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Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine

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"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.[2]

"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Part 1)"
King label with variant title wording
Single by James Brown
B-side"Get Up I Feel Like Being Like a Sex Machine (Part 2)"
ReleasedJuly 1970 (1970-07)
RecordedApril 25, 1970
StudioStarday-King Sound (Nashville)
GenreFunk[1]
Length
  • 2:49 (single part 1)
  • 2:33 (single part 2)
  • 5:15 (complete original version)
  • 10:48 (album version)
LabelKing
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)James Brown
James Brown charting singles chronology
"Brother Rapp (Part 1) & (Part 2)"
(1970) 		"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine (Part 1)"
(1970) 		"Super Bad (Part 1 & Part 2)"
(1970)
Audio sample
Audio video
"Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" on YouTube

In 2004, "Sex Machine" was ranked number 326 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.[3] In the 2021 update of the list it had risen to 196.[4]

In 2014, the original 1970 recording of "Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine" on the King Records label was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[5]

Analysis

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"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[6]—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

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  • James Brown – lead vocal, piano

with The J.B.'s:

Chart positions

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Chart (1970) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[8] 4
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[9] 8
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[10] 7
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 32
US Billboard Best Selling Soul Singles[2] 2
US Billboard Hot 100[2] 15
US Cash Box[12] 17
US Record World[13] 17
West Germany (GfK)[14] 29

Other recordings

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"Sex Machine Part I"
Single by James Brown
from the album Sex Machine Today
B-side"Sex Machine Part II"
Released1975 (1975)
Length
  • 5:45 (Part I)
  • 5:09 (Part II)
LabelPolydor 14270
Songwriter(s)
James Brown charting singles chronology
"Reality"
(1975) 		"Sex Machine Part I"
(1975) 		"Hustle!!! (Dead on It)"
(1975)

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

  • One was made in 1970 for his ostensibly all-live Sex Machine album. It is over 10 minutes long and includes added reverb and overdubbed audience noise intended to conceal its studio origins. (A version of this recording without overdubs appears on the 1996 compilation Funk Power 1970: A Brand New Thang.)
  • Another, which was released in 1975, features a new instrumental arrangement and lyrics aimed at disco audiences. Nearly 12 minutes long, it was released as a two-part single and appeared on the album Sex Machine Today. Though it was poorly reviewed — Robert Christgau wrote that "if you own another version of 'Sex Machine' you own a better one"[15] — it charted no. 16 on the R&B charts.
  • In 1993, Brown sang another version that was released in collaboration with his sponsorship of Nissin's Miso Soup.[16]

"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 Revolution of the Mind: Live at the Apollo, Volume III (1971), Hot on the One (1980), Live in New York (1981), Love, Power, Peace: Live at the Olympia, Paris, 1971 (1992), and Live at the Apollo 1995.

References

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  1. ^ "R&B » Soul » Funk". AllMusic. Retrieved July 5, 2014.
  2. ^ a b c d e "James Brown – Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  3. ^ "The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (1-500)". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on August 20, 2006.
  4. ^ "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. September 15, 2021. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  5. ^ "GRAMMY Hall Of Fame | Hall of Fame Artists | GRAMMY.com". grammy.com.
  6. ^ Smith, R.J. (2012). The One: The Life and Music of James Brown. Gotham Books. p. 241.
  7. ^ Leeds, Alan; Weinger, Harry (1991). "Star Time: Song by Song". Star Time (CD booklet). New York: PolyGram Records. pp. 46–53.
  8. ^ "James Brown – Sex Machine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  9. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 40, 1970" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  10. ^ "James Brown – Sex Machine" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  11. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 5, 2013.
  12. ^ "CASH BOX Top 100 Singles – Week ending AUGUST 15, 1970". Cash Box. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012.
  13. ^ "100 Top Pops" (PDF). Record World. August 22, 1970. p. 23. ISSN 0034-1622. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  14. ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – James Brown – Sex Machine" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved February 19, 2019. To see peak chart position, click "TITEL VON James Brown"
  15. ^ Christgau, Robert. "James Brown". Retrieved June 12, 2014.
  16. ^ Schneider, Martin (May 8, 2015). "James Brown stars in the greatest miso soup commercial of all time, 1992". Dangerous Minds. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
  17. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  18. ^ "James Brown – Sex Machine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  19. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  20. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 12, 2013.
  21. ^ "James Brown – Sex Machine Remix" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved February 19, 2019.
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