Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine explained

Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Part 1)
Cover:GetUp(IFeelLikeBeingA)SexMachine.jpg
Caption:King label with variant title wording
Type:single
Artist:James Brown
B-Side:Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine (Part 2)
Recorded:April 25, 1970, Starday-King Studios, Nashville, TN
Genre:Funk[1]
Length: (Single part 1)
(Single part 2)
(Complete original version)
(Album version)
Producer:James Brown
Chronology:James Brown charting
Prev Title:Brother Rapp (Part 1) & (Part 2)
Prev Year:1970
Next Title:Super Bad (Part 1 & Part 2)
Next Year:1970

"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" is a funk song recorded by James Brown with Bobby Byrd on backing vocals. Released as a two-part single in 1970, it was a no. 2 R&B hit and reached no. 15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2004, "Sex Machine" was ranked number 326 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.[2] In the 2021 update of the list it had risen to 196.[3]

In 2014, the 1970 recording of "Get Up - I Feel Like Being a Sex Machine" by James Brown on the King Records label was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[4]

Analysis

"Sex Machine" was one of the first songs Brown recorded with his new band, The J.B.'s. In comparison with Brown's 1960s solo funk hits such as "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", the band's inexperienced horn section plays a relatively minor part. 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 Byrd's vocals, which consist mostly of exhortations to "get up / stay on the scene / like a sex machine". During the song's final vocal passages Brown and Byrd started to sing the main hook of Elmore James' blues classic "Shake Your Moneymaker."

The original single version of "Sex Machine"—recorded, like many of Brown's hits, in just two takes[5] —begins with a spoken dialogue between Brown and 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', groovin', doin' it, y'know? (Yeah!) Can I count it off? (Okay! Alright!) One, two, three, four!

Personnel

with The J.B.'s:

Chart positions

Chart (1970)Peak
position
US Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles2
US Billboard Hot 100[7] 15
US Cash Box[8] 17
US Record World[9] 17

Other recordings

Sex Machine Part I
Type:single
Artist:James Brown
Album:Sex Machine Today
B-Side:Sex Machine Part II
Label:Polydor 14270
Chronology:James Brown charting
Prev Title:Reality
Prev Year:1975
Next Title:Hustle!!! (Dead on It)
Next Year:1975

Brown would go on to re-record "Sex Machine" several times in addition to the original single version:

"Sex Machine" remained a staple of Brown's concert repertoire until the end of his career. Live performances of the song appear on the albums (1971), Hot on the One (1980), Live in New York (1981), (1992), and Live at the Apollo 1995.

Chart (1975)Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 10061
US Billboard Hot Soul Singles16

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: R&B » Soul » Funk . . July 5, 2014 .
  2. The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (1-500) . . August 20, 2006 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060820114526/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/4.
  3. The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . . September 15, 2021 . September 20, 2021 .
  4. Web site: GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com. grammy.com.
  5. Book: Smith, R.J. . The One: The Life and Music of James Brown . 2012 . Gotham Books . 241.
  6. Star Time . 1991 . Star Time: Song by Song . Alan . Leeds . Harry . Weinger . 46–53 . CD booklet . PolyGram Records . New York.
  7. Web site: James Brown – Awards . . June 5, 2013 .
  8. Web site: CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending AUGUST 15, 1970 . . September 22, 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120922141611/http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/19700815.html.
  9. 100 Top Pops . . August 22, 1970 . 23 . September 17, 2017 . 0034-1622 .
  10. Web site: Robert . Christgau . Robert Christgau . James Brown . June 12, 2014.
  11. Web site: Martin . Schneider . James Brown stars in the greatest miso soup commercial of all time, 1992 . Dangerous Minds . May 8, 2015 . February 9, 2017 .