Paint It Black

No colors anymore I want them to turn black 

(The Rolling Stones - Paint It Black)

Henry Ford told his managers in 1909  “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black”. And so, between 1914 and 1926 Ford Model T cars were all painted black.  (Earlier, several colors were available.)  I remember a surprise when I first saw a Mercedes Benz that was not black.  Nowadays, most Benzes one sees are any color but black.  On the other hand, the newcomers to the luxury automobile market, such as Kia, Hyundai and Nissan offer their top of the line sedans in black.  The Fiat 500s that have recently become available in the United States, come in all kinds of happy colors, is black among them?  I had to check: YES.  But no, I haven't seen any black ones.

I don't see many black cars of any make any more.  Most in this corner of the world are silver, grey, blue.   Yesterday, in the 10 minutes I spent in front of a Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall waiting for the right moment to snap the photograph that I posted last evening, over a hundred cars passed me in both directions, and only three of them were painted red. I didn't count the black ones. 

Johnny Cash was called "The Man in Black".  He is quoted as saying: “I wore black because I liked it. I still do, and wearing it still means something to me. It's still my symbol of rebellion -- against a stagnant status quo, against our hypocritical houses of God, against people whose minds are closed to others' ideas.”

To my knowledge he didn't explain what "our hypocritical houses of God" he had in mind.   Roy Orbison wore all  black as well, but he wasn't called "The Man in Black".   What would the two of them say today when countless stage performers dress in black?

My grandmother, who spent most of her life as a widow, dressed all in black. At least during the few times that I saw her as a small boy, terrified of her presence. 

Since when has black ceased to be the color of mourning?  And what fashion dictator decided it?   So many American women dress all black. Don't they, or do they realize that black repels?