Two months later, London Records included it as the opening track on the American version of the band's 1966 studio album Aftermath, though it is not on the original UK release.

Originating from a series of improvisational melodies played by Brian Jones on the sitar, the song features all five members of the band contributing to the final arrangement although only Jagger and Richards were credited as songwriters.

In contrast to previous Rolling Stones singles with straightforward rock arrangements, "Paint It Black" has unconventional instrumentation, including a prominent sitar, the Hammond organ and castanets.

Reviews of the song at the time were mixed, and some music critics believed its use of the sitar was an attempt to copy the Beatles, while others criticised its experimental style and doubted its commercial potential.

In 1965, popularity of the Rolling Stones increased markedly with a series of international hit singles written by lead singer Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards.

This success attracted the attention of Allen Klein, an American businessman who became their US representative in August while Andrew Loog Oldham, the group's manager, continued in the role of promoter and record producer.

[4] One of Klein's first actions on the band's behalf was to force Decca Records to grant a $1.2 million royalty advance to the group, bringing the members their first signs of financial wealth and allowing them to purchase country houses and new cars.

"[7] By this time, the Rolling Stones had begun to respond to the increasingly sophisticated music of the Beatles, in comparison to whom they had long been promoted by Oldham as a rougher alternative.

[8] With the success of the Jagger–Richards-penned singles "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud" (1965) and "19th Nervous Breakdown" (1966), the band increasingly rivalled the musical and cultural influence of the Beatles, and began to be identified as one of the major pillars of the British Invasion.

[13] Brian Jones, originally the band's founder and leader over the first few years of its existence, began feeling overshadowed by the prominence of Jagger and Richards' contributions to the group.

Despite having contributed to early songs by the Stones via the Nanker Phelge pseudonym, Jones had less and less influence over the group's direction as their popularity grew primarily as a result of original Jagger–Richards singles.

[14] To alleviate his boredom, he began exploring Eastern instruments, specifically the Indian sitar,[15] with a goal to bolstering the musical texture and complexity of the band's sound.

A multi-instrumentalist, Jones could develop a tune on the sitar in a short time; he had a background with the instrument largely from his studies under Harihar Rao, a disciple of Ravi Shankar.

[17] Ultimately, the final version of "Heart Full of Soul" featured a fuzz guitar in place of the sitar, although the song's distinctively Indian timbre remained.

[18] Jagger and Richards wrote the lyrics and much of the chord progression of "Paint It Black" the previous December during the first sessions for the then untitled album Aftermath, and while on the 1966 Australian tour.

[37][38] In the view of pop historian Andrew Grant Jackson, "Paint It Black" bears a strong resemblance to the Supremes' 1965 hit "My World Is Empty Without You", which used "a foreboding minor key with harpsichord and organ".

[40] According to music scholar James E. Perone, although the introductory sitar passage is played in an Indian fashion, "the rhythmic and melodic feel of the Eastern-sounding phrases actually call to mind the Middle East more than India".

[41] Wyman's heavy bass, Charlie Watts' low-pitch drumming and Richards' bolero-driven acoustic guitar outro drive "Paint It Black".

Using colour-based metaphors, the song's lyrics describe the grief suffered by someone stunned by the sudden and unexpected loss of a partner,[32][49] leading to what author Tony Visconti terms "a blanket worldview of desperation and desolation, with no hint of hope.

[18] Perone argues the resulting connections among the songs on Aftermath lend it a conceptual unity which, although not sufficient for it to be considered a concept album, allows for the record to be understood "as a psychodrama around the theme of love, desire and obsession that never quite turns out right".

[62] Later compilations by the Rolling Stones featuring "Paint It Black" include Hot Rocks 1964–1971 (1971),[63] Singles Collection: The London Years (1989),[64] Forty Licks (2002),[65] and GRRR!

[32] Jonathan Bellman, an American musicologist, agreed with Jones, writing in a 1997 issue of The Journal of Musicology that the events are an example of concurrent musical and instrumental experimentation.

[16] Lindy Shannon of the La Crosse Tribune felt that "Paint It Black", the Byrds' "Eight Miles High" and the Beatles' "Rain" were straying from the "commercial field" and instead "going into a sort of distorted area of unpleasant sounds".

[76] In a review for New Musical Express (NME), Keith Altham considered "Paint It Black" the band's best single since "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" was released the previous year.

[77] A reviewer for Billboard predicted that Aftermath would become another hit for the band, citing "Paint It Black" as the focal point of this hard rock album and praising Oldham's production.

"[79] The Herald News considered the song a "top record ... for teeners",[80] and in The Sunday Press Nancy Brown described it as a "pulsating, blues-soaked romantic tear-jerker".

[81] In the San Francisco Examiner, Ralph J. Gleason lauded the song for its "hypnotizing tone" and "same qualities of ambiguity and obscurity as some of the previous Stones hits".

[85] David Palmer, editor of the Cullman Times, wrote that the "attitude" songs on Aftermath – particularly "Paint It Black" – influenced the nihilistic outlook of punk music.

[28][92] Seven days after its UK release, "Paint It Black" had sold 300,000 advance copies; the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) later certified it platinum.

[134] In the book Rolling Stones Gear by Babiuk and Prevost, they credit an acoustic guitar contribution to Jones, maracas and cowbell to Wyman and tambourine and castanets to Watts.