# "Paint It Black" - Have you always assumed the singer is a teenager or an adult? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 2, 2017, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811 "2017-10-02T14:48:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2017, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/21 "2017-10-02T20:38:28Z")
I always associated it with adults and funerals. But I can totally see how a depressed or grieving young person would also relate. Come to think of it, the song is practically an ethos statement for the “Goth” kids. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/22 "2017-10-03T00:44:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > “A red door” is an open grave with reddish brown soil. Okay, NOW you’re reaching. That would be pretty damn oblique for a Jagger-Richards lyric. Next, you’ll be telling us the Walrus was Paul. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/23 "2017-10-03T01:50:16Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Okay, NOW you’re reaching. That would be pretty damn oblique for a Jagger-Richards lyric. > > Next, you’ll be telling us the Walrus was Paul. I’ve seen too many open graves. Fresh earth is reddish. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/24 "2017-10-03T01:54:53Z")
Maybe in Arkansas you have a lot of iron in the soil. Is this something Mick Jagger would have been seeing? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/25 "2017-10-03T01:56:44Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’ve seen too many open graves. Fresh earth is reddish. Not here. Pretty black. ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/26 "2017-10-03T02:22:30Z")
I thought it was about an HOA enforcer unhappy with non-standard exteriors. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/27 "2017-10-03T02:34:49Z")
I don’t hear the actual singers (sure sounds like more than one) as being teens, but the lyrics to me sound a lot like teenage stuff. So I do interpret the speaker (in the poetic sense) to be a teen. In other words, it’s adults playing a teen singing about teen angst. I’m not sure which answer I should pick for this, or even if I should pick one at all, since this is the first time I’ve ever heard this song. But I think you might like my response anyways. Apologies if you didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/28 "2017-10-03T02:42:11Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > …since this is the first time I’ve ever heard this song. … What? I mean really, WHAT? You’ve never heard “Paint it Black” before now? May I ask how old you are? ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/29 "2017-10-03T03:57:29Z")
I’ve always thought it was about a funeral. I don’t know how else to interpret “I see a line of cars and they’re all painted black”. I’ve never associated attending a funeral to be associated with being a particular age, so option #3 for me. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/30 "2017-10-03T04:01:08Z")
Always struck me as a guy in mid-life crisis ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/31 "2017-10-03T04:15:02Z")
Never thought it was age specific. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/32 "2017-10-03T04:26:03Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > I’ve seen too many open graves. Fresh earth is reddish. Not in the UK, or in fact most places in the northern temperate zone. Red soils are mostly found in warm moist climates (as in the southern US or the tropics). Someone from Britain would be unlikely to refer to a grave as a “red door.” ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/33 "2017-10-03T07:41:43Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Not in the UK, or in fact most places in the northern temperate zone. Red soils are mostly found in warm moist climates (as in the southern US or the tropics). Someone from Britain would be unlikely to refer to a grave as a “red door.” Actually, we do have quite a few areas of noticeably red soil in the UK. [Example](https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@54.1240642,-3.1493573,861m/data=!3m1!1e3) (It looks even redder in person there, it always stands out when I go there), but yeah, that does read as a bit of a stretch. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/34 "2017-10-03T07:56:20Z")
It had never occurred to me the song was about death until I read it online. I always thought of it as being a song about a man who has psychopathic and destructive thoughts and struggles to keep them in check when he sees people enjoying their lives in a way he can’t. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/35 "2017-10-03T09:17:21Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > What? I mean really, WHAT? > > You’ve never heard “Paint it Black” before now? > > May I ask how old you are? I’m 32, born in 1985. The song apparently predates me by 19 years. I honestly don’t know much from the Rolling Stones. My parents didn’t listen to anything but Christian music growing up. I also got exposed to the music on Disney Channel, and some MTV, including apparently a ton of one-hit wonders. But only stuff that was popular during the years I was alive. I also don’t currently really listen to music in the way some people seem to. I can enjoy some music at times, but not to just listen to it in the background or anything. I don’t stumble upon things unless people mention them and I check out a YouTube link. (Or it’s from Weird Al or some _a capella_ group.) In other words, I’m a perfect storm for not having heard most of the “classics” that everyone else will think everyone should have heard. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/36 "2017-10-03T10:18:23Z")
I thought the “I have to turn my head until my darkness goes…” was about dark urges that the sight of the girls bring up in him, but by the rest of the lyrics (some of which hadn’t clicked for me) I may be wrong, and it was about grief. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/37 "2017-10-03T11:06:57Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > It had never occurred to me the song was about death until I read it online. I always thought of it as being a song about a man who has psychopathic and destructive thoughts and struggles to keep them in check when he sees people enjoying their lives in a way he can’t. This is how I have thought of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/38 "2017-10-03T11:43:54Z")
I never thought of a specific age but if I had to hazard a guess I’d say somewhere in the 20s. A teenager would likely be angrier and, while maybe depressed, less aware of it. Whereas someone in their 30s who still has a bleak outlook will most likely know that no one wants to listen, and a lot of people also feel that way so you’re no one special, so why bother writing the song. Whereas someone in their 20s might have the self awareness to know what their mindset is but angsty enough to have to write about it. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/39 "2017-10-03T12:10:24Z")
> [@Ukulele\_Ike](#): > > Maybe in Arkansas you have a lot of iron in the soil. Is this something Mick Jagger would have been seeing? They were arrested if Fordyce, AR in 1975, but that was after _Paint It, Black._ 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [October 3, 2017, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811/40 "2017-10-03T12:11:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Not in the UK, or in fact most places in the northern temperate zone. Red soils are mostly found in warm moist climates (as in the southern US or the tropics). Someone from Britain would be unlikely to refer to a grave as a “red door.” It is clay here. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/paint-it-black-have-you-always-assumed-the-singer-is-a-teenager-or-an-adult/797811.md?page=3)