"Tumbling Dice" was recorded at chateau Villa Nellcôte, on 3 August 1971. Mick Taylor, the Rolling Stones' second guitarist, played bass on the track, due to bassist Bill Wyman's absence that night, and Mick Jagger plays guitar. Keith Richards said, "I remember writing the riff upstairs in the very elegant front room, and we took it downstairs the same evening and we cut it." Jagger said of the lyrics, "It's weird where your lyric things come from. On Tumbling Dice, the house keeper and I talked about gambling. She liked to play dice and I really didn't know much about it, but I got it off her and managed to make the song out of that.'Tumbling Dice' was written to fit Keith's riff. It's about gambling and love, an old blues trick."