Tighten Up : Rolling Stone

Written by: Bell, Billy Butler
Produced by: Skipper Lee Frazier
Released: March '68 on Atlantic
Charts: 15 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

After Bell got his draft notice, in May '67, he wanted to record with his group, the Drells, before he got shipped off to Vietnam. He pulled out "Tighten Up," one of the group's old demos, and remade it as a strutting funk vamp. Bell got shot in the leg in Vietnam; the song went to Number One while he was in a military hospital trying to convince people the song on the radio was his.

Appears on: Tightening It Up: The Best of Archie Bell and the Drells (Rhino)

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