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TL;DR:

  • Keith Richards and Mick Jagger had different opinions of one of The Rolling Stones’ songs.
  • Richards thought the song was a classic from the beginning.
  • Jagger did not think it was one of the band’s better tracks.
The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Keith Richards wearing suits
The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards | Keystone/Getty Images

A journalist once asked Keith Richards and Mick Jagger to discuss their reactions to some of The Rolling Stones‘ songs. Richards said he held one song from Exile on Main St. in high esteem. On the other hand, Jagger said the song was not one of his favorites.

Keith Richards said critics changed their minds about 1 of The Rolling Stones’ songs years after its parent album debuted

In 1989, Richards and Jagger did an interview with the Los Angeles Times where they had to comment on the interviewer’s favorite Rolling Stones songs. One of the tracks was “Tumbling Dice.”

“I love that one,” Richards responded. “It’s funny some of the songs you are picking were not all that successful at first. ‘[You] Can’t Always Get What You Want‘ was the backside of a single,” he said. “‘Sympathy [for the Devil]‘ wasn’t a huge hit and ‘Tumbling’ came off of Exile [on Main St.], a double album which was universally panned as being murky and indulgent. But four years later critics began holding it up to us and saying, ‘Why can’t you work like this again?'”

Mick Jagger’s attitude toward the song was more mixed 

Richards revealed he never changed his opinion of “Tumbling Dice.” “But this was always a classic for me … the way it cracked in, a beautiful riff,” he said. “There’s something about all the songs you have mentioned that makes them difficult to talk about because they almost slip off your fingers without you realizing it, they’re so natural.”

Meanwhile, Jagger’s appraisal of “Tumbling Dice” was more mixed. “I can’t quite understand the appeal of that song,” he revealed. “It’s good, I suppose, but not great, nowhere near the top for me.”

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How The Rolling Stones’ ‘Tumbling Dice’ performed on the pop charts in the United States and the United Kingdom

“Tumbling Dice” reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100, staying on the chart for 10 weeks. The tune appeared on the album Exile on Main St. The album reached No. 1 for four of its 57 weeks on the Billboard 200.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Tumbling Dice” reached No. 5 in the United Kingdom and stayed on the chart for eight weeks. Meanwhile, Exile on Main St. reached No. 1 on the U.K. chart for one week. The album spent a total of 16 weeks on the chart.

“Tumbling Dice” got close to the top of the charts in the U.S. and the U.K. even though it was “nowhere near the top” for Jagger.

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