Back in the days of analog tape it was common practice to speed the tape up to make it sound brighter, or maybe the make the tempo a little more snappy. Or they would slow it down to make it easier for the singer to hit the high notes, then speed it back up again...ever hear Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy album?
I don't see any reason to re-tune your bass just to play this song. Play it in E, or play it in F. It's probably better in E, so you can do the whole main riff on the E string. Your audience is not going to notice.
Unless you're just talking about playing along with the CD, in which case, re-tune I guess...
