Songfacts®:

• "All Threes" is the kind of song that sneaks up on you, like a jazz pianist who seems to be noodling but turns out to be playing the soundtrack to your existential crisis. A track from Bright Eyes' 11th album, Five Dice, All Threes, the song blends melancholic jazz influences with elastic piano riffs, droning organs, and a simple digital drumbeat.
• Cat Power adds her distinctive vocals to the track. Conor Oberst, Bright Eyes' frontman and perennial poet laureate of melancholia, explained to NME how the collaboration came to be.
  
  "I met Chan [Marshall, aka Cat Power] in 2000, though I was already a fan. I loved her album What Would the Community Think back in '95. We opened for her a couple of times, and when we were working on 'All Threes,' I just heard her voice in it. So, I texted her. She's in Miami now. She recorded her part in her studio and sent it back."
  
  The result feels like a conversation between old friends - Oberst's raspy vulnerability weaving around Marshall's smoky tones.
• The title "All Threes" comes from the dice game Threes, where rolling all threes on five dice is the ultimate perfect roll. This theme of chance and perfection echoes throughout the album, but the song itself leans into a delicious irony. Its free-association lyrics and sharp-edged imagery juxtapose the idea of a perfect roll with life's decidedly imperfect realities.
  
  There's an exploration of beauty fading over time, a nostalgia for innocence, and the inevitable disillusionment that comes when the world turns out to be less lovely than you'd hoped.
  
  The chorus lays this bare with the haunting refrain:
  
  You were beautiful before
  Until you weren't
  
  Oberst and Marshall end the track by repeating the phrase "All Threes" 31 times, as if trying to will some order or clarity into a chaotic world.
• The dice motif runs like a thread through the entire album.
  
  The opening track, "Five Dice," lays out the rules of the dice game as if Oberst is setting the stakes for the existential gamble he's about to chronicle.
  
  In "All Threes," the dice theme takes a darker turn with a line about alleyway violence:
  
  I kill him in an alley over five dice
  
  The album concludes with the sound of dice being rolled, with one landing on a "three," bringing the album's theme full circle.
  
  Asked by Uncut magazine why he centered the album around a dice game, Oberst replied: "Life is a game of chance and a metaphorical street brawl, so that's what we're putting out there."
• Dice games have been used as motifs in songs across genres, often symbolizing chance, fate, or life's unpredictability. Here are some notable examples:
  
  "Stagger Lee"
  This folk classic, famously covered by artists like Lloyd Price and Nick Cave, tells the tale of a murder over a gambling game, often involving dice. It's a cautionary tale of greed and violence tied to games of chance.
  
  1964 "Viva Las Vegas" by Elvis Presley
  The song celebrates the glitz and high stakes of Las Vegas, explicitly referencing dice games as a staple of the city's gambling scene. Lyrics like "a fortune won and lost on every deal" and mentions of dice rolling capture the essence of the Vegas lifestyle.
  
  1972 "Tumbling Dice" by The Rolling Stones
  This 1972 classic uses dice as a metaphor for a gambler's life, full of risks, luck, and uncertain outcomes. Mick Jagger sings about a love life that's as unpredictable as a roll of the dice, aligning perfectly with the song's loose, bluesy vibe.
  
  1980 "Ace of Spades"
  While primarily about gambling and living life on the edge, the song includes dice imagery within its broader exploration of risk and chance. The lyrics mention "rolling the dice" as part of the thrill-seeking narrative.
  
  1991 "Roll The Bones" by Rush
  Rush's 1991 track dives into metaphysical themes, with dice serving as a metaphor for fate and choice. The lyrics reflect on life's randomness and the courage it takes to embrace uncertainty.
  
  1992 "Roll Of The Dice" by Bruce Springsteen
  From the Human Touch album, this song leans heavily on gambling imagery, with dice symbolizing the risks and leaps of faith in life and love. The lyrics reflect a sense of urgency and hope, where taking a chance is both thrilling and necessary.
  
  2009 "Ladies And Gentlemen (Roll The Dice)" by Kasabian
  This song, from Kasabian's 2009 album West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum, prominently features dice rolling in its title and lyrics. The song uses the dice-rolling metaphor to explore risk-taking and escapism from everyday reality.
  
  2009. "Roll Of The Dice" by The View
  This track plays on the concept of dice as a metaphor for chance and risk, specifically regarding succumbing to temptations. The dice imagery suggests the randomness of decision-making and the allure of danger in life's choices.
  
  2017 "Roll the Dice" by Tim McGraw & Faith Hill
  This duet uses the dice motif in the context of love and relationships. The idea of "rolling the dice" conveys the emotional gamble of being vulnerable and taking a chance on love. The metaphor ties the uncertainties of romance to the luck-dependent nature of dice games.