About The Song
“Tumbling Dice” was released by Linda Ronstadt as a single in April 1978 via Asylum Records. It appears as track nine on her album Simple Dreams, issued September 6, 1977. Produced by Peter Asher at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles, the song runs 3:30 and delivers a rollicking, full-band country-rock take with driving guitars, tight rhythm section, and Ronstadt’s strong, swaggering vocal that adds a bold female perspective to the original.
Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for the Rolling Stones’ 1972 double album Exile on Main St., the track became a Stones classic. Ronstadt’s version reworks the lyrics slightly for clarity and gender, changing the opening from the Stones’ harder-to-decipher lines to “People try to rape me / Always think I’m crazy / Make me burn the candle right down.” She reportedly asked Jagger and Richards to write out the words because the original mix buried them so deeply. The rest of the song keeps the gambling and seduction metaphors intact: the narrator describes a restless, high-stakes romance where love feels like rolling dice—“You got to roll me / Keep on rolling me / Baby I can’t stay.” The chorus repeats the title with a mix of defiance and desire, turning the song into a confident declaration of living on the edge of passion and risk.
The single climbed to No. 32 on the Billboard Hot 100, spending eight weeks on the chart and peaking for two weeks in May 1978. It also reached No. 30 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 22 on Canada’s RPM Adult Contemporary. The B-side was “I Never Will Marry,” which charted separately on country and Adult Contemporary lists. Though not the album’s biggest hit—“Blue Bayou” and “It’s So Easy” were the major singles—“Tumbling Dice” helped extend Simple Dreams’s massive success. The record topped the Billboard 200, sold multi-platinum, and showcased Ronstadt’s ability to reinterpret rock classics with country-rock energy.
Ronstadt performed the song live regularly, most notably joining the Rolling Stones onstage on July 21, 1978, during their tour. The track also appeared on the soundtrack of the 1978 film FM. It has been included on compilations such as Greatest Hits, Volume 2 and various anthologies, remaining a fan favorite for its energetic groove and Ronstadt’s clear, powerful delivery.
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Lyric
Wo Yeah! (Wo, wo)
Women think I’m tasty, but they’re always tryin’ to waste me
And make me burn the candle right down,
But baby, baby, I don’t need no jewels in my crown.
Cause all you women is low down gamblers,
Cheatin’ like I don’t know how,
But baby, baby, there’s fever in the funk house now.
This low down bitchin’ got my poor feet a itchin’,
Don’t you know you know the duece is still wild.
Baby, I can’t stay, you got to roll me
And call me the tumblin’ dice.
Always in a hurry, I never stop to worry,
Don’t you see the time flashin’ by.
Honey, got no money,
I’m all sixes and sevens and nines.
Say now baby, I’m the rank outsider,
You can be my partner in crime.
But baby, I can’t stay,
You got to roll me and call me the tumblin’,
Roll me and call me the tumblin’ dice.
Oh, my, my, my, I’m the lone crap shooter,
Playin’ the field ev’ry night.
But baby, I can’t stay,
You got to roll me and call me the tumblin’ dice, (Call me the tumblin’)
Got to roll me (yayes), Got to roll me, Got to roll me (Oh yeah)
Got to roll me
Got to roll me (yeah)
Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)
Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)
Got to roll me (Keep on rolling)
Got to roll me
My baby, call me the tumblin’ dice, yeah
Got to roll me
Baby sweet as sugar (Got to roll me)
Yeah, my, my, my yeah (Got to roll me)
I went down baby, oh
Got to roll me (hit me)
Baby I’m down