Tumbling Dice (1972) 2/21/21 Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones rolled right through the '70s with a number of "Great Songs," and today we're highlighting one of their best: 1972's "Tumbling Dice," the lead single from their "Exile on Main Street" album.

Written by Mick Jagger (lyrics) & Keith Richards (Music), it was a complete reworking of "Good Time Women," a song which was originally recorded for the "Sticky Fingers" album, but scrapped.

By all accounts, it turned into a much better song: a bluesy boogie-woogie with new guitar riffs, extra instrumentation (including piano by Ian Stewart)," and a whole new set of lyrics.

Those in-the-know during recording sessions have said that getting it recorded was like "pulling teeth," as many as 150 takes in the can before everyone was satisfied!

"Tumbling Dice" is about a gambler and a womanizer who can't quite break EITHER habit...and it fit right in with the "Rolling Stone" image!

It was a top 20 hit in 10 countries, reaching #7 in both the US and Canada, but as time went by, it scored some other impressive numbers: Rolling Stone Magazine has it at #434 on their list of the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" and Spin Magazine rates it the "third best single of all time!"

In 1977, Linda Ronstadt covered the song, and it reached #32 on Billboard's Hot 100, but it's lucky she got that far.

She changed the opening lyric to: "People try to rape me." That kept quite a few radio stations from playing it...but even worse, in 2001, when the US Senate was looking into censorship issues, Hilary Rosen, head of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) testified that Linda's version was "a song about rape, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards!"

Leave it to the Stones to get in trouble for something they didn't do!

"Tumbling Dice:" a "Great Song of 1972," and a controversial song of 1977!

Rolling Stones:

Linda Ronstadt: