Exile on Main St by Bill Janovitz

Author:Bill Janovitz
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Stones, Styles, Genres, Main, &, Music/Songbooks, on, -, Contemporary, Jagger, St, Exile, Rolling, Mick, Rock, popular, music, Mick.
Publisher: New York : Continuum
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Tumbling Dice

A lot of pop music is inherently nostalgic, but the Stones had been around long enough to tap into the specific wistfulness of their listeners—some having come of age during the Stones' arc into superstardom. The 1972 Melody Maker review of "Tumbling Dice" articulated the significance of the song's release, via the band itself, noting, "It is impossible to see their names on the label and not undergo inner convulsions in which joy, mirth, tears, nostalgia and deep emotion are inevitably interwoven."

And this is more or less my reaction to the whole record. But "Tumbling Dice" is a particularly bruised and aching anthem. If it's not the quintessential Stones song, it is at least the quintessential Exile song. It presents itself as a swaggering mid- or up-tempo rock & roll number, but seems satisfied to shuffle out with the setting sun, with one of the most mournful codas this side of "Layla." The effect is intensely melancholy, Jagger fading off as if with his tail between his legs, lonely despite all his "I don't need no jewels in my crown" bluster. His words say one thing, but his performance seems to cry, Fm taking my toys and going home.

The lyrics provide yet another twist on the "ramblin', gamblin' man" song of American popular music. "I don't really know what people like about it," Jagger has said of the song. "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." Well, again, maybe the lyrics are nothing special, but it barely matters because the performance of the song as a whole is so arresting. Jagger's underestimation of the song for the lyrics is missing the forest for the trees. "You're no good, heart-breaker, you're a liar and you're a cheat" doesn't seem like much if taken out of context (or worse, in the wrong hands musically) but in Aretha Franklin's "I Never Loved a Man the Way that I Love You," it might be one of pop music's all time greatest opening lines. Soul lyrics can often be trite when simply read on the page, but in the right arrangement, with a great band and a top singer, the lyrics barely matter. And Jagger is a top singer at the top of his game on "Tumbling Dice."

I talked to Graham Parker about his recollection as a fan upon the release of the single. He told me:

They had a competition, I reckon in the NME, to see who could get the lyrics for "Tumblin' Dice" right. Someone did, but some joker wrote something like: "Fibby flibby flabby, yibby yibby yabby, make me burna camel right down-wow wow wown," which I thought was a great crack, too . . .

I do recall there was a bit of controversy in the press at the time (at least in either the Melody Maker or the NME) about the vocal mix. There was an interview with Jagger in one of those rags and they commented on it.

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