Hello, mates..
Today's song is Paint It, Black by The Rolling Stones.
My fascination with The Rolling Stones is quite recent and I particullary like this one song. Maybe because of my interpretation of it's lyrics and it's sonority.. I am craaaazy about sitars!
I don't know if any of you lost someone that you loved very deeply. I have, (physically or not) and the beat and the words in this song feel exactly like that feeling.
Sort of a spinning, sinking, helpless feeling. You feel numb, you watch everything happening as if it is on a movie screen. You go home, you want to be alone, you think about all the good times you shared with that person, you just want to shut down, to sleep, you can't, you start getting angry - towards the end of the song it seems to be more out of control. Makes me think of broken bottles, smeared mascara, tears and cries and screams and wishing you could die. You just hope you be together in a way. Dying? Losing Sanity? Or just going to the place you used to be together, doing what you did together...
Guess this song's it's written about the despair and depression that follows the loss of a loved one, wether it is a botfriend/girlfriend or a husband/wife.
I see a red door and I want it painted black/No colours anymore, I want them to turn black - The red door that he wants to turn black could represent pain(red) that he is trying to kill(black).
Furthermore, the choice of a door as the object he wants to paint quite is curious. In symbolism, doors often represent a pathway to another REALM, in this case perhaps death. The 'red door' reference could also mean the following: in the bible, Moses and the Jews had to paint red above their doors so the plague wouldn't kill their first born sons. It's in Exodus. Keith is the first born child, so 'I see a red door and I want it painted black' could be a metaphor for wanting to kill himself.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes/I have to turn my head until my darkness goes - With summer representing the prime of life, if winter is death. He sees girls in their prime but has to turn his head because he knows death is only going to take them as well. Additionally, he has no interest in other women, he's greaving, he's still hurting, there's still a hollow within him. Not even seeing pretty girls can break his feeling of guilt and desparity from within. And until he can feel less depressed, he won't even put forth the effort to be with someone. He did have a love once, a great love, but she's gone now and he just feels lower than ever because he has no one to share his feelings with. Her absence is much like a death to him inside.
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black/With flowers and my love both never to come back - The 'line of cars' could be a (symbolic) funeral procession. The flowers could be reffering to the funeral, or to the flowers he once gave her.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away/Like a new born baby it just happens ev'ry day - if you've ever "lost" a loved one, it's strange how people can act around you. They don't know what to say or do, wanting to help but afraid to upset.. that's one possible interpretation, though maybe not the most accurate one.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black/I see my red door and it has been painted black - The repeating of the first lyric reaffirms how low he's feeling. He knows that he has a problem. It has even turned his heart a darker shade. It's kind of an acceptance of his darker side, since he can't do nothing about it, to get better.
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts/It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black - He talks about fading away and not having to face the facts. I think that refers to him dying and not having to face up to the fact that his lover is dead. It's not ease getting up and living your life when everything is black and depressing. Or it can mean a more "softer" path, than commiting suicide, like isolating himself from the world, 'until his darkness goes'.
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue/I could not foresee this thing happening to you - The green colour can represent the envy he feels when he sees the 'girls wearing their summer clothes' or couples together, and the blue the inevitable depression that results. As to the second verse, hes saying that he didnt even see it coming, which is also a reason for his deep depression the shock he's feeling. Or it could also mean: "This thing" might be suicide and the "you" could stand for himself as he ponders doing it. He never imagined that he would be in a situation where he might commit suicide. Nor that she could abandone him/die all of a sudden.
If I look hard enough into the settin' sun/My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes - The setting sun could be double meaning, I imagine him looking out a window at his last sunset.. as the sun fades on his life. Before the sun rises again, he will be dead and they will be reunited in the afterlife. Or it could simply mean that he still yearns for the happiness from the old times (those old memories are what is left of who he once was, what they were together) and hopes he can get that felling again.
Therefore, there are several things that make me connect to this song: the funk i'm in; the disinterest in other relationships; the memories that haunt and torment me; the toughts of disability and impotence; the hopes and desires to disappear and not having to think more about this subject; the envy towards the people that surround me; cause I'm really down; cause I wasn't forseing the recent events, I never thought he would opt for the easier way out, without giving it another try; the hopes of reliving those great times with him; and the fact that everything in life is just a precursor to your own death and the depression and disillusionment that follows.
My fascination with The Rolling Stones is quite recent and I particullary like this one song. Maybe because of my interpretation of it's lyrics and it's sonority.. I am craaaazy about sitars!
I don't know if any of you lost someone that you loved very deeply. I have, (physically or not) and the beat and the words in this song feel exactly like that feeling.
Sort of a spinning, sinking, helpless feeling. You feel numb, you watch everything happening as if it is on a movie screen. You go home, you want to be alone, you think about all the good times you shared with that person, you just want to shut down, to sleep, you can't, you start getting angry - towards the end of the song it seems to be more out of control. Makes me think of broken bottles, smeared mascara, tears and cries and screams and wishing you could die. You just hope you be together in a way. Dying? Losing Sanity? Or just going to the place you used to be together, doing what you did together...
Guess this song's it's written about the despair and depression that follows the loss of a loved one, wether it is a botfriend/girlfriend or a husband/wife.
I see a red door and I want it painted black/No colours anymore, I want them to turn black - The red door that he wants to turn black could represent pain(red) that he is trying to kill(black).
Furthermore, the choice of a door as the object he wants to paint quite is curious. In symbolism, doors often represent a pathway to another REALM, in this case perhaps death. The 'red door' reference could also mean the following: in the bible, Moses and the Jews had to paint red above their doors so the plague wouldn't kill their first born sons. It's in Exodus. Keith is the first born child, so 'I see a red door and I want it painted black' could be a metaphor for wanting to kill himself.
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes/I have to turn my head until my darkness goes - With summer representing the prime of life, if winter is death. He sees girls in their prime but has to turn his head because he knows death is only going to take them as well. Additionally, he has no interest in other women, he's greaving, he's still hurting, there's still a hollow within him. Not even seeing pretty girls can break his feeling of guilt and desparity from within. And until he can feel less depressed, he won't even put forth the effort to be with someone. He did have a love once, a great love, but she's gone now and he just feels lower than ever because he has no one to share his feelings with. Her absence is much like a death to him inside.
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black/With flowers and my love both never to come back - The 'line of cars' could be a (symbolic) funeral procession. The flowers could be reffering to the funeral, or to the flowers he once gave her.
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away/Like a new born baby it just happens ev'ry day - if you've ever "lost" a loved one, it's strange how people can act around you. They don't know what to say or do, wanting to help but afraid to upset.. that's one possible interpretation, though maybe not the most accurate one.
I look inside myself and see my heart is black/I see my red door and it has been painted black - The repeating of the first lyric reaffirms how low he's feeling. He knows that he has a problem. It has even turned his heart a darker shade. It's kind of an acceptance of his darker side, since he can't do nothing about it, to get better.
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts/It's not easy facin' up when your whole world is black - He talks about fading away and not having to face the facts. I think that refers to him dying and not having to face up to the fact that his lover is dead. It's not ease getting up and living your life when everything is black and depressing. Or it can mean a more "softer" path, than commiting suicide, like isolating himself from the world, 'until his darkness goes'.
No more will my green sea go turn a deeper blue/I could not foresee this thing happening to you - The green colour can represent the envy he feels when he sees the 'girls wearing their summer clothes' or couples together, and the blue the inevitable depression that results. As to the second verse, hes saying that he didnt even see it coming, which is also a reason for his deep depression the shock he's feeling. Or it could also mean: "This thing" might be suicide and the "you" could stand for himself as he ponders doing it. He never imagined that he would be in a situation where he might commit suicide. Nor that she could abandone him/die all of a sudden.
If I look hard enough into the settin' sun/My love will laugh with me before the mornin' comes - The setting sun could be double meaning, I imagine him looking out a window at his last sunset.. as the sun fades on his life. Before the sun rises again, he will be dead and they will be reunited in the afterlife. Or it could simply mean that he still yearns for the happiness from the old times (those old memories are what is left of who he once was, what they were together) and hopes he can get that felling again.
Therefore, there are several things that make me connect to this song: the funk i'm in; the disinterest in other relationships; the memories that haunt and torment me; the toughts of disability and impotence; the hopes and desires to disappear and not having to think more about this subject; the envy towards the people that surround me; cause I'm really down; cause I wasn't forseing the recent events, I never thought he would opt for the easier way out, without giving it another try; the hopes of reliving those great times with him; and the fact that everything in life is just a precursor to your own death and the depression and disillusionment that follows.
Lyrics:
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn blackI see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I see a line of cars and they're all painted black
With flowers and my love both never to come back
I see people turn their heads and quickly look away
Like a newborn baby it just happens every day
I look inside myself and see my heart is black
I see my red door and it has been painted black
Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the facts
It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black
No more will my green seagull turn a deeper blue
I could not foresee this thing happening to you
If I look hard enough into the setting sun
My love will laugh with me before the morning comes
I see a red door and I want it painted black
No colors anymore I want them to turn black
I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes
I have to turn my head until my darkness goes
I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black
Yeah!
xoxo, Lucy