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Archie Bell and The Drells
Archie Bell (born in Henderson, Texas on September 1, 1944) & the Drells were a Houston soul vocal group, one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records. The band's hits include "Tighten Up" and "I Can't Stop Dancing" (both 1968), "The Soul City Walk" (1976), and "Everybody Have A Good Time" (1977).

Bell, the brother of American footballer Ricky Bell (1955-1984), moved to Houston as a young boy and formed the group in 1966 with his friends James Wise, Willie Parnell and Billy Butler. Read Full BioArchie Bell (born in Henderson, Texas on September 1, 1944) & the Drells were a Houston soul vocal group, one of the main acts on Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff's Philadelphia International Records. The band's hits include "Tighten Up" and "I Can't Stop Dancing" (both 1968), "The Soul City Walk" (1976), and "Everybody Have A Good Time" (1977).

Bell, the brother of American footballer Ricky Bell (1955-1984), moved to Houston as a young boy and formed the group in 1966 with his friends James Wise, Willie Parnell and Billy Butler. They signed with local label Ovid.

After a spell in Vietnam for Archie, the group released Tighten Up, which was picked up by Atlantic for distribution and toppped both the R&B and pop charts. The song's line "we dance just as good as we walk" was a little ironic given that Archie had been shot in the leg and was consigned to a military hospital bed at the time.

The phenomenal success of the single prompted the band to rush out an album, despite their incapacitated leader.

In 1969, after Bell had left the army, the group recorded their first full album with Gamble and Huff, I Can't Stop Dancing, which reached number 28 on the R&B chart.

After mediocre chart showings in the late '70s, the group split in 1980. Archie Bell later released one solo album on Beckett Records.
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Tighten Up
by Archie Bell and The Drells

Hi everybody
I'm Archie Bell of the Drells, from Houston, Texas
We don't only sing
But we dance just as good as we walk
In Houston, we just started a new dance
Called the Tighten Up
This is the music we tighten up with

First tighten up on the drums
Come on now, drummer
I want you to tighten it up for me now, oh, yeah
Tighten up on that bass now
Tighten it up, ha, ha, yeah
Now let that guitar fall in
Oh, yeah
Tighten up on that organ now
Yeah, you do the tighten up, yeah, now

I said, if you can do it now
It sure would be tough
Now look here, come on now
Now make it mellow

Let's tighten it up now
Do the tighten up
Everybody can do it now
So get to it
We're gonna tighten up
Let's do the tighten up
You can do it now
So baby, get to it

Look to your left now
Look to your right
Everybody can do it
But don't you get too tight
Come on and tighten up
Let's tighten it up now
Let's tighten it up now
Tighten it up
Oh, do the tighten up
Come on and tighten it up
Tighten it up now, come on now, Billy

Tighten it up, oh, yeah
Sock it to me now, tighten it up
Come on and tighten up that bass, oh, yeah
Now look here, I want that guitar to fall in on there
Tighten it up now
Oh, yeah
Now tighten it up, organ

Yeah, now everybody tighten it up now
Now look here, we gonna make it mellow for you now
We gonna make it mellow now

Oh, tighten it up
You can get it
Move to your left, move to your right
Tighten it up now
Everything will be outta sight
Come on and tighten it up
Tighten it up now
You can do it

Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ARCHIE BELL, BILLY BUTTIER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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