Comments, input and alterations are very welcome!
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Start Me Up
(Mick Jagger / Keith Richards)

Pathé Marconi Studios (EMI Studios), Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France,
January 5 - March 2, 1978 & June 10 - October 19, 1979 and Electric Ladyland Studios, New York City, New York, US, November - December 1979

Mick Jagger - lead vocals, backing vocals, handclaps
Keith Richards - electric guitar, backing vocals
Charlie Watts - drums
Bill Wyman - bass
Ron Wood - electric guitar, backing vocals
Mike Carabello - percussion
Chris Kimsey & Barry Sage - handclaps

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, never stop, never stop, never stop

You make a grown man cry, you make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry, spread out the oil, the gasoline
I walk smooth, ride in a mean, mean machine, start it up

If you start me up, kick on the starter give it all you got, you got, all you got
I can't compete with the riders in the other heats
If you rough it up, if you like it you can slide it up, slide it up, slide it up, slide it up

Don't make a grown man cry, don't make a grown man cry
Don't make a grown man cry, my eyes dilate, my lips go green
My hands are greasy, she's a mean, mean machine, start it up

If you start me up, give it all you got, you got to never, never, never stop
Slide it up, don’t trip me up, just start me up, start me up, start me up
Never, never, never

You make a grown man cry, you make a grown man cry
You make a grown man cry, ride like the wind at double speed
I'll take you places that you've never, never seen, start it up
Love the day when we will never stop, never stop, never, never, never stop
Tough me up, never stop, never stop

You, you, you make a grown man cry, you, you make a dead man come
You, you, you make a dead man come

Produced by The Glimmer Twins

First released on:
The Rolling Stones - “Start Me Up / No Use In Crying” 7” single
(Rolling Stones Records RS 21003) US, August 6, 1981

Who is Barry Sage?

the studio version is magic - so rough and never topped live

Ha, This is undoubtedly Stones theme song since it was written, and was played live for the first time ...

2 1 2 0

Am I the only one who doesn't like this song?

....no no wait there'll be another for sure....



ROCKMAN

Will try to be objective about this one but for me it's a song that has overstayed its welcome due to it having been the far too obvious set opener for too many tours.

I remember when it came out and it was a breath of fresh air to at least have the Stones back in the UK pop charts and to see the video played on Top Of The Pops. The Stones were suddenly current again and they followed that up with a great album in Tattoo You.

It was also the first Stones single in ages that was played a lot in UK clubs and discos (Emotional Rescue was not a huge hit in the UK) which for a rock song was quite an achievement. Yes, it was a rock or rock/pop song but it had that syncopated stop start rhythm that made it almost funky. Isn't there a version dating back to the Black & Blue sessions as I can really hear the song's roots in that funky rhythm.

So yeah, a decent song but not one I look forward to hearing in concert because it's been done to death.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-06 12:29 by Silver Dagger.

Oh my god, what to say about one of the greatest tracks in rock and roll history, the track that electrified the world with those glorious crunching guitar chords that announced that the Stones were back, with a swagger and brilliance that no one else could touch.

Start Me Up is perhaps the archetypal example of what it means to rock and roll. Its rhythmic propulsion is amazing … how it swings with the force of a cyclone from start to finish. And those lyrics … so deliciously bawdy and yet so utterly sublime. And equally astounding, beyond the quality of the songwriting, is how perfectly in sync all five core band-members are, and how each of them shines so brilliantly.

The quality of the production on Start Me Up is extraordinary, too … it just leaps out of the speakers with stunning force and clarity.

Three minutes and thirty-three sparkling seconds of sonic, rhythmic perfection.

Drew

<<Isn't there a version dating back to the Black & Blue sessions>>

Under the working title of Never Stop.

Funny how some bands can get away with using the word 'come' in a sexual context on a single and others can't.

The Stones did it on Start Me Up and no problem with getting the song played on the BBC although it only made it to No 7 in the charts in the UK.

Three years later Frankie Goes To Hollywood sing 'when you want to come' on their debut single Relax, the song gets banned and subsequently soars to the No 1 spot.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-06 13:43 by Silver Dagger.

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Silver Dagger
Funny how some bands can get away with using the word 'come' in a sexual context on a single and others can't.

The Stones did it and no problem with getting the song played on the BBC.

Three ears later Frankie Goes To Hollywood try it on their debut single Relax, the song gets banned and subsequently soars to the No 1 spot.

The album lyrics said "you make a dead man call..."

Keith's last great signature riff.

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slew
Keith's last great signature riff.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-06 13:50 by DandelionPowderman.

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DandelionPowderman

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Silver Dagger
Funny how some bands can get away with using the word 'come' in a sexual context on a single and others can't.

The Stones did it and no problem with getting the song played on the BBC.

Three ears later Frankie Goes To Hollywood try it on their debut single Relax, the song gets banned and subsequently soars to the No 1 spot.

The album lyrics said "you make a dead man call..."

The album lyrics got it wrong. We all know what Mick is singing.

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Silver Dagger
Funny how some bands can get away with using the word 'come' in a sexual context on a single and others can't.

The Stones did it on Start Me Up and no problem with getting the song played on the BBC although it only made it to No 7 in the charts in the UK.

Three years later Frankie Goes To Hollywood sing 'when you want to come' on their debut single Relax, the song gets banned and subsequently soars to the No 1 spot.

Edited out of the Superbowl performance!






"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

First ever Stones song I have heard. What an imprssion it made!

Well, well, well... If there is any song difficult to be 'objective' about, that's "Start Me Up" for me. It was this very song with which everything started to me. The whole journey with the Rolling Stones... No "Start Me Up", no Doxa... To be frank, it was the video that made the impact - the charisma and coolness that was dressed both in visuals and music. So naked, so raw, so essential - whatever I had known of rock music, this hitted hard, to the very core of the whole thing.

Before "Start Me Up" I knew next to nothing about the Rolling Stones, some 'old' 60's act, a rival of the Beatles... I remember just recently seeing one TV ad for their best of collection, and one snippet made an impact (later to be recognized as "Paint It Black"), but that wasn't enough to get me a copy... I guess it was the currency, the very observation that this is the best rock music that is out there, right now, that made the impact... "Start Me Up" transcended everything, every trend and genre, spoke in a universal, timeless vocabulary. I needed to get more. And soon TATTOO YOU was in my hands...

- Doxa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014-10-06 15:09 by Doxa.

Their last true hit.

Bill Gates like it too.






"As we say in England, it can get a bit trainspottery"

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stonehearted
<<Isn't there a version dating back to the Black & Blue sessions>>

Under the working title of Never Stop.

Let's try to set the record straight for the umpteenth time...

There is no 1975 version of SMU. All basic tracks of Never Stop/SMU where recorded at Pathe Marconi in late 1977 and early 1978, overdubs where recorded in April 1981. This Never Stop version from Youtube is one of 3 versions, the other two being longer and in much better quality, bit only circulating among tape traders and not released on bootleg.

All available versions have the same sound/instruments: Boogie MKI amps, Travis Bean Bass, Charlie's new cymbals, the Chris Kimsey production.

Mathijs

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stonehearted

Yes, that bootleg has, as many other bootlegs, wrong information.

Mathijs

Seemingly more than one mistake on this one. Wasn't "I Got A Letter" from the GHS-sessions? The first known full-blown reggae track they ever worked on.

<<Yes, that bootleg has, as many other bootlegs, wrong information.>>

You should go and change the Wikipedia page then, as well as the dozen or so other sources on pages 1 and 2 of Google (when you type in start me up black and blue sessions).

Why is it that this "wrong information" is so widely disseminated?

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stonehearted

Why is it that this "wrong information" is so widely disseminated?

Because of the wrong information on the notes of the Jump Back compilation.

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stonehearted
<<Yes, that bootleg has, as many other bootlegs, wrong information.>>

You should go and change the Wikipedia page then, as well as the dozen or so other sources on pages 1 and 2 of Google (when you type in start me up black and blue sessions).

Why is it that this "wrong information" is so widely disseminated?

Because people are stubborn. And there have been conflicting statements by the Stones and Kimsey himself about the reggea versions of SMU, like Richards stating it was after 5 years they discovered the track, or Kimsey stating Slave, SMU WOAF and Tops where from 1975.

There could be a Never Stop version from 1975, but that would be very unlikely. The known versions all have the same instrumentation as used on the Some Girls album, and there's many statements that the Stones did 40 takes of NS/SMU in one long sessions, and then forgot about the track. All evidence so far only points to early 1978 as the recording date.

Mathijs

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slew
Keith's last great signature riff.

Don't forget Take it So Hard...

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slew
Keith's last great signature riff.

And his first signature riff if memory serves. Amazing how many great Stones songs are based on that one, Start Me Up included.

Just LISTEN to the Start Me Up "1"! It is the Pathe Marconi Studio (room) sound and Chris Kimsey sound. Very much 1977. Unbelievable people still think it is from 1975.



There may still be an unreleased earlier jam from 1975 though, but that is uncirculating.

This one has become so forever-ubiquitous that it's one I never think of seeking out to listen to -
it's tattooed on my psyche (ha!) so it's like I never have to have it enter via my ears anymore.
And then every time I do hear the studio version ... oh MAN is that a thing of beauty!
The sound of that guitar is so wonderful - it makes a grown sssoul say hallelujah (among other things :E )

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LuxuryStones
And his first signature riff if memory serves.

Apparently it doesn't! Memory, I mean. Doesn't serve. Go refresh