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The Dirty Story Behind “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones
My continuing series of “songs that matter”
When Keith Richards defiantly hits his Fender Telecaster at the beginning of “Start Me Up,” the attitude jumps out of the groove from the first downstroke. It’s an instantly recognizable song. From the first second, you know exactly what you are in for. The band kicks in, and the vocals start. Mick Jagger brings his signature bold bravado and sexual innuendo. Even though the lyrics don’t all make sense, we know what he is saying.
Let’s take a closer look at “Start Me Up” by The Rolling Stones.
The band first tried to record it in 1980. It began as a reggae jam and evolved from there. The band didn’t release the song until 1981’s Tattoo You. In 1983, Richards said in a promotional interview: “It was one of those things we cut a lot of times; one of those cuts that you can play forever and ever in the studio. Twenty minutes go by, and you’re still locked into those two chords … Sometimes you become conscious of the fact that ‘Oh, it’s ‘Brown Sugar’ again,’ so you begin to explore other rhythmic possibilities. It’s basically trial and error. As I said, that one was pretty locked into a reggae rhythm for quite a few weeks. We were cutting it for Emotional Rescue, but it was nowhere near coming through, and we put it aside and…
