Tighten Up Jam is the name traditionally given to a jam that occurs over 20 times in Grateful Dead shows between late 1969 and mid-to-late 1971. The jam occurs within Dark Star or Dancing In The Street. The jam is included on a number of Grateful Dead releases but is never specifically named on any release.
Various theories have been put forward concerning the origins of this jam. The Tighten Up Jam name derives from the similarity of parts of the jam to the song Tighten Up by Archie Bell & The Drells. More recently it has been suggested that the jam is similar to the song Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited - hence the suggestion that it should be called Soulful Strut Jam. A similarity to the opening of Chicago's song Beginnings has also been suggested.
There are similarities between the opening of the Tighten Up Jam and the opening of Eyes Of The World which was introduced into the Grateful Dead repertoire in early 1973. For this reason the jam has also been called the Proto-Eyes Jam.
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Grateful Dead recordings The Tighten Up Jam occurs on these recordings but is not named on the tracks list information. There may be other examples of the jam on released recordings.
As noted above three songs have been suggested as influences on the origins of the Tighten Up Jam: Tighten Up, Soulful Strut and Beginnings. The sections below provide a small amount of information about each of these songs.
Tighten Up was written by Archie Bell and Billy Buttler. It was first released on a single at the end of 1967. The song reached No 1 in the R&B and pop charts in spring 1968.
Written by Eugene Record and Sonny Sanders and originally recorded in 1968 as Am I The Same Girl with a vocals by Barbara Acklin. The vocals were removed from the recording and a piano part added and the resulting instrumental was released in November 1968 as Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited.
Beginnings was written by Robert Lamm and was originally released on the 1969 Chicago Transit Authority album. It was then released on a single. The group name was changed from Chicago Transit Authority to Chicago between the release of the album and the single.
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Single (Dog Eat Dog / Tighten Up), Archie Bell and The Drells, 1967
