Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells song)

"Tighten Up (Part 1)"
Single by Archie Bell & the Drells
from the album "Tighten Up LP"[1]
Released	1968
Format	7", 12"
Recorded	October 1967
Genre	Funk, Proto-disco, Soul, Philly soul
Length	3:15 (Part 1)
Label	Atlantic (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Archie Bell, Billy Buttier
Archie Bell & the Drells singles chronology
"(There's Gonna Be) A Showdown" (1968) "Tighten Up" (1968) "I Can't Stop Dancing" (1968)

"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 spring of 1968. It is ranked #265 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.

History

"Tighten Up" was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttier ^[2]. It was one of the first songs that Archie Bell & the Drells recorded, in a session in October 1967 at the Jones Town Studio in Houston, Texas, along with a number of songs including "She's My Woman". The instrumental music for "Tighten Up" had been developed^[3] by the T.S.U. Toronadoes in their live shows before and they brought it to Archie Bell & the Drells at the suggestion of Skipper Lee Frazer, a Houston disk jockey who worked with both groups. ^{[4] [5]}

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^[2].

The introduction features Bell introducing himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas, and exclaims "We don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we want". According to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Bell heard a comment after the Kennedy assassination in Dallas that "nothing good ever came out of Texas." Bell wanted his listeners to know "we were from Texas and we were good."

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

Although their leader was incapacitated, the phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out their first album, which included the songs they had recorded in late 1967 and early 1968 with The Toronadoes. ^{[4] [6]}

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.

Charts

Chart (1968)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	1
U.S. Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues	1

Covers

Recorded

• Taylor Hicks covered the song on his 1997 album In Your Time.
• The Japanese electro-pop band Yellow Magic Orchestra covered the song on their 1980 EP X∞Multiplies, adding the subtitle "Japanese Gentlemen Stand Up Please!".
• Melbourne, Australia based The Bamboos covered the song on their 2006 album, Step It Up.
• Yo La Tengo covered "Tighten Up" on their album, Yo La Tengo Is Murdering the Classics.
• R.E.M. covered the song during the Reckoning sessions in 1984 and their version was included on the 1992 The IRS Years reissue of the album.
• Beau Jocque has recorded a smooth cajun/zydeco-influenced cover of this song.
• Booker T and the MGs also covered this song.
• James Brown covered the song, a live version appears on the compilation album Soul Pride: The Instrumentals 1960-69.

Live

• The melody of the song was performed live many times by the Grateful Dead, listed as The Tighten Up Jam. It frequently appeared during extended jam segments in their performances of Dark Star and Dancing In The Street in late 1969 and 1970, as well as a single performance on October 31, 1971.
• Jamiroquai covered the song on their 1993 "Emergency on Planet Earth" tour several times.

Samples

• A sample of "Tighten Up" was used in Janet Jackson's song "Free Xone" from her The Velvet Rope album.

Answer records and parodies

• The Philadelphia-based rock group Nazz recorded a parody-of-sorts called "Loosen Up", which appeared on Nazz III.
• The Indianapolis-based group Billy Ball and the Upsetters recorded "Tighten Up Tighter," with vocalist Roosevelt Matthews mimicking Bell's vocal throughout the song. The original single was released on King Records and would later be reissued on the 2001 compilation The Funky 16 Corners.^[7]

References in popular culture

• "The Pirate and The Penpal" by Lifter Puller contains the line "He told her all about the 'Tighten Up'/ The way they used to dance down in Houston, Texas."
• In The Simpsons episode Bart Gets Famous, Homer recounts his experience of being "in a band," followed by a flashback of himself as a teen, playing the song at a streetcorner as a one-man band with a guitar, bass drum, leg cymbals, and a harmonica. He introduces the song as, "Hi everybody, I'm Archie Bell and I'm also the Drells!"

See also

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

References

1. ^ The Drells' album with the same name
2. ^ ^{a b} Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. pp. p. 236. ISBN 0-214-20512-6. 
3. ^ Boone, Mike. "HISTORICAL ANALYSIS - Archie Bell & The Drells". Soul-Patrol Newsletter. http://www.soul-patrol.com/philly/archie.html. Retrieved 30 April 2006. 
4. ^ ^{a b} "Atlantic Records Discography: 1967". Jazz Discography Project.. http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic-records/discography-1967/#671000. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
5. ^ Gray, Chris; Koshkin, Brett (12 December 2007), "The TSU Toronadoes: The twisted history of "Tighten Up"", Houston Press, http://www.houstonpress.com/2007-12-13/news/the-tsu-toronadoes/, retrieved 30 October 2011 
6. ^ "Atlantic Records Discography: 1968". Jazz Discography Project.. http://www.jazzdisco.org/atlantic-records/discography-1968/. Retrieved 30 October 2011. 
7. ^ "Clint Jones Interview/Billy Ball Interview with Jason Yoder". Stones Throw Records. Los Angeles. http://www.stonesthrow.com/funky16/billyball-interview.html. Retrieved November 20, 2011. 

External links

• Archie Bell article on The Standard Report website
• Music Legends Part 2: Archie Bell & The Drells

Preceded by "Honey" by Bobby Goldsboro	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single May 18 – May 25, 1968	Succeeded by "Mrs. Robinson" by Simon and Garfunkel
Preceded by "Cowboys to Girls" by The Intruders	Billboard Hot R&B Singles number-one single May 18 – May 25, 1968	Succeeded by "Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day" by Stevie Wonder