The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. The first settled line-up consisted of Brian Jones (guitar, harmonica), Ian Stewart (piano), Mick Jagger (lead vocals, harmonica), Keith Richards (guitar), Bill Wyman (bass) and Charlie Watts (drums). Stewart was removed from the official line-up in 1963 but continued as an occasional pianist until his death in 1985. Jones departed the band less than a month prior to his death in 1969, having already been replaced by Mick Taylor, who remained until 1975. Subsequently, Ronnie Wood has been on guitar in tandem with Richards. Following Wyman's departure in 1993, Darryl Jones has been the main bassist. Other notable keyboardists for the band have included Nicky Hopkins, active from 1967 to 1982; Billy Preston through the mid 1970s (most prominent on Black and Blue) and Chuck Leavell, active since 1982. The band was first led by Jones but after teaming as the band's songwriters, Jagger and Richards assumed de facto leadership.

Black Limousine

"Black Limousine" is a song by The Rolling Stones featured on their 1981 album Tattoo You.

The song

"Black Limousine" is one of the few credited to Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood (though incidentally one of two featured on Tattoo You). "Black Limousine" is a hard blues number (described as "fast mid-tempo blues of no specific nature" by Jagger) which heavily hearkens back to the Rolling Stones' earliest recordings from their ABCKO/London albums. Using a heavy bellow, Jagger delivers his lines and spells out the growing rifts in an aging romance:

On the lyrics, Richards said in 1981, "That song does have a more generous view of relationships with women... I guess, because the women in our lives at the moment have made a change in our attitudes toward it. I guess because everything that comes out from the Stones is just as it comes out... That's how we used to feel about it, and that's how we feel about it now. This is purely a guess... but it seems logical that the people you're with are the ones who are gonna influence you most, whether you intend it or not. Mick might intend to sit down and write a real Stones song - you know, 'Blechhh! You cruddy piece of shit, you dirty old scrub box!' But obviously, that's not the way he's feeling now. It's not the way I'm feeling now."

Tumbling Dice

"Tumbling Dice" is a song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards for The Rolling Stones' 1972 double album Exile on Main St., and was the album's first single. The single peaked at number 7 on the US charts and number 5 in the UK. The lyrics tell the story of a gambler who cannot remain faithful to any woman. The music has a blues boogie-woogie rhythm. "Tumbling Dice" has been performed in many of the band's concerts.

Cover versions of "Tumbling Dice" have been created in such diverse styles as reggae, bluegrass and noise rock. An updated version from a female perspective was a Top 40 hit single for Linda Ronstadt in 1978, which is included in the film FM and on her album Simple Dreams.

The Rolling Stones version

Background and recording

An early version of "Tumbling Dice", called "Good Time Women", was recorded in 1970 during the sessions for Exile on Main Street. The song is a bluesy boogie-woogie, heavy on Ian Stewart's piano work. The two songs are similar in structure in that they have the same chord progression and a similar melody. Also, Jagger sings the hook to the accompaniment of Taylor's lone lead guitar. However, "Good Time Women" lacked an opening riff, a background choir and the beat which propels "Tumbling Dice"'s groove. (An October 1970 recording of "Good Time Women" was released in 2010 on the deluxe remastered release of Exile on Main St.)

Rolling

Rolling is a type of motion that combines rotation (commonly, of an axially symmetric object) and translation of that object with respect to a surface (either one or the other moves), such that, if ideal conditions exist, the two are in contact with each other without sliding.

Rolling where there is no sliding is referred to as pure rolling. By definition, there is no sliding when the instantaneous velocity of the rolling object in all the points in which it contacts the surface is the same as that of the surface; in particular, for a reference plane in which the rolling surface is at rest, the instantaneous velocity of the point of contact of the rolling object is zero.

In practice, due to small deformations near the contact area, some sliding and energy dissipation occurs. Nevertheless, the resulting rolling resistance is much lower than sliding friction, and thus, rolling objects, typically require much less energy to be moved than sliding ones. As a result, such objects will more easily move, if they experience a force with a component along the surface, for instance gravity on a tilted surface, wind, pushing, pulling, or torque from an engine. Unlike most axially symmetrical objects, the rolling motion of a cone is such that while rolling on a flat surface, its center of gravity performs a circular motion, rather than linear motion. Rolling objects are not necessarily axially-symmetrical. Two well known non-axially-symmetrical rollers are the Reuleaux triangle and the Meissner bodies. The oloid and the sphericon are members of a special family of developable rollers that develop their entire surface when rolling down a flat plane. Objects with corners, such as dice, roll by successive rotations about the edge or corner which is in contact with the surface.

Rock (geology)

In geology, rock or stone is a naturally occurring solid aggregate of one or more minerals or mineraloids. For example, the common rock granite is a combination of the quartz, feldspar and biotite minerals. The Earth's outer solid layer, the lithosphere, is made of rock.

Rocks have been used by mankind throughout history. From the Stone Age, rocks have been used for tools. The minerals and metals found in rocks have been essential to human civilization.

Three major groups of rocks are defined: igneous, sedimentary, and metamorphic. The scientific study of rocks is called petrology, which is an essential component of geology.

Classification

At a granular level, rocks are composed of grains of minerals, which, in turn, are homogeneous solids formed from a chemical compound that is arranged in an orderly manner. The aggregate minerals forming the rock are held together by chemical bonds. The types and abundance of minerals in a rock are determined by the manner in which the rock was formed. Many rocks contain silica (SiO₂); a compound of silicon and oxygen that forms 74.3% of the Earth's crust. This material forms crystals with other compounds in the rock. The proportion of silica in rocks and minerals is a major factor in determining their name and properties.