Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine

Get Up is a party that has already been going for three hours when you arrive, and somehow the energy is still climbing. The bass line is so infectious it feels like it was always there, pre-existing, waiting to be discovered rather than composed. Bobby Byrd's call-and-response with Brown creates a conversational momentum — two men egging each other on, neither willing to let the groove drop. The horn section punctuates rather than carries melody, functioning more like a crowd cheering than traditional orchestration. Brown's performance is almost theatrical in its enthusiasm, less a vocal and more a full-body proclamation of being alive and present in the music. The lyrics are almost beside the point — what matters is the affirmation, the insistence on standing up and moving. This is the song that defined what a band could sound like as a single organism. Play it at the beginning of any gathering and watch the room reorganize itself around the rhythm.