I see a red door and I want it painted black

Continuing my trip up the list of the most streamed songs for each year.  

1966 : Paint It, Black - The Rolling Stones 

Yup, I know this one and like it - it's gotta be one of my favourite Stones tracks (it's probably between this, "Mother's Little Helper" and "Sympathy For The Devil").  I'm not entirely sure it's one of most people's favourites though, but let's just assume that logic isn't involved here - that seems safest.

Wikipedia has a massive amount (354 milliPeppers) for a single song - firstly, we have to note that it comes in at 3:46 which is far and away the longest track we've had so far.  Apparently, it's a "raga rock song with Indian, Middle Eastern, and Eastern European influences and lyrics about grief and loss" - I don't think I'd ever considered what it was about but think I'd assumed it was about depression.  Apparently all the Stones contributed to the songwriting, based around a "series of improvisational melodies played by Brian Jones on the sitar" (sounds perfectly dreadful!) but Andrew Loog Oldham insisted it be credited to Jagger and Richards.  Random side note on the sitar - my dad once went on a business trip to India and brought back two of them.  As you do.  

I'm also going to go down a Wikipedia rabbit hole to recommend Andrew Loog Oldham's entry - it's fascinating!  Did you know there were originally six members of The Rolling Stones?   Apparently Andrew decided that five was the optimum number and Ian Stewart was older and "burlier" (ie fatter) so he got relegated to studio only work - so he decided to become their driver and road manager as well.  Apparently he was a great piano player, but refused to play in minor keys - and he died at the age of 47 of a heart attack in the doctor's surgery waiting to get it checked out.

Anyways, back to Paint It Black - the critics had mixed opinions on it.  Some thought they were just copying The Beatles and didn't see it going anywhere, whereas others disagreed and I think history has taught us who was correct.  It did phenomenally well commercially getting to #1 in a bazillion countries and selling over a million copies in the UK alone.  It also popped back into the charts in 1990 and, somewhat surprisingly, got to #1 in The Netherlands again.  It's also been used in quite a few films, probably most famously over the end credits of Full Metal Jacket, and on TV shows, with the slower version on Westworld being particularly well done.  It's also just been played on episode 1 of Wednesday - a fine instrumental cello version.

And, obviously, it's been covered by a LOAD of people - I know Vanessa Carlton's version (which is terrible) and Wikipedia gives us U2 (which I'd not heard - unsurprisingly, it doesn't exactly push the musical boundaries), Tracy Lawrence (a country version, which is less interesting than you might imagine), Rush and Ciara (this is the best one so far).  secondhandsongs.com also gives us Echo & The Bunnymen, Deep Purple, David Essex (I'm scared to go there), Marc Almond (exactly as over the top as you'd expect), Hayseed Dixie, Yngwie Malmsteen and Lucinda Williams.

I'm happy for this track to take the year, but I imagine the competition was pretty fierce - I suspect you'll just be getting edited highlights.  The top selling record in the UK was Tom Jones's "Green Green Grass Of Home" and other tracks that jump out of the charts for me are The Who's "Substitute", Cilla Black's "Alfie", The Beach Boys' "Barbara Ann", "Sloop John B", "God Only Knows" and "Good Vibrations" (quite the purple patch!), Dusty Springfield's "You Don't Have To Say You Love", Frank Sinatra's "Strangers In The Night", Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman", The Beatles' "Paperback Writer" and "Yellow Submarine", The Kinks' "Sunny Afternoon", Ike & Tina Turner's "River Deep, Mountain High", The Supremes' "You Can't Hurry Love" and "You Keep Me Hanging On" and The Four Tops' "Reach Out I'll Be There".  There's not a lot more offered from across the pond - I think the charts were becoming more synchronised at this time but I will call out Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted" and The Monkees' "Last Train To Clarksville".

I'm happy to give the year to The Rolling Stones - it feels like they've earned a year somewhere and it might as well be this one, but I feel I also need to call out The Beach Boys for their output this year.

1965 - A very strong year
1967 - A somewhat surprising winner