Stay on the scene
Like a sex machine

These lines are from James Brown’s signature funk hit “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine,” recorded in 1970 with the J.B.’s and released as a single that became one of his defining performances. The lyric belongs to the song’s call-and-response structure, where Brown’s exhortations (“get up,” “stay on the scene”) are answered by the band, creating a live, participatory feel rooted in Black performance traditions. Emerging at the start of the 1970s, the track helped crystallize funk’s emphasis on groove, repetition, and rhythmic command, and it was closely associated with Brown’s stage persona as an indefatigable, hyper-energetic showman.

On its surface, the couplet is a directive to keep performing—remain visible, active, and electrifying—framed through the metaphor of a “sex machine,” i.e., a figure of relentless drive and physical potency. In Brown’s idiom, sexuality functions less as narrative content than as kinetic energy: a way to name the music’s bodily insistence and the performer’s stamina. The line also captures funk’s aesthetic of sustained intensity—staying “on the scene” means holding the groove, keeping the crowd engaged, and turning repetition into propulsion. It reinforces Brown’s self-mythology as a tireless engine of rhythm and charisma.

“Stay on the scene / Like a lovin’ machine.”