Rolling Stones ( The ) - Start Me Up

First performance: 18/01/1989


Coverinfo

Bruce performed the song only once and once as a snippet:
 
 
1989-01-18 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, NY 
 
Springsteen attends the fourth Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremonies. The night's inductees are Dion, Otis Redding, The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, and Phil Spector, plus The Ink Spots, Bessie Smith, and The Soul Stirrers in the Early Influences category. As had been the case in January 1987 (when Bruce inducted Roy Orbison and performed) and January 1988 (when Bruce inducted Bob Dylan and performed) Springsteen took the stage, joining in the all-star jam on most of the songs and sings lead on "Crying", dedicated to Roy Orbison, who had passed away only a few weeks earlier. Bruce plays guitar on all songs, plus tambourine on "Uptight (Everything's Alright)". The all-star band includes, along with Bruce, most of The Rolling Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood, and Mick Taylor), most of The Temptations (Dennis Edwards, Melvin Franklin, David Ruffin, and Otis Williams), Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, Little Richard, Pete Townshend, Dion, Paul Simon, Lou Reed, Anita Baker, David Crosby, Graham Nash, Bobby Womack, Al Green, Ben E. King, Bobby McFerrin, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Foreigner's Mick Jones, and more. Bruce attended with Patti Scialfa and, according to some reports, former Castiles member George Theiss attended. Former E Streeter Band member Vini Lopez was definitely there and took part in the show. He later recalled "They had the whole induction ceremony and four hours later, Bill Graham is on stage and he's pulling people out of the audience. Bruce comes up to me and says, "You see that other drum set up there? " Next thing you know, I was up there. I played for an hour and a half with those guys. Paul Simon, Steve Wonder. It was cool. Mick Jagger was leaning on my shoulder, singing 'Honky Tonk Woman' with Tina Turner."

 
 
 
 
  • Snippet
2022-10-31 SiriusXM Studio, New York City, NY
 
Bruce appears for an in-depth interview on The Howard Stern Show on SiriusXM satellite radio (channel 100). Stern said at the time of the announcement: "I'm so excited about it. He's going to bring his guitar. We're gonna sit, we're gonna talk. It's gonna be very nice." He also joked, "Bruce better bring a tent and camp out. I'm already up to about 500 questions for him." Stern returns to his Manhattan SiriusXM studio on Monday for the first time in more than two years to interview Bruce. The extensive conversation features several performances, including a solo piano "Tougher Than The Rest" and an acoustic "The Rising", as well as partial acoustic renditions (typically a verse or two) of "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", "The Times They Are A-Changin'", "Blinded By The Light", "It's Hard To Be A Saint In The City, "Growin' Up", "Born To Run", "Last Man Standing", "Land Of Hope And Dreams", "Thunder Road" (on piano), "Not Fade Away", and "Darkness On The Edge Of Town". Bruce also sings a bit of the "Jungleland" saxophone solo and plays bits of the intros to that song and "Backstreets" on the piano and the "Start Me Up" riff on the guitar.
  
 
  

Songinfo

"Start Me Up" is a song by the Rolling Stones featured on the 1981 album Tattoo You. The basic track "Start Me Up" was recorded during the January and March 1978 sessions for the Rolling Stones' album Some Girls. The song began as a reggae-rock track named "Never Stop", but after dozens of takes it was abandoned. "Start Me Up" was not chosen for the album and was saved for later use. Richards commented: 

"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 almost forgot about it."
 
 
 

Other cover versions

Bruce on the artist

Bruce covered 21 songs of the Rolling Stones and had 3 performances with them : 
 
Bruce joins The Rolling Stones on the World Stage at the "Rock in Rio" Festival, performing "Tumbling Dice" together.  
 
 
 
Bruce's last public action in 2012 is a scheduled appearance as a special guest with The Rolling Stones on their 50th anniversary tour in Newark. A somewhat starstruck Bruce shares lead vocals with Mick Jagger. This is the first time Springsteen has played "Tumbling Dice", from the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile On Main St. 
 
 
 
1989-01-18 Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, New York City, NY 
Springsteen attends the fourth Annual Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame ceremonies. The night's inductees are The Rolling Stones. Bruce jammed with an all - star band, including The Stones.
 

Lyrics

If you start me up
If you start me up I'll never stop
You can start me up
You can start me up I'll never stop
I've been running hot
You got me ticking going to 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 it up
Kick on the starter
Give it all you got, you got, you got
I can't compete with the riders in the other heats
If you rough it up
If you like it, I 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
Start me up
Ah, give it all you got
You got to never, never, never stop
Slide it up, baby, just slide it up
Slide it up, slide it 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
If you 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 made a dead man come
You, you made a dead man come