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Rolling Stones songs: She’s a Rainbow
Have you seen her all in gold/ Like a queen in days of old/ She shoots colors all around/ Like a sunset going down…
Original titles: She Comes In Colours/ Lady Fair/ Flowers In Your Hair Written by: Jagger/Richards Recorded: Olympic Sound Studios, London, England, May 16-19 and June 12-13, 1967
Mick Jagger: vocals, tambourine Keith Richards: acoustic and electric guitar Brian Jones: Mellotron, percussion Bill Wyman: bass Charlie Watts: drums, percussion Guest musicians: Nicky Hopkins (piano, harpsichord), John Paul Jones (strings arrangements)
She Comes in Colours: Reimagining a Psychedelic Stones Jewel
At the tail end of the 1960s, when rock bands were busy reinventing themselves through kaleidoscopic imagery and swirling experimentation, the Rolling Stones briefly stepped away from their usual swagger to craft something almost mythic. She’s a Rainbowemerged as a radiant anomaly—part fairy tale, part psychedelic daydream, part poetic puzzle. In this technicolor portrait, the heroine glows with supernatural grace, more akin to an Arthurian enchantress than a figure from the Stones’ typically gritty universe. Her colors spill out like sunlight through stained glass, turning the track into a vision of innocence and fantasy far removed from Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry. And though the band would soon abandon the flower-power palette for a hard return to blues rock, She’s a Rainbowremains a shimmering monument to the moment they dared to dream in full-spectrum hues.
A Song Out of Step—and Proud of It
Long considered one of the Stones’ most uncharacteristic creations, She’s a Rainbow soaked in the wide-eyed optimism of the late ’60s. Flower-power idealism infused its melody, placing the track at a crossroads between the band’s R&B roots and the rawer blues renaissance that would soon arrive with Jumpin’ Jack Flash and the Beggars Banquet album. Artists like Billy Childish later described the song as a Tudor-garden meditation—poetic, delicate, and tinged with melancholy. For some early fans it felt too whimsical, too close to the Beatles’ psychedelic universe, but time has revealed its charm: it stands as the last shimmering breath of the Stones’ flirtation with baroque pop.
Building the Rainbow: Production Magic
The track opens not with music but with atmosphere—a swirling carnival soundscape where a barker urges passersby to try their luck. That dreamlike invitation dissolves into Nicky Hopkins’ lightly compressed, ascending piano motif, soon joined by cello, tambourine, Bill Wyman’s booming bass, and Charlie Watts’ crisp drums pushing the song forward with measured confidence. Keith Richards strums his Gibson Hummingbird with bright precision, while Brian Jones adds a trumpet-toned Mellotron line that gives the track its carnival-meets-storybook glow.
But the true spine of She’s a Rainbow lies in its bold string arrangements. John Paul Jones—years before founding Led Zeppelin—crafted lines that veer from elegant to dissonant, even brushing against Bartók-like tension. In the middle eight, the interplay of strings and celesta feels almost Mozartian, showing a sophistication rare in the Stones’ catalog. These unexpected choices signal the band’s willingness to explore beauty without irony—yet the jagged chord Richards slashes at the end reminds listeners that rock grit still lurks beneath the glitter.
Vocals, Atmosphere, and Unlikely Choices
The backing vocals—those kitschy “ooh-la-la-la” refrains—arrive like a wink at the psychedelic era’s childlike whimsy. Recorded at a slower speed and played back higher, they adopt a nasal, almost cartoonish quality similar to techniques the Beatles used on the Sgt. Pepper’s album. The entire band (except Charlie) contributed harmonies, layered beneath Hopkins’ piano and the swirling orchestration. Jagger, surprisingly at home in this colorful universe, glides between troubadour romanticism and sly sensuality. His delivery wavers between innocence and innuendo, an ambiguity some critics felt diluted the message but which now reads as part of the song’s playful charm. Brief flashes of harpsichord at 3:30, hand-percussion bursts, and studio tricks add further texture to a sound world that is, in every sense, unlike anything else in their catalog.
Legacy of a Technicolor Outlier
Released in the U.S. in late December 1967—paired with 2000 Light Years from Home—the single climbed to number 25 on the Billboard chart. It didn’t define the band’s era, yet it refused to fade, reappearing across major hits retrospectives for decades, from Through the Past, Darkly to Forty Licks and GRRR!. Although some early fans viewed it as a quirky detour, history has treated She’s a Rainbow warmly. It represents the final chapter in a lyrical cycle that began with As Tears Go By and passed through Lady Janeand Ruby Tuesday, all spotlighting a softness the band rarely allowed themselves.
Its influence seeped far beyond 1967. John Paul Jones, whose work elevated the track, would soon reshape rock history with Led Zeppelin. Arcade Fire revived the song in a memorable tribute to Kristen Wiig on Saturday Night Live, performing it with Mick Jagger himself. And though critics once debated whether the Stones were parodying psychedelia or embracing it, She’s a Rainbow has earned its place as a luminous curiosity—a brilliant flash of color before the blues reclaimed the stage.
In the end, the song endures for exactly what it is: a whimsical, melodic, beautifully crafted outlier. A moment when the Stones stepped outside their own mythology and painted in colors as bold as the era that produced them.
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