Sex Machine

LP of the day is Sex Machine by James Brown! CMON!


"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.

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", 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. 

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.