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Sun 5 April 2026 16:02, UK
Thinking about the song to be played at your own future funeral is one of the most dreary thoughts known to man, but every music fan is guilty of having engaged in this activity at some point.
For many of us, it might be a cut from The Rolling Stones like ‘Wild Horses’ or ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’. Even Keith Richards, a man who has defied death on too many occasions to count, picked out one of the band’s classic tracks to soundtrack the day when he’s eventually laid to rest.
Speaking on behalf of us all here, hopefully this day doesn’t arise for a long while. However, it is a miracle that he’s still here, considering the decades he spent in the fast lane, with plentiful cuts and bruises to show as a souvenir from his adventures.
Outside of his hedonistic antics, on more than one occasion, Richards has found himself counting his lucky stars after being the victim of spectacular accidents that could have been fatal. In 1965, during a performance in California, the guitarist was electrocuted and collapsed on stage, leading fans to fear the worst.
(Credits: Far Out / Alamy)
Then, in 2006, while enjoying a relaxing break on a private island in Fiji, his stay in paradise resulted in disaster when he fell out of a tree and suffered intracranial haemorrhaging.
Thankfully, the surgery was a success. Within two months, he had completed his miraculous recovery and was back playing live with The Rolling Stones.
As he’s dedicated his life to The Rolling Stones, it’s only right that their music will soundtrack the day when the world says goodbye to one of rock ‘n’ roll’s true originals.
While plentiful songs in The Rolling Stones’ canon epitomise Richards’ well-documented wild side, in his mind, none are more appropriate than his funeral song of choice, ‘Tumbling Dice‘. Although Jagger wrote the lyrics, the guitarist shares many qualities, for better or worse, with the song’s larger-than-life protagonist.
In the liner notes of Jump Back: The Best of The Rolling Stones, Jagger explained that the story behind the track was inspired by “a lot of friends at that time who used to fly to Las Vegas for the weekend”, which planted the seed in his mind to create an ode to the Las Vegas-dwelling party animal.
‘Tumbling Dice’ showcases the best of Jagger and Richards on one track, with both musicians bringing their A-game to produce a moment of magic. While Jagger created the lyrics, Richards generated the groove that energises the track and brings it to life.
However, the two men have contrasting opinions on ‘Tumbling Dice’. During an interview with Rolling Stone in 1995, Jagger confessed, “I don’t really know what people like about it. I don’t think it’s our best stuff. I don’t think it has good lyrics. But people seem to really like it, so good for them.”
While Jagger doesn’t consider it among their best, Richards holds it in the highest regard. While speaking with GQ in 2008, Richards was asked to name the song in his back catalogue that best aligns with his philosophy for life. The guitarist responded, “It’s hard to put it into a two-and-a-half-minute song. But I think ‘Tumbling Dice’.”
In a follow-up inquiry, Richards was questioned if he’d want it to be played at his funeral, to which he said, “I hope so. Just as long as I’m not there.”
Richards made these comments close to 20 years ago, and thankfully, he’s still in fine fettle. Perhaps, he really is immortal after all. However, in the event that, like every other human to ever live, he eventually meets the maker one day, there’s no more fitting track to commemorate his life than ‘Tumbling Dice’.
Rather than being a sad song that will reduce the room to tears, it will be a toast to a life lived to the fullest, with no stone unturned, a fitting tribute to a rockstar of the likes we’ll likely never see again.
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