THE ROLLING STONES - TUMBLING DICE

TUMBLING DICE

THE ROLLING STONES

SONGWRITERS: KEITH RICHARDS & MICK JAGGER

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: EXILE ON MAIN ST.

LABEL: ROLLING STONES RECORDS

GENRE: ROCK AND ROLL

YEAR: 1972

 

     The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, heavier-driven sound that came to define hard rock. Their first stable line-up consisted of vocalist Mick Jagger, multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones, guitarist Keith Richards, bassist Bill Wyman, and drummer Charlie Watts. During their formative years, Jones was the primary leader: he assembled the band, named it, and drove their sound and image. After Andrew Loog Oldham became the group's manager in 1963, he encouraged them to write their own songs. Jagger and Richards became the primary creative force behind the band, alienating Jones, who had developed a drug addiction that interfered with his ability to contribute meaningfully.

      Rooted in blues and early rock and roll, the Rolling Stones started out playing covers and were at the forefront of the British Invasion in 1964, also being identified with the youthful and rebellious counterculture of the 1960s. They then found greater success with their own material as "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Get Off of My Cloud"(1965) and "Paint It Black"(1966) became international Nº 1 hits. Aftermath(1966) – their first entirely original album – is considered the most important of their formative records. In 1967, they had the double-sided hit "Ruby Tuesday"/"Let's Spend the Night Together" and experimented with psychedelic rock on Their Satanic Majesties Request. They returned to their roots with such hits as "Jumpin' Jack Flash"(1968) and "Honky Tonk Women"(1969), and albums such as Beggars Banquet(1968), featuring "Sympathy for the Devil", and Let It Bleed(1969), featuring "You Can't Always Get What You Want" and "Gimme Shelter". Let It Bleed was the first of five consecutive Nº 1 albums in the UK.

    Exile on Main St. is the 10th British and 12th American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 12 May 1972 by Rolling Stones Records. Recording began in 1969 in England during sessions for Sticky Fingers and continued in mid-1971 at a rented villa in the South of France named Nellcôte while the band lived abroad as tax exiles.

       Working with a mobile recording studio, the loose and unorganised Nellcôte sessions went on for hours into the night, with personnel varying greatly from day to day. The recording was completed with overdub sessions at Los Angeles's Sunset Sound and included additional musicians such as pianist Nicky Hopkins, saxophonist Bobby Keys, drummer Jimmy Miller and horn player Jim Price. The resulting music was rooted in blues, rock and roll, swing, country and gospel, while the lyrics explored themes related to hedonism, sex and time. These newly recorded tracks were combined with some tracks recorded at earlier sessions from 1969 to 1971, resulting in the Stones' first double album.

         Exile on Main St. contains frequently performed concert staples and was a number one charting album in six countries, including the UK, US, and Canada. It spawned the hit songs "Happy", which featured a rare lead vocal from Keith Richards, country music ballad "Sweet Virginia", and worldwide top-ten hit "Tumbling Dice". A remastered and expanded version of the album was released in 2010 featuring a bonus disc with 10 new tracks. Unusual for a re-release, it also charted highly at the time of its release, reaching number one in the UK and number two in the US.

       The album was originally met with mixed reviews before a positive critical reassessment during the 1970s. It has since been viewed by many critics as the Rolling Stones' best work and a culmination of a string of the band's highly critically successful albums, following the releases of Beggars Banquet(1968), Let It Bleed (1969) and Sticky Fingers(1971). Rolling Stone magazine has ranked Exile on Main St. number 7 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003 and 2012, and dropping to number 14 in the 2020 edition, the highest Rolling Stones album ranked on the list. In 2012, the album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the band's fourth album to be inducted.

Mmm yeah! (Woo, woo)

Women think I'm tasty, but they're always tryin' to waste me

Make me burn the candle right down

But, baby, baby, don't need no jewels in my crown

 

'Cause all you women is low down gamblers

Cheatin' like I don't know how

Baby, got no flavor, fever in the funk house now

This low down bitchin' got my poor feet a itchin'

Don't you know you know the duece is still wild

 

Baby, I can't stay, you got to roll me

And call me the tumblin' dice

Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry

Don't you see the time flashin' by

 

Honey, got no money

I'm all sixes and sevens and nines

Say now baby, I'm the rank outsider

You can be my partner in crime

 

Baby, I can't stay

You got to roll me and call me the tumblin'

Roll me and call me the tumblin' dice

Now baby

 

Oh my, my, my, I'm the lone crap shooter

Playin' the field ev'ry night

Baby, I can't stay

You got to roll me and call me the tumblin' dice (Call me the tumblin')

Got to roll me (ya yes), got to roll me, got to roll me (Oh yeah)

 

Got to roll me

Got to roll me (yeah)

Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)

Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)

Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)

Got to roll me

 

Call me the tumblin' dice, yeah

Got to roll me

Got to roll me

Baby sweet as sugar (Got to roll me)

Yeah, my, my, my yeah (Got to roll me)

Now now now now (Got to roll me)

I went down baby, oh

Got to roll me (hit me)

Baby I'm down.