Tumbling Dice by The Rolling Stones

Starting in with a laid back guitar lick that drips with sweat and grit, “Tumbling Dice” slowly comes to life like a man getting out of bed after a hard night of drinking. Mick Jagger softly hums letting the groove settled. Back-up singers straight out of a gospel choir respond to Jagger with a soulful exclamation like a congregation saying amen.

While “Tumbling Dice” is a sinful statement where a man blames women for his promiscuity, it is also a righteous example of the transcendent beauty that comes from the marriage of blues and rock. While other rock bands were influenced by the blues the Rolling Stones played the blues and reminded the world how good pain could feel when it was put to music.

“Tumbling Dice” was recorded along with the many of the song on the album, Exile On Main St. in France near Nice. Many of the songs were written in various places over a period of four years, however the most potent songs were recorded in France in the hot summer nights of 1971. Exile On Main St. originally called ragged by critics has been recognized as one of the Rolling Stones best albums. Rolling Stone ranked it number seven on their list of 500 greatest albums calling it “definitive songwriting statement of outlaw pride and dedication to grit.”

Mick Jagger for all his bravado and style, isn’t necessarily the easiest singer to understand. When I first heard “Tumbling Dice” I was instantly drawn in by the groove but had no idea what Jagger was saying. I decided to listen to this song a couple more days to figure out the words and after a week, I gave up. After listening to “Tumbling Dice” with the lyrics right in front of me, I realized that it would have been nigh impossible for me to decipher the words from Jagger’s performance.

At first I was annoyed at how unintelligible the lyrics were but after figuring out what the song was about it began to make sense. This is not a song about a Shakespearean actor declaring his love. This is a low down drunk gambler, hard on his luck trying to rationalize his immoral behavior and this is exactly what Jagger sounds like.

The form of this song outlines this gambler rationalization which deteriorates as the song goes on. In the first verse, he explains how “woman think I’m tasty but they’re always trying to waste me.” He calls woman “low down gamblers” and claims that they cheat. He explains that their complaining and all of their games is the reason he can’t stay, so they might as well call him the tumbling dice.

In the second verse, he tries to explain himself. He’s got places to go but no money left. Identifying himself as a “rank outsider” he sings that “you can be my partner in crime” jokingly. However, he concludes again that he can’t stay. In the last verse, the gambler simply states that he’s a “lone crap shooter, playing the field ever night.”

The most unusual thing about “Tumbling Dice” is how each verse gets progressively shorter. The first verse is eight lines long, the second verse is six lines and the last verse is only two lines long. This is a beautiful example of the form serving the story of this song. He tries in the first to blame other woman, which is easy for him. In the second verse when he looks at himself it’s harder so he doesn’t have as much to say. By the time he gets to the last verse he’s given up making excuses for himself and arguing his case so he just states the truth in his reality.

Like “Under My Thumb,” “Tumbling Dice” is a statement of masculine bravado, both cool and pathetic, brave and desperate. When we are hurt it’s easy to blame other, harder to blame ourselves and sometimes it’s easier to simply villainies ourselves.

There’s one more way to handle feeling pain in our lives. Turn down the lights, throw away your inhibitions and rock out to “Tumbling Dice.”

Feeling bad never felt so good.