| The Rolling Stones – Tumbling Dice Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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To me, Having read and watched several documentaries on what the Stones were going through at this point in their career....I've always felt that this song was the epicenter of the entire album. To be more exact, at the time, the band was trying to figure out if they should stay together as a band. Having been through all sorts of legal and financial troubles, and also with their personal lives taking them in very different directions (Mick enjoying the jet set with Bianca...) The making of this album, as chaotic as it was, was an effort to see if the band could or should continue. Looking through the album, you can easily pick up on this as one of the main lyrical themes: keep on rolling, soul survivor, the diesel drumming all down the line, etc..... To me, the answer to the question of "should the band stay together" was resolved in tumbling dice, when Keith chimed in (seemingly out of nowhere - and also very much 'going against the grain' of the song's rythm) "Keep on rolling". Obviously, they are the rolling stones, and so this exclamation of "keep on rolling" goes way beyond the simple lyrics of tumblin dice (gambling and women). This little "keep on rolling" jam kind of takes the song over, and meaning-wise, it basically sums up the entire album.... No matter what you're going through - Keep on Rolling !!! To comment on the above, I believe the lyric actually is "rank outsider", and this goes to the theme of being an exile (from their home in the UK) or more generally, the theme of being somewhat "lost" and out of the mainstream of society. Being "rank" is also a somewhat common theme...for examnple "yes i'm nitty gritty and my shirts all torn", "seen too many flies on you", etc... So, to me, this song becomes all about the major theme of "keep on rolling". Otherwise, the lyrics I think are fairly straightforward - mixing gambling metaphors with other tongue-in-cheeck expressions to describe all the women who have rubbed him the wrong way (not that he isn't to blame for this, but that's another story). |
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