Album: Exile on Main St.
Year: 1972
. . .
One of the things about discovering Exile on Main St. back in the day — and I’m guessing that it’s still kinda true today — is that unlike Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed, it doesn’t have a lot of songs that are either live standards or radio standards. Only two, really: “Happy” and “Tumbling Dice.”This means that you can treat Exile more as a unified thing, not a record that’s got a bunch of songs you might be already very familiar with.
And, of course, “Tumbling Dice” was so ubiquitous when I was a kid, it took a bit for me to view it as part of Exile as opposed to its own thing. But, of course, I eventually did, as it’s such a key to the record.
It’s kind of amazing that “Tumbling Dice” came out as good as it did. Having started life as a faster song called “Good Time Women,” it would have been one of the lesser tracks on Sticky Fingers, but instead, Keith reworked the music, Mick reworked the lyrics, and we have the utter classic it is.
It starts off with one of those insta-Keef five-string riffs, followed by Charlie finding the exact right groove, as Mick exclaims “oh yeah” and the backing vocalists go “ooooooh.” Those backing vocalists — Venetta Fields, Clydie King & Sherlie Matthews — weren’t down in the basement, but rather overdubbed later in Los Angeles. But that’s one of the things about “Tumbling Dice:” it’s equal parts basement groove and overdubbed sweetness.
Women think I’m tasty, but they’re always tryin’ to waste me
And make me burn the candle right down
But baby, baby, I don’t need no jewels in my crown
‘Cause all you women is low down gamblers
Cheatin’ like I don’t know how
But baby, I go crazy, there’s fever in the funk house now
This low down bitchin’ got my poor feet a-itchin’
You know you know the deuce is still wild
And nowhere is that more obvious than on the vocal harmonies. Sometimes, it’s Keith, like on “low down gamblers,” and sometimes it’s the full complement of vocalists, who punch hard on “fever in the funk house now” or on the first chorus.
Baby, can’t stay, you got to roll me
And call me the tumbling dice
In the middle of the chorus, just before “roll me” there’s a quick breakdown, Mick Taylor sneaking some licks in, but they almost instantly go back into the second verse.
Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry
Don’t 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
Outside of the “love is a gamble” metaphor, the lyrics of “Tumbling Dice” aren’t Mick’s best. I mean, don’t get me wrong: they’re not bad or anything, but I’m more interested in how Mick sings “you can be my partner in criiiiiiime” than the lyric itself (though that’s a pretty good come-on).
After the second chorus, they do the breakdown twice as long — I love the way it’s just Keith on the first “call me the tumbling” and the full gang on the second one — and after he previews the riff for the coda, Keith takes one of his hide-and-seek solos, weaving in and out of the rest of the song, which sets up the outro.
Oh, my, my, my, I’m the lone craps shooter
Playing the field every night
Baby, get it straight
You got to roll me and call me the tumbling dice
This time, on the breakdown at “roll me,” the song stays broken down, Vanetta, Clydie & Sherlie almost acapella on “call me the tumbling dice”, and it turns into a bit of a round, as Mick and Keith follow them with a quieter “call me the tumbling dice” as Charlie slams his snare while the Vanetta, Clydie & Sherlie start singing what they’re gonna sing for the rest of the song:
You got to roll me
You got to roll me
You got to roll me
You got to roll me
At this point, Keith starts playing a brand-new riff that is almost as gorgeous and slithery than what he’d been playing for the rest of the song, and Jimmy Miller picks the beat back up. Yeah, not Charlie, who couldn’t quite find the groove around the new riff, and so Miller played it.
Meanwhile Vanetta, Clydie & Sherlie are continue to chant “you got to roll me” as Mick encourages them, and at some point Mick and Keith do a counterpoint of “keep on rolling” and I could literally die, it’s so fucking gorgeous, especially since it’s only like three times.
“Tumbling Dice” was the first single released from Exile on Main St,, and it was a pretty massive hit on both sides of the pond, making it to #5 in the U.K. and #7 in the U.S. It’s also become a concert staple, one of their top five most played songs ever.
“Tumbling Dice”
“Tumbling Dice” live in Texas, 1972
“Tumbling Dice” live on Beat Club, 1972
“Tumbling Dice” live in Texas, 1978
“Tumbling Dice” live in Hampton, 1981
“Tumbling Dice” live in 1990
“Tumbling Dice” live in NYC, 2006
“Tumbling Dice” live with Bruce Springsteen in Newark, 2015
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