Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine
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| “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” | ||
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| Single by James Brown | ||
| A-side | Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - Pt. 1 | |
| B-side | Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine - Pt. 2 | |
| Released | July 1970 | |
| Format | 7" | |
| Recorded | April 25, 1970 at Starday-King Studios, Nashville, TN | |
| Genre | Funk | |
| Length | 5:15 | |
| Label | King 6318 |
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| Writer(s) | James Brown Bobby Byrd Ron Lenhoff |
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| Producer | James Brown | |
"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" (usually known as just "Sex Machine") is a song recorded by James Brown in 1970 and released as a two-part single on King Records. It is considered one of his hardest funk recordings. (Brown's Sex Machine double album, also released in 1970, contains a different, 11-minute-long performance of the song rather than the version released as a single.)
"Sex Machine" was one of the first songs Brown recorded with his new band, The J.B.'s. In comparison with his 1960s funk hits such as "Papa's Got A Brand New Bag" and "Cold Sweat", it is notable for the de-emphasis of the horn section. Instead, the song centers on the insistent riff played by brothers Bootsy and Catfish Collins on bass and guitar and Jabo Starks on drums, along with the call and response interplay between Brown and Bobby Byrd's vocals.
The original single version of "Sex Machine" begins with a brief spoken dialogue between Brown and the members of his band, which was recreated (with minor variations) in live performances:
Fellas, I'm ready to get up and do my thing! (Yeah! That's right! Do it!) I want to get into it, man, you know? (Go ahead! Yeah!) Like a, like a sex machine, man, (Yeah!) movin', doin' it, y'know? (Yeah!) Can I count it off? (Okay! Alright!) One, two, three, four!
The song's freeform lyrics consist mostly of Brown's exhortations to "Get up / stay on the scene / like a sex machine" along with Byrd's regular shouts of "Get on up." The piece is harmonically static, aside from a move to the subdominant on the bridge.
In 2004, "Sex Machine" was ranked number 326 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
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[edit] Personnel
- James Brown - lead vocal, piano
with The JB's:
- Clayton "Chicken" Gunnells - trumpet
- Darryl "Hassan" Jamison - trumpet
- Robert McCollough - tenor saxophone
- Bobby Byrd - organ, vocal
- Phelps "Catfish" Collins - guitar
- William "Bootsy" Collins - bass
- John "Jabo" Starks - drums
[edit] Chart positions
| Chart (1970) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard R&B | 2 |
[edit] Other versions
Brown recorded a reworking of the original song for his 1975 album Sex Machine Today.
In 1986 the Japanese musician Haruomi Hosono and his band F.O.E. recorded vocal and instrumental cover versions of "Sex Machine" for the album F.O.E. #1: Sex, Energy and Star. The instrumental version featured a guest solo by Brown's longtime saxophonist Maceo Parker.[1]
The rock band Widespread Panic covered the song on their 2004 live album Jackassolantern.
[edit] Appearances in other media
"Sex Machine" has appeared in a number of feature films, including City of God, Twisted, Legally Blonde, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and The Tuxedo (in which it is performed by Jackie Chan). It has also been featured in Renault Clio and Tassimo television commercials.
The song figures prominently in the 2003 Japanese film Get Up!, a comedy about a James Brown-obsessed yakuza gangster. The film's title (which transliterates into Japanese as Geroppa!) is taken from the song's lyrics.
It appears in NBC's sitcom Scrubs in an episode where J.D. imagines how Chris Turk's bachelor party would be like, with everybody dancing around in the Rerun outfit from What's Happening!! while the song is playing in the background.
[edit] References
- Leeds, Alan M., and Harry Weinger (1991). Star Time: Song by Song. In Star Time (pp. 46-53) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.
- White, Cliff (1991). Discography. In Star Time (pp. 54-59) [CD liner notes]. London: Polydor Records.
