Most of The Rolling Stones’ best material seems to be embedded in the brain of every rock and roll fan. If you were to make a manual about what constitutes a kickass rock and roll band, there’s a good chance that you’d either see one of two things when you open it up: a picture of Keith Richards with a cigarette in his hand or a foldout image of Mick Jagger’s tongue insignia. A classic rock fan reviewing The Stones may as well be reviewing their own hands, but even Mick Jagger admitted that the song ‘Tumbling Dice’ was far from perfect.
But is rock and roll really supposed to be perfect? Half the reason the band works, to begin with, is that certain things go wrong and are left in the final mix, like little guitar nuances you didn’t know were there. It’s supposed to be messed up to some degree, and Exile on Main St may as well have been their most debauched album ever.
None of The Rolling Stones’ material could be considered clean by any stretch, but this is where the band really started to toy with the idea of what they could get away with in the studio. Since they didn’t have to answer to any tax problems after leaving the country, their only job was to pump out one song after the next, leading to amazing tracks like ‘Sweet Virginia’ and ‘Rip This Joint’.
Of all the different avenues they take on the record, ‘Tumbling Dice’ might be the most “Stonesy” recording they made at this time. With the exception of producer Jimmy Miller sitting in for Charlie Watts, the entire track is the perfect vehicle for Jagger singing about sex, looking at it with a gambling mindset.
While the track is still one of The Stones’ most celebrated tunes, Jagger admitted that he felt nothing when they released it, telling uDiscover, “I don’t really know what people like about it. I don’t think it’s our best stuff. I don’t think it has good lyrics. But people seem to really like it, so good for them.”
Granted, probably the worst critics of The Stones’ music are usually The Stones themselves. Before they had even started to hit the big time, Richards said that he didn’t think that ‘Satisfaction’ was any good upon release, eventually having to be coaxed into the idea when Jagger suggested fleshing everything out.
If nothing else, ‘Tumbling Dice’ is a brilliant snapshot of where the band were at the time of recording. Richards was a junkie still hanging on by a thread, and Jagger was just trying to keep everything together to make sure they weren’t towards a brick wall, and you can hear that dissonance on the final take.
They were under siege, but many people seemed to resonate with that feeling. Everyone has had to deal with either being unlucky in love or feeling like the world turned its back on them, but as long as you’re willing to still take a gamble, it makes everything worth it in the end.
