Archie Bell & the Drills, 1968, a song that everybody white or Black, listened to, danced to, and every body Tightened Up!!!! To your left and to your right!
We didn't have any issues and we all got along. Always going to be people who are very prejudice and ignorant of life. We all had fun and we all loved to dance. ❤ Today, what happened? We need to get back to those days.
I'm right here with u at 62, even though I was just a kid then, I remember the transcended all racial and class barriers. It was just about love, peace and soul ❤️
@@thomasmcdonald5758 Freezing the screen in the first few seconds of the video shows me a guitar with four winding pegs. I see and hear a bass playing the intro with no other instruments playing and the camera focused on the bassist. It appears to be a Gibson or a Guild though they are not the only companies to make SG style basses. Now perhaps being a WORKING drummer for OVER fifty years doesn't make me an expert but... I'm sticking with that is a bass guitar. : )
I remember when I first heard this record. It was in the summer of 68 I was 12 years old. I was in El Paso Texas visiting my grandmother and my aunts who were teenagers took me to a church bazaar and this song came on. Boy! when it came on everybody started dancing. I was like who is this and my aunts said it is Archie Bell, and the Drells I guess they were getting popular in Texas. After that they started getting popular in California. Still love it to this day.
I was 13 in 1968. I love the way Archie would say " from Houston, Texas" I was just beginning to understand how bands started out, and affiliations with the hometown. Such a great song and enthusiastic performance. And those tight blue suits!
I always thought that's what he said, too, and it always made me smile to hear it... but then on another video it sure sounded like he says ....we can dance as good as we WALK....... can't say for anyone else, but I think both versions work! What a great song.....timeless!
I do; I was a kid then-and like one of the other repliers said, we were blessed then but didn't know how blessed we were until it was all taken away...1-21-23.
Great soul bands currently on daptone and it's subsidiary, Penrose. Also, Eli paperboy reed, Darren Jones and the indications, Devon Lamar trio. Just not in popular mainstream as then
I heard Felix Hernandez ( DJ The Rhythm Review WBGO in NYC) Tell the story that Archie and Co. cut this as a demo for local record labels in Houston. He was drafted and local fans sent it around to local radio DJ's as a going away gesture . It became a national hit from this and was played on Armed Forces Network radio while Archie was lying wounded in an army hospital in VN . He was supposed to have exclaimed " Hey ! That's me and my band!" nobody would believe him at the time. True? Can anyone verify or elaborate.. Thanks. Remember the followup? "I Just Can't Stop Dancin' "
I read that he was in the army and it came in the radio and he was running around the barracks telling everyone it was him and they were all like "yeah right"
My sister, a musician....back in 1997 was giving birth to her daughter Grace, who has also become a fine musician. She's now in her 20's. But anyway Grace was born at home, with the help of a midwife, a cool sista named Sandy. While Val was doing the pushing and breathing, at one point she fell into a rhythm that was helping the baby arrive. So Sandy said to Val, 'Push, ok...now tighten up.." And Val started singing this drum riff riff from "Tighten up". Grace was born a half hour later, in a warm bath tub, no muss, minimal pain. So "Tighten Up" lives on in our family to this day - a song we giggle about and are thankful was around when we needed it..Tighten up, y'all!
I remember hearing this when it came out, but I never saw even a picture of Archie and the Drells till tonight. Grin, giggle, and even guffaw. Back in '68 we called those pants "high waters" because you could walk through high water without getting them wet. Yeah, kids are cruel. It was because some kids couldn't afford new clothes and had to wear last year's pants even though they had grown.
Every time I hear this group and remember the dance I think of my late sister. I just can see her smiling down when the song is played. She really could Tighten up ❤
In 1968, Tighten Up was playing on the AM band radio. I had my first flight in an airplane... I was 9 years old. My father bought an hour of flight time with an instructor for my birthday. I was at the controls! I later became a pilot, joined the US Air Force and the rest is history.
Rapping and dancing and rhythm I just love it. Go Archie! The dancers had so much soul and were so entertaining. The band did a great job keeping up with Archie.
Me to. I was 10 and growing up in the city. I remember the summer when I first heard this. I was walking down the street with a friend and someone had their windows open playing this tune and we stopped to hear it. Now ever summer I have to hear it. That's what brought me to this video.
This was my dad's favorite song or one of them outside of grazing in the grass. I love this song. Bring back so many memories All those basement parties my parents used to have. Oh boy, bring tears to my eyes. How those days are long gone now 🙂😔
Were any of you, folks back in those days? I was there, and the music was beautiful unlike now, which the mess now cannot come even close back then. Seeing those guys and hearing that song, takes me all the way back to 1968, absolutely.
Aloha! - This was one of my fav songs from late 60s but I'm 70+ years old (2-3-23) and this is the first time I have ever SEEN who "Archie Bell & The Drells" look like! - Mahalo! --- M.S.A.
It's such a great clip because so many bands back then would just lip sync their record on TV.......this is live and in your face--everyone is playing their instrument, pure vocals......!
Loved Archie Bell and the Drells! I danced many dances to this song and of course, the dance was much different, but you had to be able to make those moves and I did! This song brings back so many memories of my twenties. First time seeing them anywhere and they were fantastic!
There is another live version of the song from a show called THE BEAT but I am not sure. The dancers almost kicked the mic stand in THE BEAT if I remember correctly.
I love their completely honky band! Who even knew?! So many great musicians from that era, black, white, brown…oh, wait! Musicians! Color doesn’t matter!❤️
@Blue Bee I don't know about that: How about Michael McDonald, or Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (the Righteous Brothers), or Donnie Weaver of the O'Kaysions? There ARE white people who can pull it off, although they're rare - they need to both have a truly big voice, and to have completely internalized black peoples' musical phrasing, speech rhythms, and pronunciation. But they do exist.
@Blue Bee the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section aka the Swampers. Not a bro in the mix, but they delivered the goods for everyone from the Beatles, to Aretha to the Stones. Also Booker T’s band, to name another legendary soulful group with a bunch of pale dudes! My point was that great musicians aren’t great because of their skin tone. They’re great because of their basic talent, hard work, years of practice!
Frank Locklear I 💯 get your point about just enjoying good music. I would only add one thought - Folks who are STILL working on acceptance of everybody need to get old habits out of their systems. I say let’s give ‘em some slack but call them on it exactly as you did here. Boogie on man.
@@Baribrotzer How could you forget Donald Dunn and Steve Cropper of Booker T and the MGs. They were the house studio band at Stax records. They can be heard on many a soul record. From Sam and Dave, Otis Redding to The Staple Singers.
In the early '70's ('72-'73) Archie was a regular at JB's Lounge in West Palm Beach-a funky lil' club that booked some fantastic artists-from another time
My mother's theme song. I'll always cherish the moments of her getting down to this tune whenever it comes on. This song is really groovy and defined an era! 💃🕺
My Grandma used to play this song all the time while she was babysitting us in the summers when my parents worked. Good memories. Thank you for posting.
I was 9 years old in 1968 when I first heard that song. We ran to the record store to to buy it. It only cost $1.00 and we played all day. I grew up in Houston such a beautiful city
Mr.Bell and the Drells I love them!! They will always be superstars to me. I recently sent a postcard to Mr. Bell sending best wishes and prayers for his good health. He has brought much happiness to folks and I wanted him to know I am one of them.
The original band who played on this was the T. S. U. Toronadoes (yes, that's the spelling, named after the car): • Clarence "Creeper" Harper (trumpet), • Nelson Mills (trumpet), • Darryll Busby (saxophone), • Cal Thomas (guitar/vocals), • Will Thomas (guitar/vocals), • Robert Sanders (organ), • Jerry Jenkins (bass guitar/vocals), • Dwight Burns (drums).
So my memory of this song goes back to American Bandstand when they were using it for one of their dance contests. Watching those young couples in the groove. Amazing
It’s 10/1/24 in Austin, Tx! My husband and I grew up in Houston and enjoyed “The Tighten Up”…seniors were great in ‘68! I’m 75 and still rockin’ to the ‘60s today🥳🎶
If you see Archie,ask him if he remembers being on the NJ Turnpike on a Sunday in 1976 and stopping on a safety island near Newark,not knowing where to go on this confusing road.I first noticed them near Philly and followed them all the way up.
I grew up near Houston and my sister wore this song out!! Them days you could go outside on the porch and have a little record player spinning the tunes. Or you could hear Skipper Lee on KCOH radio talking about: “ ladies it’s 5 o’clock, and where is your husband?” 🤣. Those who know will know!
This is where it's at man! I was about 9 or 10 when this record hit, back in about 1967 or 68, and even though the horn lines are a little different than what's on the hit record version, overall these guys are killing it-love their dance steps/choreography also! I forgot to mention, these guys are doing this LIVE, apparently also, and it shows what a really great show they would've given in a live performance in concert, back then. I hate to say it but I missed not seeing them live in concert. Hell, I was too young...oh well... One last thing-WTF happened to our music that it would come to what we have now? Which of the music acts of the past THIRTY YEARS would you put up against these guys? I've seen a few, and I wouldn't put a ONE of them up against what these guys were putting down back then! P.S.: Dig how Archie is carrying this song ALL BY HIMSELF-the rest of the guys are killing it though, with their steps, but we didn't know this-or ever hear them sing at all on this classic soul record-and I never thought about it for years until one day I realized that for it to be ARCHIE BELL AND THE DRELLS, there were no Drells singing at all, on this tune, but I still love hearing this old jam! 1-21-32.
Unfortunately I think it happened to most music people just don't have the talent now they had back then. They used to write the music the songs the lyrics everything, and put it all together!
@@toussantlbisso And in addition to what you've stated sir, which I certainly won't deny, I know and remember when schools throughout this country, at the same time the music began to wane, stopped making it their business to teach the American children music, starting in the early 1980s-this also, I believe was part of the CONSPIRACY to destroy and/or lessen the impact music would have on people, when they listened to it. Why this was so/has come to be, I don't have the answers to, except to say: "THE EARTH IS GIVEN INTO THE HAND OF THE WICKED" Job 9:24. This world, from what I can see in my 64 years of being on this Earth, has always been RULED BY WICKED PEOPLE-who are sometimes called the "Elite" or the "Illuminati", and in these Last Days of Humanity, we are witnessing horrible things manifesting(mass shootings, etc.)like they never did, when I was a child and then a young man, back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s! I think the destruction of all creative music in America, and throughout this world, therefore, is not by accident or random chance or occurrence, but by the deliberate design and implementation of the so-called elite; why this had to be is again, beyond my ability to correctly fathom or understand, but I believe it is also, part of God's will for the whole of humanity, for these last days and times in which we are living! And thank you for your reply; God bless. 1-22-23.
Jungle ! Only Facts , Humans Made Music w things called Musical Instruments , out of necessity( no radio, computer, tv, etc. ! Often learning to play IN Public School or @Church ! JB said "blacks don't come to his shows" "Mercas musical History is Highly influenced by Black Instrument Players (often finding fame1st Abroad) ! Now , any ----- w a computer can "Make"music" ! Khallid . These vibrations are Created by Scientists to iillicit Certain behavior. Social engineering for the Unenlightened Masses.
Love the unassuming drummer laying down slick beats
This just may be the greatest video that I have ever seen!
Hi everybody, I'm Archie Bell and the Drells from Houston, Texas.
What, you're all of them?
Archie Bell & the Drills, 1968, a song that everybody white or Black, listened to, danced to, and every body Tightened Up!!!! To your left and to your right!
🤣
We didn't have any issues and we all got along. Always going to be people who are very prejudice and ignorant of life. We all had fun and we all loved to dance. ❤ Today, what happened? We need to get back to those days.
I'm 76yrs old now and this brings back so many memories of 60's Atlantic and Stax labels music and all nighters, greatest era for music
I know what you mean. Wonderful memories
You got that right Paul!!
Amen to that.
come on lets dance
I'm right here with u at 62, even though I was just a kid then, I remember the transcended all racial and class barriers. It was just about love, peace and soul ❤️
That this is live is incredible. I loved this song from the first time I heard it back in 1968. It has not lost one bit of its funk and soul. Amazing!
Yes. On a tiny transistor radio
Thank you!
One of the greatest bass lines.
Where was the bass player?
@@thomasmcdonald5758 Directly to the right of the drummer in the reddish Nehru jacket.
@@fredfox3851 that’s not a Bass Fred
@@thomasmcdonald5758 Freezing the screen in the first few seconds of the video shows me a guitar with four winding pegs. I see and hear a bass playing the intro with no other instruments playing and the camera focused on the bassist. It appears to be a Gibson or a Guild though they are not the only companies to make SG style basses.
Now perhaps being a WORKING drummer for OVER fifty years doesn't make me an expert but... I'm sticking with that is a bass guitar. : )
@@fredfox3851 Fred I’m a drummer too and I’ve watched 1000’s of bass players and watch the way he’s playing and he’s strumming with the rhythm
Archie’s brother was Ricky Bell, star running back for Southern Cal and later the NFL Buccaneers and the Chargers.
Thought he was drafted then off to Vietnam,for some time.
I remember when I first heard this record. It was in the summer of 68 I was 12 years old. I was in El Paso Texas visiting my grandmother and my aunts who were teenagers took me to a church bazaar and this song came on. Boy! when it came on everybody started dancing. I was like who is this and my aunts said it is Archie Bell, and the Drells I guess they were getting popular in Texas. After that they started getting popular in California. Still love it to this day.
I was 13 in 1968. I love the way Archie would say " from Houston, Texas" I was just beginning to understand how bands started out, and affiliations with the hometown. Such a great song and enthusiastic performance. And those tight blue suits!
Down in Houston, they can dance just as good as they want!
@@tomfields3682 They CAN dance just as good as they want! ( Just ask Beyonce and Megan the Stallion)
I'm Archie Bell of the Drells, from Houston, Texas
We don't only sing
But we dance just as good as we walk.....
@@colinandpattyhowie2887 💃🕺🚶♂️🚶♀️
EVER HEAR ABOUT ATLANTA TEXAS
From Houston Texas, we not only sing, but we can dance just as good as we want.
I love hearing him say that line--I may not be from Houston, TX but the music just makes me want to dance!!
I always thought that's what he said, too, and it always made me smile to hear it... but then on another video it sure sounded like he says ....we can dance as good as we WALK....... can't say for anyone else, but I think both versions work! What a great song.....timeless!
God, but they look like they were having fun performing this!
Who remembers when music used to be fun?
I want to get us a time machine and take us back! We were so very blessed! 🙏🏼☮️♥️🙏🏾
I never moved past it.. stayed in the groove with my peeps..🇨🇦
I sure do!
I do; I was a kid then-and like one of the other repliers said, we were blessed then but didn't know how blessed we were until it was all taken away...1-21-23.
Absolutely so much fun!!
60s Soul Music was the zenith of Rock and Roll and Rhythm and Blues. Will never be repeated, which is very sad. Tighten Up is an immortal classic.
You are so right. I was going into high school in 1968. Those were the golden years for music.
Great soul bands currently on daptone and it's subsidiary, Penrose. Also, Eli paperboy reed, Darren Jones and the indications, Devon Lamar trio. Just not in popular mainstream as then
Would the zenith of R&B be in 90s?
Archie wrote this while he was on R and R ( rest and recuperation) from his stint in Vietnam.
I heard their original keyboardist died in Nam
My gosh, I did not know that.
God bless all the Vietnam Veterans for their service!
I heard Felix Hernandez ( DJ The Rhythm Review WBGO in NYC) Tell the story that Archie and Co. cut this as a demo for local record labels in Houston. He was drafted and local fans sent it around to local radio DJ's as a going away gesture .
It became a national hit from this and was played on Armed Forces Network radio while Archie was lying wounded in an army hospital in VN . He was supposed to have exclaimed " Hey ! That's me and my band!" nobody would believe him at the time. True? Can anyone verify or elaborate.. Thanks.
Remember the followup? "I Just Can't Stop Dancin' "
I read that he was in the army and it came in the radio and he was running around the barracks telling everyone it was him and they were all like "yeah right"
The brass section is completely on it. Great song. Dance music. Groups were showmen and sharp dressers. Class.
My sister, a musician....back in 1997 was giving birth to her daughter Grace, who has also become a fine musician. She's now in her 20's. But anyway Grace was born at home, with the help of a midwife, a cool sista named Sandy. While Val was doing the pushing and breathing, at one point she fell into a rhythm that was helping the baby arrive. So Sandy said to Val, 'Push, ok...now tighten up.." And Val started singing this drum riff riff from "Tighten up". Grace was born a half hour later, in a warm bath tub, no muss, minimal pain. So "Tighten Up" lives on in our family to this day - a song we giggle about and are thankful was around when we needed it..Tighten up, y'all!
What a great story, truly blessed! Peace and love, Aloha from westside Oahu Hawaii!
Still sound good in 2023
and 2024
I remember hearing this when it came out, but I never saw even a picture of Archie and the Drells till tonight. Grin, giggle, and even guffaw. Back in '68 we called those pants "high waters" because you could walk through high water without getting them wet. Yeah, kids are cruel. It was because some kids couldn't afford new clothes and had to wear last year's pants even though they had grown.
Aqui fala vamos calça pescando siri,rsr
@@almirdossantos5102 Sorry, the online translation doesn't make much sense. "here we talk of trying to go fishing" ????
The high water pants were a thing to avoid at all costs!
They should have named the band Noah and the arks.
In '68 that was the style,the original era of Skinny Shark suits, when ones pants were so thin it showed the whole Oo7 Bond looking shoe!
Every time I hear this group and remember the dance I think of my late sister. I just can see her smiling down when the song is played. She really could Tighten up ❤
Brass is on the money. Congas is on the money. They all on the money in the band!
An Old School Classic by Talented Musicians !!!!
In 1968, Tighten Up was playing on the AM band radio. I had my first flight in an airplane... I was 9 years old. My father bought an hour of flight time with an instructor for my birthday. I was at the controls! I later became a pilot, joined the US Air Force and the rest is history.
Vietnam Archie Purple Heart.All Vet's thank you for the groove.
Wow, I have loved this song for years! Never actually saw them however. So fun!
Have heard this song forever and had never seen the band! Thanks!
I'm reminded of when I was a kid on the verge of being a teenager. We all loved this song!
Where has the time gone ? Wow ! MEMORIES !!!
Time waits for no one.
@@LoneLee2022 AMEN!!!
Yes!!🥰
Father Time Undefeated The Heavy Weight Champion.
Rapping and dancing and rhythm I just love it. Go Archie! The dancers had so much soul and were so entertaining. The band did a great job keeping up with Archie.
The dancers showed you how to tighten up. I showed alot of people at school in Cleveland Ohio how to do it!
So Good . I'm 10 yrs old in 68 . I'll never forget this song .
Me to. I was 10 and growing up in the city. I remember the summer when I first heard this. I was walking down the street with a friend and someone had their windows open playing this tune and we stopped to hear it. Now ever summer I have to hear it. That's what brought me to this video.
Awesome cats!
Those suits can't get any tighter, that's for sure, love the song, love the band, it was great to see them live again.
And today those tight suits are in style lol
Love those tight blue suits!! 💙 😍
LOL.
Have this in my 45s collection, played it to death! Absolutely one of my favorite dance tunes!
Yes, on the 45s!!! I have a collection too.!
I was 12, I still have the 45 R.P.M. one of the best songs ever!
This was my dad's favorite song or one of them outside of grazing in the grass. I love this song. Bring back so many memories All those basement parties my parents used to have. Oh boy, bring tears to my eyes. How those days are long gone now 🙂😔
Love this. I had the 45 when it first came out.
Probably the best video I've seen in years.
Were any of you, folks back in those days? I was there, and the music was beautiful unlike now, which the mess now cannot come even close back then. Seeing those guys and hearing that song, takes me all the way back to 1968, absolutely.
Aloha! - This was one of my fav songs from late 60s but I'm 70+ years old (2-3-23) and this is the first time I have ever SEEN who "Archie Bell & The Drells" look like! -
Mahalo! --- M.S.A.
Me too: Turned 70 (2-1-23)
When I was a kid learning Guitar, you had to learn both the Bass & Guitar riffs. Cool, and I had the pleasure of meeting Archie much later in life
It's such a great clip because so many bands back then would just lip sync their record on TV.......this is live and in your face--everyone is playing their instrument, pure vocals......!
Loved Archie Bell and the Drells! I danced many dances to this song and of course, the dance was much different, but you had to be able to make those moves and I did! This song brings back so many memories of my twenties. First time seeing them anywhere and they were fantastic!
I was their sound tech summer of 78. Great bunch of guys.
Loved this song back in the day but never seen who performed it. Thank you for posting this, now I know.😁
The best. This sounds like the original recording. Never saw them on video. Love it!
There is another live version of the song from a show called THE BEAT but I am not sure. The dancers almost kicked the mic stand in THE BEAT if I remember correctly.
"Sounds" like yes... but the arrangement is different (certain parts go longer)
Listening to this live performance , You know the actual studio recording was done in One take .. Perfection !!
I was a junior high student in Japan when this song was released. Thank you for the video.
Luv this.. one of my favs of the late 60's
Back when the singer sounded the same live as on the record
Very rare nowadays.
Actually lip syncing was big back then. Might be the reason they sounded exactly like the record.
This performance is LIVE. You can easily tell.
@@68sgstandard Haha! Which was Nilli Vanilli's desperate wish that fateful day onstage.
Back when music WAS music and the times was better !
I love their completely honky band! Who even knew?! So many great musicians from that era, black, white, brown…oh, wait! Musicians! Color doesn’t matter!❤️
Not completely - the drummer's a black guy who looks like he's about 14, and delivers a hipper intro than the original record.
@Blue Bee I don't know about that: How about Michael McDonald, or Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (the Righteous Brothers), or Donnie Weaver of the O'Kaysions? There ARE white people who can pull it off, although they're rare - they need to both have a truly big voice, and to have completely internalized black peoples' musical phrasing, speech rhythms, and pronunciation. But they do exist.
@Blue Bee the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section aka the Swampers. Not a bro in the mix, but they delivered the goods for everyone from the Beatles, to Aretha to the Stones. Also Booker T’s band, to name another legendary soulful group with a bunch of pale dudes! My point was that great musicians aren’t great because of their skin tone. They’re great because of their basic talent, hard work, years of practice!
Frank Locklear I 💯 get your point about just enjoying good music. I would only add one thought - Folks who are STILL working on acceptance of everybody need to get old habits out of their systems. I say let’s give ‘em some slack but call them on it exactly as you did here.
Boogie on man.
@@Baribrotzer How could you forget Donald Dunn and Steve Cropper of Booker T and the MGs. They were the house studio band at Stax records. They can be heard on many a soul record. From Sam and Dave, Otis Redding to The Staple Singers.
That's really a great song
One of my favorite songs.
Classic Soul!!! 👏👏
Got my funk on to this song. Apples peaches pumpkin pie come to mind as well. Great memories for me!
Jay and the Techniques.
The first concert I ever saw when I was 7 or 8 yrs old in New Jersey. Thank you AB & D's!!!
In the early '70's ('72-'73) Archie was a regular at JB's Lounge in West Palm Beach-a funky lil' club that booked some fantastic artists-from another time
What a treat to see this! Such a great radio song.
in 1968 I remember hearing "This is Sp/4 Archie Bell. Good Morning Viet Nam!' they got him too!
Musicians these days would be incapable of such good, fun music. I do miss the 60s and 70s.
Me too.
Not enough time to "Tighten Up". More! More! Encore! Encore!
Only a few years into an era when an integrated band was possible
Integrated bands and orchestras have been around since 1928.
Booker T & the MG’s era
Bullshyte. Read more
My mother's theme song. I'll always cherish the moments of her getting down to this tune whenever it comes on. This song is really groovy and defined an era! 💃🕺
Never get tired hearing that!
Love those Drells!
My Grandma used to play this song all the time while she was babysitting us in the summers when my parents worked. Good memories. Thank you for posting.
Fabulous back then, even better now! Thanks.
I can’t believe you have clear visual on this video! I’m looking for this forever!
I was 9 years old in 1968 when I first heard that song. We ran to the record store to to buy it. It only cost $1.00 and we played all day. I grew up in Houston such a beautiful city
Tighten up now!!! Come on tighten up! to your left and to your right. don't you get too tight!
I just can't stop dancin'
Mr.Bell and the Drells I love them!! They will always be superstars to me. I recently sent a postcard to Mr. Bell sending best wishes and prayers for his good health. He has brought much happiness to folks and I wanted him to know I am one of them.
I remember when this jam came out in 1968
The original band who played on this was the T. S. U. Toronadoes (yes, that's the spelling, named after the car):
• Clarence "Creeper" Harper (trumpet),
• Nelson Mills (trumpet),
• Darryll Busby (saxophone),
• Cal Thomas (guitar/vocals),
• Will Thomas (guitar/vocals),
• Robert Sanders (organ),
• Jerry Jenkins (bass guitar/vocals),
• Dwight Burns (drums).
Right on
The late Rickey Bell (Buccaneers and Chargers) is Archie's brother.
Went to see them live back in the 70’s, they were brilliant. 😁
So my memory of this song goes back to American Bandstand when they were using it for one of their dance contests. Watching those young couples in the groove. Amazing
Once saw them tighten up at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, SC. Circa 1970! 😏
The entire band was white. I never knew that when I was listening to the 45! Just saying. Love it!
That drummer wasn’t.
Thumbs up for Vietnam Veteran Archie Bell! RIP.
Yes sir!!!!!!!!!!!From my home town Houston, Texas were still doing the tighten up at 62 years old 😊
It’s 10/1/24 in Austin, Tx! My husband and I grew up in Houston and enjoyed “The Tighten Up”…seniors were great in ‘68! I’m 75 and still rockin’ to the ‘60s today🥳🎶
Archie Bell is my cousin. His mother is Ruthie Tatum
Timeless tracks like that are super dope!
If you see Archie,ask him if he remembers being on the NJ Turnpike on a Sunday in 1976 and stopping on a safety island near Newark,not knowing where to go on this confusing road.I first noticed them near Philly and followed them all the way up.
yasssss
This was the first record that I bought. I still love it. FYI for those who don't know, Ricky Bell the great football player was Archie's brother.
@kennakashima3316 he died of cancer I believe in the mid 80s
I Told my Daughter to Tighten up.. So Happy You was Here.. Thank You U Tube.. 😘
Thank you very much. I never saw a video about this famous group in the past, just its recordings.🎹🎹🎵🎵
I started playing the bass.when I first heard this line!!
Fabulosos!
Yup nice to see this very first great band's
This is great! I’ve heard this samples so many times and had no idea where it originated. Thanks!
Proto-funk at its "mellowness". Great stuff!
Classic, they were smooth.
Love this! Really funky and an interting contrast with their musical output when they went to Philly.
I grew up near Houston and my sister wore this song out!! Them days you could go outside on the porch and have a little record player spinning the tunes.
Or you could hear Skipper Lee on KCOH radio talking about: “ ladies it’s 5 o’clock, and where is your husband?” 🤣. Those who know will know!
Loved the name and band! B-Pop made K-Pop possible.
Hey…… I know that drummer. He was in my 8th grade class when he made this video with Archie.
This is where it's at man! I was about 9 or 10 when this record hit, back in about 1967 or 68, and even though the horn lines are a little different than what's on the hit record version, overall these guys are killing it-love their dance steps/choreography also!
I forgot to mention, these guys are doing this LIVE, apparently also, and it shows what a really great show they would've given in a live performance in concert, back then. I hate to say it but I missed not seeing them live in concert. Hell, I was too young...oh well...
One last thing-WTF happened to our music that it would come to what we have now? Which of the music acts of the past THIRTY YEARS would you put up against these guys?
I've seen a few, and I wouldn't put a ONE of them up against what these guys were putting down back then!
P.S.: Dig how Archie is carrying this song ALL BY HIMSELF-the rest of the guys are killing it though, with their steps, but we didn't know this-or ever hear them sing at all on this classic soul record-and I never thought about it for years until one day I realized that for it to be ARCHIE BELL AND THE DRELLS, there were no Drells singing at all, on this tune, but I still love hearing this old jam! 1-21-32.
Unfortunately I think it happened to most music people just don't have the talent now they had back then. They used to write the music the songs the lyrics everything, and put it all together!
States Rights funding of Education DEfunded Music& Art !
As Opposed to Fed Funding !
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@@toussantlbisso And in addition to what you've stated sir, which I certainly won't deny, I know and remember when schools throughout this country, at the same time the music began to wane, stopped making it their business to teach the American children music, starting in the early 1980s-this also, I believe was part of the CONSPIRACY to destroy and/or lessen the impact music would have on people, when they listened to it. Why this was so/has come to be, I don't have the answers to, except to say:
"THE EARTH IS GIVEN INTO THE HAND OF THE WICKED" Job 9:24.
This world, from what I can see in my 64 years of being on this Earth, has always been RULED BY WICKED PEOPLE-who are sometimes called the "Elite" or the "Illuminati", and in these Last Days of Humanity, we are witnessing horrible things manifesting(mass shootings, etc.)like they never did, when I was a child and then a young man, back in the 1960s, 70s and 80s!
I think the destruction of all creative music in America, and throughout this world, therefore, is not by accident or random chance or occurrence, but by the deliberate design and implementation of the so-called elite; why this had to be is again, beyond my ability to correctly fathom or understand, but I believe it is also, part of God's will for the whole of humanity, for these last days and times in which we are living!
And thank you for your reply; God bless. 1-22-23.
😂 You guys voicing your opinions out the other end. Of course OLD people don't like new music. And clogged up with opinions.
Jungle ! Only Facts , Humans Made Music w things called Musical Instruments , out of necessity( no radio, computer, tv, etc. ! Often learning to play IN Public School or @Church ! JB said "blacks don't come to his shows" "Mercas musical History is Highly influenced by Black Instrument Players (often finding fame1st Abroad) ! Now , any ----- w a computer can "Make"music" !
Khallid . These vibrations are Created by Scientists to iillicit Certain behavior. Social engineering for the Unenlightened Masses.
Love this fly/hippie/nerdy group. Thanks for posting. 1968.
Heyyyyyyyyyy now!!!
Throughout my life, this tune always brightens my day.
*Archie Bell is still alive at 78 years old🥰*
Thank the lord,
I’m tearing it up right now!!! “Oooooooooh yeah!! Do the tighten up!”🕺🏻
😂
Great group. Love it.