Archie Bell & The Drells

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This song makes me really sad -- I know Archie is supposed to be excited, introducing his band & the new dance and all, but he sounds downcast and maybe, well, wounded, to me. I thought this even before I heard the song playing on the radio while Michael Keaton sat in his car looking at the rehab center in "Clean and Sober." But I think the director of that movie must have heard what I heard, to include that song in that scene.

Any songs that seem really sad to you, despite chipper intentions?

― Mark (MarkR), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 16:54 (twenty-three years ago)

not this one! i shall have to play it again to see what you mean.

my suggestion: EQ ~ Total Xstacy, which just sounds too much, heres what i said in april

― gareth (gareth), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 17:02 (twenty-three years ago)

Sam Cooke, "Good Times ." Not only does he sound like he's singing from a well of infinite hopelessness, but he can't even buy into his own sentiments: "Come on and let the good times roll / We gon' stay here till we soothe our souls / If it take all night long." Similarly, Cooke on "Meet Me at Mary's Place," "Love Will Find a Way."

I also think (contrary to popular opinion) that Andrew W.K. party songs don't really sound like songs sung by someone who's ever been to a party, or at least a fun one. They sound like the desperate bathroom-mirror ravings of the kid who was never invited.

― Matt C., Wednesday, 13 November 2002 17:03 (twenty-three years ago)

i haven't heard archie bell's version, i think, but all the versions of "tighten up" i've heard are very uplifting and infectious. my favourite is orchestra harlow's - they changed the title to "horsin' up", btw.

― joan vich (joan vich), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 17:10 (twenty-three years ago)

I never heard the despair in "Tighten Up." Well, maybe Homer Simpson's version: "I'm Archie Bell, and I'm also the Drells!"

I find Matt C's interpretation of Andrew WK so intriguing that I may just have to give him another chance.

― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 18:10 (twenty-three years ago)

(er, Andrew WK, not Matt)

― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 18:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Looking for lyrical depth in Andrew WK = a sign of madness. Mind you, I would say looking for lyrical depth in most anything is a sign of madness.

"Tighten Up" by YMO, including the skit right after it: unparalleled 'what the fuck' genius.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 18:53 (twenty-three years ago)

Nothing to add other than this: Peaches En Regalia has a Tighten Up feel to the section at about 1 minute in where it's just Frank's guitar and the flute, which incidentally is the best part of the entire song and provides a great opportunity to segue out into Tighten Up proper (pitched down a half step or so) when Peaches gets lame. I've done this on many a mixtape.

― Possum Slimm (Possumslimm), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 20:47 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh yeah, I remember the YMO version! Particularly the oddly stern command of "Japanese gentlemen, stand up please!" I heard this on Top 40 radio, believe it or not, when I was 12 or 13. The DJ insulted it mercilessly, but I liked it immediately.

― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 20:49 (twenty-three years ago)

Ned, Mike A, et al: I am not actually proposing that Mr. W.K. is trying for any kind of effect, or depth, or anything. I think it's accidental, which may be all the more sad and poignant. That having been said, I don't listen to his music. At all.

― Matt C., Wednesday, 13 November 2002 20:57 (twenty-three years ago)

No, I agree with you. It's an interpretation that seems blindingly obvious once someone else points it out.

― mike a (mike a), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 21:13 (twenty-three years ago)

Saddest thing abt 'Tighten Up' - AB was in the Army at the time the rec broke big, and when he got out of the service he found that loadsa fake AB + The Drells had sprung up all over the US, depriving him of both a fair few bucks and any kinda career. Bummer.

Its one of my all-time fave singles, def.

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Wednesday, 13 November 2002 22:28 (twenty-three years ago)

Tighten up has absolutely the best hand claps on any song I've ever heard.

― Dave Beckhouse (Dave Beckhouse), Thursday, 14 November 2002 00:25 (twenty-three years ago)

Can you imagine this happening now? D'Angelo gets drafted and imposters tour the country. Times have changed.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 14 November 2002 03:35 (twenty-three years ago)

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Archie Bell & The Drells - "Tighten' Up"