(June 14, 2026) – Sixty years ago on June 14, two future classics sat atop the nation’s major charts, as a very special birth date was being celebrated.
No not that guy’s… the one belonging to yours truly. Although it’s possible the other far more famous guy—like me—was completely oblivious to both chart topping mileposts at the time.
The No. 1 song in America on June 14, 1966, was the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It, Black,” a dark, haunting masterpiece that would become one of the defining records of the 1960s. At the same time, the No. 1 soul song was Sam & Dave’s “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” one of the most exuberant and uplifting records ever to emerge from the legendary Stax Records stable. (Incidentally, the No. 1 country song was country legend Sonny James’ cover of Adam Wade’s “Take Good Care of Her,” which doesn’t really have any personal significance, so we’ll leave that one out of the mix for this story.)
I always knew about the Stones connection to my birthday; however, it was a close childhood friend who in more recent years brought to my attention the Sam & Dave one. Since then, I’ve always been amused by the chart coincidence. On one side was a song about seeing the world through darkness and despair. On the other was a song offering reassurance, hope, and the promise that help was on the way. The irony was which artists were offering each perspective.
The Rolling Stones, five young Englishmen who had grown up an ocean away from America’s racial struggles, sat atop the pop chart with “Paint It, Black,” a song steeped in grief, isolation, and emotional darkness.
Meanwhile, Sam & Dave, two Black artists from the Deep South whose lives had been shaped far more directly by the realities of segregation and discrimination, were leading the soul chart with “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” a record overflowing with encouragement, confidence, and optimism.
That’s not to say one tune reflected reality more accurately than the other. Great songs often transcend the circumstances of their creation. But there is something remarkable about the contrast. At a moment when America was wrestling with some of the most profound social challenges in its history as well as being in an increasingly unpopular war halfway around the world, the darker message came from across the Atlantic while the message of hope came from two Southern soul men promising that help—and better days—were on the way, and furthermore that they were the ones bringing that help.
Taken together, the two songs formed a musical yin and yang that happened to be playing across America during the week of my arrival… a juxtaposition that could easily have soundtracked not just my birth but 1960s America and, to varying degrees, the sixty years since.
Even the unintended context of the two titles—in coinciding with a Black baby’s entry into the world—seemed uncanny. The nation’s biggest pop hit was “Paint It, Black,” while the top soul record was “Hold On! I’m Comin’”—sounding humorously like a call-and-response between a newborn and the world awaiting him. Of course, neither song had anything to do with this writer. But sixty years later, it’s difficult not to chuckle at the symmetry.
The real story, however, lies in the songs themselves.
Released in May 1966, “Paint It, Black”—with its oddly placed punctuation in most 45 rpm vinyl single pressings—represented a bold departure even for a band as adventurous as the Stones. Granted, neither of their first two No. 1s were beacons of glimmering light. The previous year’s “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” was Mick Jagger venting at all of life’s little annoyances, while its more surly follow-up “Get Off of My Cloud” was a piss-off to those daring to expect the band to do just that—record a follow-up.
But this third No. 1 was even darker. Fueled by Jagger’s tale of loss and despair, Keith Richards’ hypnotic guitar work, Charlie Watts’ relentless (and arguably most aggressive) drumming, and Brian Jones’ controversially timed sitar performance (after the Beatles had incorporated the instrument in 1965’s Rubber Soul), “Paint It, Black” sounded unlike anything else on American radio. While many pop hits of the era celebrated romance, optimism, and youthful innocence, “Paint It, Black” confronted listeners with something far darker: grief so overwhelming that the protagonist wished to blot out every color around him.
Yet despite its somber theme—or perhaps because of it at a time of war and strife—the song connected immediately. It reached No. 1 on the Hot 100 dated June 11, 1966, just three days before I came to be, and remained there for two weeks, unwittingly and forever linked to a date I’ve been celebrating ever since.
On this duality’s flip side was “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” the soulful jubilation with some punctuation issues and controversy of its own to reconcile. Whereas the Stones inserted the weird comma in their hit, Sam & Dave replaced the album’s title comma with an exclamation point. Then when some stations thought the title was too suggestive, Stax inserted the article “a” in most vinyl 45 pressings to read “Hold On! I’m a Comin’.”
The song itself was written by the Stax in-house team of David Porter and the late Isaac Hayes, the latter of whom sued the more famous “other” birthday guy for using it in his presidential campaign without the Hayes estate’s permission. Interestingly, Porter was not a party to the civil suit and, prior to his 2025 passing, the Sam half of Sam & Dave performed at a pre-inauguration concert for the defendant and was reportedly opposed to the Hayes family’s legal action, which was ultimately settled in 2026 to the estate’s satisfaction.
It’s easy to understand why a politician might choose “Hold On! I’m Comin’” to announce his arrival on the grand stage. With its titular hook and lyrics like “Lean on me when times are bad” being so emotionally delivered by its singers, the sync—when done correctly—is almost natural.
Almost as natural as the way it’s connected to yours truly, like “Paint It, Black.”
Sixty years later, “Paint It, Black” remains one of the Rolling Stones’ most daring and enduring recordings, while “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” which finished No. 1 in Billboard’s 1966 year-end soul recap, still stands as one of the great soul records of its era.
I can’t imagine a better pair of records to have ruled the charts that week. One acknowledged life’s darker moments. The other promised that someone would be there to help us through them. Between “Paint It, Black” and “Hold On! I’m Comin’,” the charts managed to capture two enduring truths about the human experience. And somehow, those two songs became the musical backdrop to my first week, occupying the two most important singles chart positions in American music.
If ever there was a pair of chart-topping song titles custom-made for a birth announcement, this combo might be it.
DJRob
DJRob (he/him) is a freelance music blogger from the East Coast who covers R&B, hip-hop, disco, pop, rock and country genres – plus lots of music news and current stuff! You can follow him on Bluesky at @djrobblog.bsky.social, X (formerly Twitter) at @djrobblog, on Facebook or on Meta’s Threads.
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