Introduction
There are moments in music history that leave jaws on the floor, and Linda Ronstadt’s explosive take on “Tumbling Dice” was one of them. The world had always known Ronstadt as the golden voice of her generation—capable of wrapping heartbreak in velvet tones or tearing through rock anthems with a ferocity that could rival any man with a guitar. But when she took on the Rolling Stones’ swaggering classic, she didn’t just cover it. She owned it.
Picture the scene: the Stones had already etched “Tumbling Dice” into rock ’n’ roll mythology. Gritty, reckless, soaked in sweat and rebellion. But then came Ronstadt—poised, fearless, and blazing with feminine firepower. She stepped up to the mic, and suddenly the song was reborn. What had once been Mick Jagger’s sly, slurred ode to excess became, in Ronstadt’s hands, a declaration of independence. Her version turned heads, shattered expectations, and made critics admit what they rarely did: she had outdone the original.
The shock wasn’t just in the performance—it was in the audacity. In a male-dominated era of rock, Ronstadt dared to wrestle a Stones anthem into her own orbit and spin it with raw sensuality, sharp phrasing, and a voice that could knock down walls. Suddenly, “Tumbling Dice” wasn’t just a song—it was a battlefield, and Linda Ronstadt walked away with the crown.
For fans over 50 who remember that era, this was more than music. It was a cultural earthquake. It was proof that Ronstadt wasn’t simply the “Queen of Rock”—she was the queen who could challenge kings.
And to this day, when you press play on “Tumbling Dice”, you don’t just hear a cover. You hear a moment in time when Linda Ronstadt shocked the world, proving that sometimes the most dangerous gamble a song can take is to fall into the hands of someone who can sing it better.
Video
Lyrics
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
