his brothers, Soupy Sales, and Tennessee Ernie Ford” were all popular on the radio. He felt that consuming modern music was too simple. Today, music exists at everyone’s fingertips on the internet.
How The Beatles’ ‘Paperback Writer’ and The Rolling Stones’ ‘Paint It Black’ performed
“Paperback Writer” topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, and the tune stayed on the chart for 10 weeks. “Paperback Writer” was not part of any of the band’s studio album, but it appeared on the compilation album 1962-1966. That album reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, lasting on the chart for 175 weeks.
On the other hand, “Paint It Black” reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks. It stayed on the chart for 11 weeks, meaning it was a tad more successful than “Paperback Writer.” The tune appeared on the album Hot Rocks 1964-1971, which peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 415 weeks. Hot Rocks 1964-1971 was the group’s most popular album in the United States, even though it was not a studio album.
“Paperback Writer” and “Paint It Black” are both great and Dylan acknowledged their greatness.
