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Tighten Up (Archie Bell & the Drells song)

"Tighten Up"
Single by Archie Bell & the Drells
from the album "Tighten Up"
Released 1968
Format 7", 12"
Recorded October 1967
Genre Funk
Length 3:15 (Part 1)
Label Atlantic 2478 (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" 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.

"Tighten Up" was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttier. 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 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.

Soon afterwards, Bell was drafted into the U.S. Army and began serving in Vietnam. Meanwhile, 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 RIAA gold disc.


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