"Tighten Up" is 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 magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.
The instrumental backing for "Tighten Up" was provided by the T.S.U. Toronadoes, the group which had developed it in their own live shows, before they brought it to Archie Bell & the Drells at the suggestion of Skipper Lee Frazer, a Houston disk jockey who worked with both groups. At the recording session, the Drells worked late into the night with the Toronadoes as Archie Bell perfected the vocals.
In the beginning of the song Bell introduces himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas. According to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Bell had 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." Bell continues in the song by stating, "We don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we want." This line is often misheard, and mis-transcribed, as "dance just as good as we walk". Asked to clarify by writer Michael Corcoran, Archie Bell responded, "We dance just as good as we want. Hell, we dance a lot better than we walk."
"Tighten Up" is 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 magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.
The instrumental backing for "Tighten Up" was provided by the T.S.U. Toronadoes, the group which had developed it in their own live shows, before they brought it to Archie Bell & the Drells at the suggestion of Skipper Lee Frazer, a Houston disk jockey who worked with both groups. At the recording session, the Drells worked late into the night with the Toronadoes as Archie Bell perfected the vocals.
In the beginning of the song Bell introduces himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas. According to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Bell had 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." Bell continues in the song by stating, "We don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we want." This line is often misheard, and mis-transcribed, as "dance just as good as we walk". Asked to clarify by writer Michael Corcoran, Archie Bell responded, "We dance just as good as we want. Hell, we dance a lot better than we walk."
"Tighten Up" is 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 magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is one of the earliest funk hits in music history.
The instrumental backing for "Tighten Up" was provided by the T.S.U. Toronadoes, the group which had developed it in their own live shows, before they brought it to Archie Bell & the Drells at the suggestion of Skipper Lee Frazer, a Houston disk jockey who worked with both groups. At the recording session, the Drells worked late into the night with the Toronadoes as Archie Bell perfected the vocals.
In the beginning of the song Bell introduces himself and the Drells as being from Houston, Texas. According to the Billboard Book of Number One Hits by Fred Bronson, Bell had 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." Bell continues in the song by stating, "We don't only sing, but we dance just as good as we want." This line is often misheard, and mis-transcribed, as "dance just as good as we walk". Asked to clarify by writer Michael Corcoran, Archie Bell responded, "We dance just as good as we want. Hell, we dance a lot better than we walk."