The Reggae 'Never Stop': How the Stones Turned a 1978 Outtake into 'Start Me Up'

During the Some Girls sessions in 1978, the Stones tried pushing “Start Me Up” as a reggae groove called “Never Stop.” Keith Richards had that opening guitar riff lying around for years — he kept playing it during soundchecks, and the band finally gave it a slow, offbeat skank. They cut a bunch of takes with Mick Jagger singing about a car that just wouldn’t start, but it never clicked, and the tape got shelved.

Two years later, while digging through reels for Tattoo You, producer Chris Kimsey found that 1978 tape. The band decided to speed it up and strip away the reggae feel. Jagger rewrote the lyrics to turn the stalled-car metaphor into a sexual come-on, and the chorus transformed into that unstoppable rock anthem we all know. The original “Never Stop” take didn’t surface officially until the 2020 Tattoo You reissue, revealing the curious ghost of what might have been.