Why 'Start Me Up' Started as a Reggae Outtake During the Black and Blue Sessions

‘Start Me Up’ began its life in 1975 as a chugging reggae instrumental called “Never Stop” during the Black and Blue sessions. The band had been messing around with Jamaican rhythms at the time—Keith Richards loved the offbeat skank—but the track never clicked, so they shelved it.

Six years later, while scrambling to assemble Tattoo You from leftover scraps, producer Chris Kimsey rediscovered the tape. Mick Jagger wrote lyrics on the spot, and the band overdubbed a harder rock groove, but they kept the original reggae drum pattern from 1975. That half-reggae skeleton is why the song has that weird, limping swing you can’t quite place. It’s a rock anthem built on a botched experiment.