Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
_______________________________________________________________________________

Tumbling Dice

Written by: Mick Jagger & Keith Richards

Recorded: October 1970, December 1971-March 1972 Rolling Stones Mobile Unit, Mick Jagger's home, Newbury, England; Olympic Sound Studios, London, England & Sunset Sound Studios, Los Angeles, USA

Lead vocal: Mick Jagger
Electric guitars: Keith Richards (incl. solo) & Mick Jagger
Bass: Mick Taylor
Drums: Charlie Watts & Jimmy Miller
Harmony vocal: Keith Richards
Background vocals: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Clydie King, Venetta Fields & Sherlie Matthews
Piano: Nicky Hopkins
Saxophone: Bobby Keys
Trumpet: Jim Price

Tumbling Dice

Mmm yeah

Women think I'm tasty, they're always trying to waste me
Make me burn the candle right down

Baby, baby
I don't need no jewels in my crown

Cause all you women is low down gamblers
Cheating like I don't know how

Baby, I'm no crazy
There's fever in the funk house now

This low down bitching got my poor feet itching
Don't you know the deuce is still wild?

Baby, I can't stay
You've got to roll me and call me the tumbling dice

Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry
Don't see the time flashing 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've got to roll me and call me the tumbling dice
Roll me and call me the tumbling (come on, baby) dice

Oh my, my, my, I'm the lone crap shooter
Playing the field every night, every night

Baby, I can't stay
You've got to roll me and call me the tumbling dice
Roll me and call me the tumbling dice

Got to roll me
Got to roll me
Got to roll me - mmm 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) - ah yeah

Got to roll me - ...baby, call me the tumbling...
Got to roll me - ... dice, yeah
Got to roll me - roll me, baby, sweet little sugar
Got to roll me - now, yeah
Got to roll me - roll... now, now, now, now...
Got to roll me - oh darling now
Got to roll me - ... darling baby, oh
Got to roll me - come on, baby
Got to roll me - baby, all night
Got to roll me

Producer: Jimmy Miller Chief engineers: Glyn Johns, Andy Johns & Joe Zagarino

First Released:
U.S. Release date: April 15, 1972
U.K. Release date: April 21, 1972

Label: Rolling Stones Records (7", Single) RS 19103



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-11-23 11:14 by NICOS.

One of those tracks that everybody except me adore...I thought it was boring from the beginning already (1972)...

2 1 2 0

Love it.

So many great liveversions. 72, 73, 81-82 and 95 are my favourites.

The best Go****n tune the world has ever seen or heard!!! 10 Outta 10!

As close to perfection in straight-ahead rock-n-roll 45 rpm singles as they got.

Gimme Shelter, Satisfaction, and Paint it Black are all so unique and distinctive they stand apart.

But for just pure raw straight ahead rock-n-roll, Tumbling Dice might be the pinnacle.

They've never done it well live, and so sadly as a result for a lot of fans it isn't respected as much as it should be. But if you go back and listen to the studio track, it's perfect. The drumming, the vocals (esp the female vocals), the words, the riff... this is the rolling stones, rolling.

was it really not worked on at nellcote at all? wow.

The most brilliant patchwork ever? Letting Miller finish this one on drums made the last part of the song fly to incredible heights!

It is perhaps (together with HTW, BS, JJF and GS) the best recorded Stones track ever, imo.

Quote
Turner68
was it really not worked on at nellcote at all? wow.

Oh it was worked on very much in Nellcote. Whether those sessions are heard on Exile is another discussion however

Good time Woman was brought down to Nellcote among the Bermoundsey tracks in the spring of 71, and work on the track started in the basement after that.
Keith is on quote saying he wrote the opening riff in the front room, and the switch to Mick T on bass had happened already by the 4th of August. So a lot was done.
The sound of the finished product on the album however, seems a bit to "good" to be from the basement. But who knows what basic track stems from where....

Quote
RobberBride

Quote
Turner68
was it really not worked on at nellcote at all? wow.

Oh it was worked on very much in Nellcote. Whether those sessions are heard on Exile is another discussion however

Good time Woman was brought down to Nellcote among the Bermoundsey tracks in the spring of 71, and work on the track started in the basement after that.
Keith is on quote saying he wrote the opening riff in the front room, and the switch to Mick T on bass had happened already by the 4th of August. So a lot was done.
The sound of the finished product on the album however, seems a bit to "good" to be from the basement. But who knows what basic track stems from where....

yes, ok, i thought i was going crazy. thank you for the clarification.
mick taylor did a great job on bass IMO.

With Tumbling Dice we worked on that for a couple of weeks at least, just the basic track. I know we had a hundred reels of tape on the basic track. That was a good song, but it was really like pulling teeth. It just went on and on.
- Andy Johns, engineer


There must have been at least 30 two-inch reels on Tumbling Dice. I mean, Keith sat there one afternoon just playing the reprise for about six hours. Just round and round and round and round. Sitting in a chair with his legs up on something.
- Andy Johns, 2010


Charlie had a hard time playing the out-section. You know, where it breaks down before the end? He had a mental block on it.
- Andy Johns, 2010

A great track, I liked it from the beginning.

I have to admit this song has grown on me. Especially after learning it. Whereas most of the time, when I learn a track. The magic usually fades. Not on this one.

Keith created something special here. Grab a guitar, tune to open g and slap a capo on the 4th fret. Playing this song is infectious. You lock into that groove and the guitar seems to play itself.

The last truly magnificent Rolling Stones single.

I love loads since then but not one single after 1972 had that same, legendary, epic Stones swagger.

When it was released in April 1972, the sheer joyousness of Tumbling Dice created an incredible buzz and anticipation for the Stones - not only setting them up perfectly for the release of Exile On Main Street but creating an unparalleled eagerness for their US tour of 1972 - perhaps the most exciting (and debauched) rock tour of all time.

What makes this single so great is its sense of momentum, it builds and builds and to quote Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready, it picks up passengers along the way. It's like modern day gospel - and by the end of the song you can feel your heart bursting with joy when Mick and those glorious backing singers come in with that exultant chorus - You Gotta To Roll Me....Got To Roll Me...

Pete Townshend has often spoken of creating a unity with band and audience and that summer The Who released a single to that effect called Join Together. But here we are a few months before and the Stones are doing just that and creating a rock hymn.

The song is totally inclusive - you feel part of it, and it has the power to sweep you off your feet and deliver you to an elated state of mind.

Was the song inspired by gambling sessions at the local casino on the Cote D'Azure? Who knows but Mick and Keith were certainly divinely inspired and at the very top of their game when they wrote this.

And a couple of musicianly mentions here - ain't that sliding intro by Keith one of his absolute best!

And last but not least that drum roll from, I believe, Jimmy Miller that just takes the song home.

Just as Exile closes a stylistic chapter for the Stones so too does this tremendous single. They would never really be the same again.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2015-11-16 17:39 by Silver Dagger.

Fantastic song, the perfect example of the essentials of the Stones: the groove, the swagger, the rhythm, Mick's voice, everything is perfect.
It works great live too.

Fantastic song, but overplayed live.

I must admit that I only ever dug the 2nd half or last minute or so (where you get the main chorus "you've got to roll me..." and the fade out with the guitars taking over). I realize now if I could listen only to the music of this particular tune (block out all vocals) I'd really love it.

There's I believe a short film of the Stones with Mick Taylor rehearsing the song for later performance (plus some cool jamming after) which I really like.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-11-16 15:52 by nightskyman.

Quote
nightskyman
I must admit that I only ever dug the 2nd half or last minute or so (where you get the main chorus "you've got to roll me..." and the fade out with the guitars taking over). I realize now if I could listen only to the music of this particular tune (block out all vocals) I'd really love it.

There's I believe a short film of the Stones with Mick Taylor rehearsing the song for later performance (plus some cool jamming after) which I really like.

Here it is.

Perfect. It's perfect. The best recorded track, perhaps ever. I said recently the last minute of the song is sheer bliss. It is. That's all I got.

Quote
Silver Dagger
The last truly magnificent Rolling Stones single...

I think I would agree w/ that. There have been some great ones for sure, but as for the 'magnificent' label, to be compared along the lines like Honky Tonk Women and JJF, the last one goes to Tumbling Dice!

Cream and Sugar.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015-11-16 17:35 by 35love.

Quote
Silver Dagger
The last truly magnificent Rolling Stones single.

I love loads since then but not one single after 1972 had that same, legendary, epic Stones swagger.

When it was released in April 1972, the sheer joyousness of Tumbling Dice created an incredible buzz and anticipation for the Stones - not only setting them up perfectly for the release of Exile On Main Street but creating an unparalleled eagerness for their US tour of 1972 - perhaps the most exciting (and debauched) rock tour of all time.

What makes this single so great is its sense of momentum, it builds and builds and to quote Curtis Mayfield's People Get Ready, it picks up passengers along the way. It's like modern day gospel - and by the end of the song you can feel your heart bursting with joy when Mick and those glorious backing singers come in with that exultant chorus - You Gotta To Roll Me....Got To Roll Me...

Townshend has often spoken of creating a unity with band and audience and that summer The Who released a single to that effect called Join Together. But here we are a few months before and the Stones are doing just that and creating a rock hymn.

The song is totally inclusive - you feel part of it, and it has the power to sweep you off your feet and deliver you to an elated state of mind.

Was the song inspired by gambling sessions at the local casino on the Cote D'Azure? Who knows but Mick and Keith were certainly divinely inspired and at the very top of their game when they wrote this.

And a couple of musicianly mentions here - ain't that sliding intro by Keith one of his absolute best!

And last but not least that drum roll from, I believe, Jimmy Miller that just takes the song home.

Just as Exile closes a stylist chapter for the Stones so too does this tremendous single. They would never really be the same again.

Really great read Silver Dagger!! With two 30" reels available they might as well release a deluxe album of this great song alone…..

Great photo Carnaby. Is that from Mustique? I wonder how a photo like that got into the public domain?

Quote
Silver Dagger
Great photo Carnaby. Is that from Mustique? I wonder how a photo like that got into the public domain?

But does it belong on this particular thread?? Probably better served with jagger photo thread

Seen this performed live at every Stones gig I've been too I think. I always groan a bit when it starts ('Not this again') - but when that final section starts to kick you just get carried away on that wave and all is right with the world.

The studio version is truly wonderful - I never actually realised that Jimmy Miller played on the ride-out, makes perfect sense now that I think about it.

one of the finest tracks ever written by the glimmer twins !!!!!!!!!! such an infectious groove ,try as you may to play this on the ole six string and you can copy it note for note but i think it is really hard if not impossibile to make it swing like the riffmaster himself does !!!!!!!!

Quote
Maindefender


Really great read Silver Dagger!! With two 30" reels available they might as well release a deluxe album of this great song alone…..

Great idea! Perhaps it's a good back up plan in case things don't go Swimmingly when they go into the studio next month.

Quote
Turner68

Quote
Maindefender


Really great read Silver Dagger!! With two 30" reels available they might as well release a deluxe album of this great song alone…..

Great idea! Perhaps it's a good back up plan in case things don't go Swimmingly when they go into the studio next month.

Call it "Ace In The Hole"…..

Essential perfection > studio.

_____________________________________________________________
Rip this joint, gonna save your soul, round and round and round we go......

Excellent tune, up there with the best they have ever recorded. Knowing the story of it's creation, it seems to support statement that persistence pays off. Keith obviously had a strong vision for what he wanted and wasn't willing to quit until that vision was realized. Clearly built around that magical circular riff which is the very definition of the roll part of rock ad roll. I wonder who Keith copped the idea from? I could speculate as it had been making the rounds a bit, but he definitely made it his own.

Reminder to Dandie that when you pull quotes from Ian's site over at Time Is On Our Side to make sure to credit him. He doesn't mind us using them here but has specifically requested that we do so. He's obviously put a lot of effort into compiling all that information on that awesome site and deserves the nod!

[www.timeisonourside.com]