“Roll Away the Stone” is a song Aerosmith considered during the 1996 sessions for their Nine Lives album. Most likely just an early demo that Richie Supa bought to the band but remained un-used.
The song has a very obvious “Chip Away the Stone” feel to it, and would seem like a spiritual sequel to it. Lyrics were improvised, unfinished (just a few words made sense), yet the opening guitar riff in G is cool, the pre-chorus is funky, and the chorus sounds worthy of a pub crowd chanting it with beers in hand: “so, roll away the stone, gotta let it go… So, roll away the stone, roll it all night long“.
It was rumored that the band recorded a version of the basic tracks with Tyler and Perry doing back vocals, and Richie providing temp lead vocals on the demo, but judging by the unfinished lyrics in the demo, this is highly unlikely (it sounds like a Supa demo that the band was considering).
Richie confirmed his involvement in writing Roll Away, Bacon Biscuit, and Wham Bam for the band via his social media in 2012.
Every dream that ever falls,
Cause every night I ever say,
And every string I ever strum,
Tonight, I’ll know you’ll ever care,
Shusha, baby don’t let it go,
You know, I can’t show till I’m trying,
Seesaw, baby kind of hold me there,
Flipflop, sit it there, till I’m trying, flying,
So, Roll away the stone,
Got to let it go,
Could you ever be between,
So, Roll away the stone,
Roll it all night long,
Could you worry about me… roll…
Take me in this wall of change,
Show me what you wanna know,
And every night I’m feeling faint,
Cause every night I wanna show,
Some night soon I’ll let it dance,
I know that I got to prep till I’m blowing,
Unless some baby don’t let it go,
I know, let it show, till I’m showing, showing,
So, Roll away the stone,
Let it all night long,
Could you ever be between,
So, Roll away the stone,
Got to let me go,
Could you worry about me…
So, Roll away the stone,
Got to let it go,
Could you ever be between,
So, Roll away the stone,
Roll it all night long,
Yeah, we got to stick around… roll…
The Back-Burner: Aerosmith Outtakes & Demos 