Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells song)

Tighten Up was a 1968 song by Houston, Texas based R&B vocal group Archie Bell & the Drells. It reached #1 on both the Billboard R&B and pop charts in the summer of 1968. It is ranked #265 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".

History

Tighten Up was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttier ^[1]. It was one of the first songs that Archie Bell & the Drells recorded, in a session in 1967, along with a number of songs including "She's My Woman". Soon afterwards Bell was drafted into the U.S. Army and began serving in Vietnam. The song became a hit in Houston, and was picked up by Atlantic Records for distribution in April 1968. By the summer it topped both the Billboard R&B and pop charts. It also sold a million copies by May 1968, gaining an R.I.A.A. gold disc^[1]. The line in "Tighten Up", "we dance just as good as we walk" was a little ironic, given that Bell had been shot in the leg and was consigned to a military hospital bed at the time.^{[citation needed]}

The song described an accompanying dance that the band had invented, also called the "Tighten Up"; this dance became popular concurrently with the song.

The phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out an album, despite their incapacitated leader. In 1969 the group recorded their first full album with Gamble and Huff, I Can't Stop Dancing, which reached number 28 on the R&B chart.

Cultural references

• The song was spoofed on the 1994 Simpsons episode "Bart Gets Famous".

Covers and samples

• Taylor Hicks covered the song on his 1997 album In Your Time.
• The Japanese electro-pop band, Yellow Magic Orchestra covered the song in the early 1980s, although their version was much more of a parody rather than a serious cover, and was entitled "Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please".
• A sample of "Tighten Up" was used in Janet Jackson's song "Free Xone" from her The Velvet Rope album.
• Yo La Tengo covered "Tighten Up" on their album, Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics.
• The song was on the 1992 The IRS Years reissue of the R.E.M. album, Reckoning.
• The melody of the song was performed live many times by the Grateful Dead, listed as The Tighten Up Jam. See the following recordings
  • 2 May 1970 Dick's Picks Volume 8 (part of Dancing In The Streets, starting at about 6:00 - one of the faster versions)
  • 5 Oct 1970 Grateful Dead Download Series Family Dog (part of Dancing In The Streets, starting at about 8:30)
  • 18 Feb 1971 So Many Roads (1965-1995) (part of "Beautiful Jam", starting from the beginning of that jam)
  • 31 Oct 1971 Dick's Picks Volume 2 (part of Dark Star, starting at about 13:25. One of the most clearly-recognisable versions)

See also

• Hot 100 number-one hits of 1968 (USA)
• R&B number-one hits of 1968 (USA)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs, 2nd, London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, p. 236. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.