Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine

"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" (usually known as just "Sex Machine") is a funk song recorded by James Brown in 1970 and released as a two-part single on King Records.

"Sex Machine" was one of the first songs Brown recorded with his new band, The J.B.'s. In comparison with his 1960s soul 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.

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

Chart positions

Other versions

Brown recorded two reworkings of the original: One for his 1970 live album Sex Machine (the studio version appeared on the 1996 compilation Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang) and a disco-friendly re-recording (featuring lyrics such as "I'm going to the discotheque" ^[1], and self references other popular songs and dances of the time) re-titled "Sex Machine Parts I and II" for his 1975 album Sex Machine Today. In the early 1990's, he did an adapted version for Japan's Miso Soup commercials. ^[2]

The Flying Lizards recorded a successful cover of "Sex Machine" in 1984 which appeared on their album Top Ten.

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.^[3]

German comedian and jazz musician Helge Schneider recorded a comedic version of the song for his 1995 album Es rappelt im Karton. It was also released as a single with an accompanying video that features Schneider walking around a metro station making faces.

The rock band Widespread Panic covered the song on their 2004 live album Jackassolantern.

Jazz fusion/Blues guitarist Larry Coryell covered the song on his album Electric.^[4]

Sampling

La Toya Jackson's 1991 single "Sexbox" sampled a portion of the lyrics. Sy Smith and her back-up singer LeJon Walker sampled the song during their performance of "Think (About It)", which is featured on her DVD Sy Smith Live: Worship at the Temple.

Appearances in other media

"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" has appeared in a number of feature films, including City of God, Twisted, Legally Blonde, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Friday and The Tuxedo (in which it is performed by Jackie Chan). It has also been used in an episode of the television sitcom Scrubs and in commercials for the Renault Clio and Tassimo. The song was featured in the BMW direct-to-video commercial Beat the Devil starring James Brown as himself, as well as on a Pontiac commercial.

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.

British satirical puppet show Spitting Image ended an episode with an opera-style cover of the song, starring Luciano Pavarotti.

Part 1 of "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" is available as downloadable content for the Rock Band series of video games.

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.

External links

• Song Review at Allmusic
• List of songs that sample "Sex Machine"