START ME UP
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
I've been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop


Well, it's certainly not ticking - any ideas?


Cheers

Quote
skl127
START ME UP
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)

If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
I've been running hot
You got me ticking gonna blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop


Well, it's certainly not ticking - any ideas?


Cheers

Yes, it is ticking.

Sounds like running to me .

Just about to blow my top

I always heard "You got me ready bout to blow my top" on the studio version but I think he says "ticking" in live versions.

Bare with me with an open mind here for a moment and regard my "historical reference theory."

I think Mick sings "ready" in the studio version, but I'm not certain, but whatever he sings there—

—check out the Wembley 1982 clip below (around the 0:45 mark). I think Mick changed the lyric there to "Little chicken you will blow my top."

Now for the "historical reference": I think Mick is making reference—an "inside" nod—to this lyric in ROUGH JUSTICE when he sings "One time you were my baby chicken/Now you've grown into a fox."

The Start Me Up chick has grown into a fox.




Talk amongst yourselves.

what about :
"you got me leaking, gonna blow my top"
since he uses a lot of metaphor (oil leak motor car and premature ejaculation)

Christian

what about :
"you got me leaking, gonna blow my top"
since he uses a lot of metaphor (oil leak motor car and premature ejaculation)


Yes Christian, thanks, LEAKING sounds right to me - studio version

Cheers

Ticking like a time bomb makes sense.

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Elmo Lewis
Ticking like a time bomb makes sense.

That's what I thought too...

There have always been a couple of words Jagger destroys in Start Me Up that I've never been sure about or able to believe in some form of print.





It certainly isn't "ticking" - it almost sounds like he says "reeking"! Worst lip synching in a video ever...

here it sounds like "waffel-scham"! :-)


[www.stsanders.com]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-01-16 17:40 by TooTough.

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skl127
LEAKING sounds right to me -

...more like "licking"?!

["I can hear the Bullfrog calling me..."]

On the sub-titles of Shine a light it's
"you got me ticking, gonna blow my top"

I did hear Mick talking about the obscurity of some of the lyrics on Exile, he said that he sometimes deliberately sang the words so they were hard to interpret so that people would have to listen over and over again to try and decipher things, of course they would then wear the record out and would then have to buy it again........he then put his hand in his mouth and pulled his tongue out of his cheek........



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2011-01-16 18:06 by EddieByword.

Ticking would make sense. One of the tale tale signs of an engine getting ready to blow is when the rods start ticking or knocking. I know cause it has happened to me. As soon as I heard the dreaded ticking, I knew it wouldn't be long.

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spsimmons
Ticking would make sense. One of the tale tale signs of an engine getting ready to blow is when the rods start ticking or knocking. I know cause it has happened to me. As soon as I heard the dreaded ticking, I knew it wouldn't be long.

Also the ticking of a clock on a bomb with a timer - old fashioned non digital of course

Ticking like a bomb...."gonna blow my top!" Fits well with it all...

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EddieByword
I did hear Mick talking about the obscurity of some of the lyrics on Exile, he said that he sometimes deliberately sang the words so they were hard to interpret so that people would have to listen over and over again to try and decipher things

Right. If I just trust my ears, I swear the word "ticking"-"leaking" starts with an R, like

"You got me reaking"

The words "gonna blow my top" aren't also what he sings exactly. It sounds more like "(something) blow my top" - although he possibly was aiming for "gonna" and massacred the word.

I'd really love it if someone came through with the most exact phonetic reading of this lyric, without squaring the circle by trying to make it mean something

What I'm coming up with so far is "You got me reaking, got don't blow my top" - that's what sounds most exact.

Anyone want to chime in?

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Title5Take1
I think Mick is making reference—an "inside" nod—to this lyric in ROUGH JUSTICE when he sings "One time you were my baby chicken/Now you've grown into a fox."

I've always seen this as a nod to Little Red Rooster?

Phonetically -- I hear

"You got me reeky - gotta blow my top"

or

"You got me reeky - god, I'll blow my top"

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swiss
Phonetically -- I hear

"You got me reeky - gotta blow my top"

or

"You got me reeky - god, I'll blow my top"

Thanks for your effort. This is really close to what I hear too. I was wavering between "got" and "god". But I still hear "don't" - like "God don't blow my top" (!).

So something like "You got me reeky/reekin' - God don't blow my top"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-25 03:26 by TimeIs.

Re: "reek". I just Googled the word and there's an archaic use of the word that would make sense in the context of the lyrics:

archaic
give off smoke, steam, or fumes.
"while temples crash, and towers in ashes reek"

I like to hear what is sung there in cover versions of the song (the Folksmen cover is amusing).

Easier to hear in this fine cover version...

Yeap, it is really difficult to understand the lyrics here and there. Luckily there is this version with subtitles:

Quote
71Tele
Easier to hear in this fine cover version...

That's interesting. In this version, they seem to sing "You got me thinking I'm gonna blow my top". Another possibility, but listening again to the Stones that's definitely not what Mick sings.




(lyric is at 0:39 - I tried cueing it but it doesn't work)

In that official video it sounds like "You got me licked." I've heard there is a girl's name hidden in the song at least twice. Linda, shortened to Lin.
His mouth looks like he's singing "Lin". And later "the gaso-leen..."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-25 14:01 by chatoyancy.

In another Tattoo You song, "Heaven": "Oh, sweet Lin...Kissing and running, kissing and running away."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-05-25 14:02 by chatoyancy.

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Elmo Lewis
Just about to blow my top

this is what I've always thought as well.

Quote
chatoyancy
In that official video it sounds like "You got me licked." I've heard there is a girl's name hidden in the song at least twice. Linda, shortened to Lin.
His mouth looks like he's singing "Lin". And later "the gaso-leen..."

"Hidden" how? And why? Why not just sing it? I don't see/hear this, anyway.