Late Rolling Stones co-founder Brian Jones completed “Paint It Black” on sitar. (Ivan Keeman, Getty Images)<\/span><\/p> Meanwhile, Brian Jones<\/a> offered his own otherworldly instrumentation. Elsewhere, he was dotting the Aftermath<\/em> sessions with new sounds, including marimba and dulcimer. He’d also taken an interest in the sitar, after hearing George Harrison<\/a> play the Indian instrument late the year before on the Beatles<\/a>‘ “Norwegian Wood<\/a>.” <\/p>\n “Brian had pretty much given up on the guitar by then,” Richards told Rolling Stone<\/a><\/em>. “If there was [another kind of] instrument around, he had to be able to get something out of it. It gave the Stones on record a lot of different textures.” <\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> The Best Song From Every Rolling Stones Album<\/a><\/p>\n Jones was serious about the sitar. He took lessons from virtuoso Harihar Rao, who had studied under Harrison’s teacher Ravi Shankar. “I love the instrument,” the late Jones told Melody Maker<\/a><\/em>. “It gives you a new range, if you use an instrument like that. It has completely different principles from the guitar and opens up new fields for a group in harmonics and everything.”<\/p>\n His masterful turn on “Paint It Black” completed the song. “That’s it!” Oldham enthused. “I’d heard the sound and movement we needed.” But Jones, dressed in all white<\/a>, sat apart when the Rolling Stones subsequently played their new chart-topping single on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n Listen to the Rolling Stones\u2019 \u2018Paint It Black\u2019 in Concert<\/strong><\/p>\n Richards had heaped praise on Wyman’s offbeat turn on the organ pedals \u2013 and he agreed that Jones’ contribution had been invaluable. “What’s amazing about that one for me is the sitar,” Richards told Rolling Stone<\/em>. “Brian playing the sitar makes it a whole other thing.”<\/p>\n Despite everyone else’s musical additions, however, “Paint It Black” was credited only to Jagger and Richards. Jones’ presence in the group he co-founded would continue to diminish until he was fired during sessions for 1969’s Let It Bleed<\/a><\/em>. He died a month later<\/a>, having only added sparse backing instruments to his two final Rolling Stones songs.<\/p>\n READ MORE:<\/strong> Top 10 Post-‘Some Girls’ Rolling Stones Songs<\/a><\/p>\n “You know, Keith would come in with a riff \u2013 that’s all \u2013 and over the course of a week we would come up with a song,” Wyman later told Guitar World<\/a><\/em>. “Then Mick would write the lyrics, and it would come out on an album credited as ‘Jagger\/Richards.’ That would happen all the time. … We just had to live with it or leave.”<\/p>\n In later years, Richards would take over Jones’ iconic part during the Rolling Stones’ live performances of “Paint It Black” \u2013 but on electric guitar.<\/p>\n Ready to journey through the past (darkly)? Check out Rolling Stones Albums Ranked Worst to Best.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Gallery Credit: Bryan Wawzenek<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n You Think You Know the Rolling Stones?<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat’s the Unusual Sound on ‘Paint It Black’?<\/h3>\n
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