Tampa Red and Georgia Tom's 1928 Blues Song "It's Tight Like That" & Comments About The Use Of The Word "Tight" to Mean Something or Someone "Good" or "Cool"

History of Rock Music - Most powerful rock songs. Oct 9, 2017

Pre-rock roll song  "It's Tight Like That" by Tampa Red with pianist Georgia Tom (Thomas A. Dorsey), recorded on October 24, 1928, was a highly successful early hokum record, which combined bawdy rural humour with sophisticated musical technique. With his Chicago Five, Tampa Red later went on to pioneer the Chicago small group "Bluebird" sound, while Dorsey became "the father of gospel music".
-snip-
Click https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It%27s_Tight_Like_That for the Wikipedia page about this song.

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-tight-like-that-videos-lyrics-part.html for Part I of a two part pancocojams series on "It's Tight Like That". Part I is entitled ""It's Tight Like That" (Videos & Lyrics) Part I: Georgia Tom & Tampa Red". The link for Part II focuses upon that song as sung by Clara Smith and as performed by Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly).  

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a YouTube sound file of Tampa Red and Georgia Tom singing the hokum Blues (dirty Blues) song "It's Tight Like That". A small portion of the lyrics for that song are also included in this post.

This post also presents excerpts from several websites about the history of and slang meanings for the word "tight"..

The content of the this post is presented for linguistic, cultural, and entertainment purposes only.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Tampa Red and Georgia Tom for their musical legacies. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/james-browns-1964-r-song-out-of-sight.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "James Brown's 1964 R&B Song "Out Of Sight" and Some History Of The Use Of The Phrase "Out of Sight" With The Meaning "Amazing" Or "Great". "

 

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/02/what-does-word-uptight-means-in-stevie.html a closely related pancocojams post entitled "What Does The Word "Uptight" Mean In Stevie Wonder's 1966 R&B Song "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" ".
 
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PARTIAL LYRICS FOR TAMPA RED AND GEORGIA TOM'S BLUES SONG "IT'S TIGHT LIKE THAT"
(composed by Thomas A Dorsey, also known as "Georgia Tom")

Listen here folks
I wanta sing a little song
Don’t get mad, we don’t mean no harm
Y’know, it’s tight like that

Beedle-um-bum
Oh, It’s tight like that
Beedle-um-bum
Oh, ya hear me talkin’ to you
I mean it’s tight like that

[...]

There was a little black rooster
Met a little brown hen
Made a date at the barn about-a half-past-ten.
Y’know, it’s tight like that

[...]

I’ll wear my britches
Up above my knees
Strut my jelly with who I please
Oh, it’s tight like that"...
-snip-
These lyrics are found at http://oldtimeblues.net/lyrics/its-tight-like-that/ Multiple verses for this song could be sung or interchanged for other sometimes improvised lyrics.

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SELECTED ONLINE COMMENTS ABOUT CERTAIN SLANG MEANINGS FOR THE WORD "TIGHT"

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only. The numbers given to these comments don't necessarily conform with their numbers in that particular discussion thread.

Online Excerpt #1
From https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/32826/what-is-the-reasoning-behind-the-urban-slang-word-tight-coming-to-mean-cool "What is the reasoning behind the "urban" slang word "tight" coming to mean "cool/great/slick"?"

1. How and why did the word tight come to be appropriated in this sense, for example as in, "That car is tight, cuh!" ? I mean, one easily extrapolates from the "normal" definition to understand why slang would appropriate tight to mean "close" — as in "Nah, we cool cuz we tight like that" — but this other sense is significantly opaque to me."
-edited Jul 5, 2011, Thursagen

asked Jul 5, 2011, Thursagen
-snip-
This is the way this comment is found in that discussion.

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2. "From thefreedictionary.com:
'Marked by full control over elements or subordinates; firm: tight management; a tight orchestral performance.'

In music it usually means all members of an ensemble are playing together with rhythmic and harmonic precision. I think it's not much of a stretch to work from that meaning to the sense of something being remarkable or "slick"."
- edited Feb 16, 2019,Robusto

answered Jul 5, 2011, Robusto

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3. "There's also to run a tight ship, which superficially alludes to the strict control exercised by the captain, but in practice is often used to call attention to how well organised and functional everything is as a result. –"
-Jul 5, 2011, FumbleFingers

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4. "Based on cultural proximity, I'm relatively certain that the usage in question came from music. However, I'm going to go ahead and suggest that some implied sexuality has brought the term down the ranks."
-answered Jul 5, 2011 theidiotbox

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5. "Doesn't have to be sexual. Consider a tight body—in the sense of fitness rather than need of massage."
-July 5, 2011, Jon Purdy

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6. "Definitely was sexual in my neighborhood."
-July 5, 2011, zenbike

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7. "Tight implies being well-designed. If something is designed to physically be tight, everything is held together firmly. Nothing sloppy. So the use of it to describe cool/great/slick is in reference to it being a good design, be it music, cars, a purse, or even relationships (it's good that those two people are together--they fit together well--they "tight")."
-answered Jan 20, 2016, Thomas

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Online Excerpt #2 
From https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=151206

1. Subject: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Jun 13 - 02:08 PM

"In that familiar song by Tampa Red, most notably performed by Leadbelly, and reworked by Clutch, what does the title, Tight Like That, actually mean? It is presumably idiomatic, and probably euphemistic, for something or other; most probably with some sort of sexual referent. But I can't find any precise definition or interpretation which would relate it in any way to the various somewhat surreal AFAICS situations and dilemmas rubricated in the various stanzas, and all stated in the chorus to be "Tight Like That". Tight Like WHAT, precisely? And "tight" in what sense.

Does the phrase appear in any other context that anyone knows? I couldn't find it by googling any dictionary of idioms, or any other examples of its use in any dictionary of quotations.

It comes over to me as not a million miles from a nonsense verse without even any internal rationale.

Anybody help?

 Sorry if any previous threads on this - ie the meaning, not just the lyrics. I tried but couldn't locate one."

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2. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 17 Jun 13 - 02:01 PM

"Have a look in Stephen Calt's book "Barrelhouse Words" (University of Illinois Press, 2009, p.247 for Tampa Red's explanation."

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2. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Mike Yates
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 11:05 AM

"This is the reference in Calt. (Sorry, but it was Georgia Tom, and not Tampa Red, who gave the following.)Henry Hill was, according to Calt, an "avid consumer of Race Records" and was inteviewed by Calt. The quote to "O'Neal and van Singel" refers to Jim O'Neal & Amy van Singel "The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine". London, Routledge, 2001. Here is the entry:

It's tight like that, beedle um bum
Don't you hear me talkin' to you,
Know it's tight like that.
- Tampa Red & Georgia Tom, "Tight Like That", 1928.

A Chicago superlative recounted by Tom Dorsey ("Georgia Tom"), who helped parlay it into a best selling rece record. "there used to be a phrase they used around town, you know, folks started saying, "Ah, it's tight like that! Tight like that!" (O'Neal & van Singel). Although the term had no express sexual connotations, it would be misconstrued as a reference to "tight pussy" by record consumers such as Henry Hill, probably on the basis of the adjacent phrase "beedle um bum". This sense is only evident in the following example, remarking on infidelity:

Now Lucy came home, with a big excuse
She left here tight, but she come back loose.
- Blind Ben Covington, "It's a Fight (sic) Like That", 1928.

Michael, if you are wondering why the phrase "beedle um bum" should make Henry Hill think of sex, then here is Calt's entry for "Beedle um bum":

Oh, my beedle um bum
Come and see me if you ain't had none
It makes a dumb man speak, makes a lame man run
You'll miss something if you don't get none
- The Hokum Boys, "Beedle Um Bum", 1928.

A slang term for "pussy" current among female partygoers in Chicago during the 1920's (Tom Dorsey). It seems to have arisen from "Beedle Um Bo", a l908 ragtime piano composition by Chales L. Johnson that probably bore no sexual connotation.

Michael, you mention that you are not particularly interested in the blues, but if, as I suspect, you are interested in the English language, then you will find Calt's book of interest. I know that I do."

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3. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: Noreen
Date: 18 Jun 13 - 08:16 PM

Maybe irrelevant to this discussion, but 'that's tight' when I was growing up in Liverpool, meant something was unfair, mean, rotten, just not right- which seems similar to the meaning above."

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4. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Ebor_Fiddler
Date: 04 Jul 13 - 04:07 AM

"Louis Armstrong also recorded it."

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5. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: BroadBottomSheik
Date: 04 Jul 13 - 09:31 PM

"In 1930 the Memphis Jug Band used a lyric "She's not too thin, not too fat but everything about her is tight like that" in the song Everybody's Talking About Sadie Green. I take it to mean just right or double entendre for sexually just right particularly in Tampa Red's versions of It's Tight Like that numbers 1,2 and 3.'

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6. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: Gibb Sahib
Date: 05 Jul 13 - 12:55 AM

"I might be stating the obvious, but nowadays in American slang "tight" (except in reference to economics like "times are tight") means exceedingly great and awesome, man!"

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7. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Pete Taylor
Date: 17 Jul 13 - 06:40 AM

"Ascribing one meaning to the phrase is almost certainly impossible - as with many phrases in the English language. Even in the same song it can, and was probably intend to have two (or more meanings) at the same time. Eg Charlie Spand's "She's got good stuff." (c 1930)

"Comes a tripping down the street like a Maltese cat

She's got good stuff and it's tight like that."

I think the song is all about drugs, but at the same time much of it could and probably was about sex."

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8. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,thriftylefty
Date: 05 Mar 15 - 01:37 PM

"The term "tight" is still used in the African American community sometimes to refer to something that is cool"

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9. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Fred Edwords
Date: 30 Jan 17 - 06:21 PM

"In country & western usage, "getting tight" means getting drunk. But such a meaning doesn't seem to fit any version of the song "Tight Like That."

As for Louis Armstrong's December 1928 version, called "Tight Like This," he doesn't sing enough in the way of lyrics to make the words anything more than a jazz expression of no particular meaning."

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10. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,Fred Edwords
Date: 30 Jan 17 - 06:57 PM

"Then again, Pete Taylor's point that the expression can have different meanings in the same song seems to be borne out in Tampa Red's 1929 version, where some verses seem sexual, some seem to talk about hard times or bad luck, but this verse may actually mean getting drunk."

Say you got a dollar, I got a dime.
Let's go down the alley and buy some wine.
tight like that, reedipbeedo
Oh, doo doo doo doo
Baby but it's good.
Honey and it's tight like that."

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11. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,drWord
Date: 30 Jan 17 - 07:11 PM

"Yet another: "Billy and me are tight, man."

= we've got one another's backs; we're close. [citation needed]

alternative fact {?}, not applicable to the song ... but I absolutely agree that double-entendre|end run around would-be censors is implicit, as in so much classic blues."

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12. Subject: RE: Folklore: Tight Like That - meaning?
From: GUEST,miguel invierno
Date: 27 Jan 19 - 04:27 PM

"I just transcribed the library of congress recording Lomax did of Ledbetter, where they discuss "tight like that". it was in reference to dancing:

Lomax: What does that mean by that, Huddie, really I mean tell us confidentially what that means by “Tight Like That”?

Huddie Ledbetter: “Tight Like That” it means when you got your partner grab her and hug her tight, and keep it going, but when he sometimes a boy grab his partner and grab her and giving a hug he says, “tight like this.” It was tight like this but it’s not as tight like this and the boy’d be jumping on “Tight Like That” "

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Online Excerpt #3
WARNING: Some definitions in that seven page urban dictionary discussion includes profanity and sexually explicit references.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Tight
1. "Tight

The late 90's/2000 term for something that is cool.

Friend: "Dude, i got a new computer for christmas"

Me: "Tight, dude!" "
by thatguyfromthestore3 February 17, 2010
-snip-
This is the top definition in a seven page discussion as of Feb. 14, 2024 at 12:19 PM EDT

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2. "Tight

looking top of the line. exceptionally good

that sh-t* is tight!
by bajan gal February 1, 2003

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3. "Tight

1) Cool or good.

2) Angry or Frustrated.

3) In a bad situation or screwed. (comes from the term "tight situation")

1) Damn, that album is tight!

2) Mike: "Who the hell stepped on my shoes!?"

 Andy: "Oh, he's getting tight."

3) Mike: "Yo, my mom caught me watching Porn."
Andy: "Ah, ya tight!" "
by n00bslama June 18, 2009
-snip-
Here's a comment from page 5 of this 7 page discussion thread https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=That%27s%20tight&page=5 

"tight

this idiotic "slang" word that refuses to die.

"that was hecka tight!""

by sleepisbetter July 19, 2003

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"It's Tight Like That" (Videos & Lyrics) Part I: Georgia Tom & Tampa Red

Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on renditions of the 1928 Blues song "It's Tight Like That". Part I of this post features a sound file & lyrics of this song as sung by the song's composers Thomas A. Dorsey (Georgia Tom) & Hudson "Tampa Red" Whittaker. This post also includes a sound file and lyrics of the song as sung by Tampa Red alone.

Part II of this post includes sound files of and lyrics for this song as performed by Clara Smith and as performed by Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly). Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/06/its-tight-like-that-videos-lyrics-part_03.html for Part II of this post.

The content of this post is presented for historical, folkloric, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners.

My thanks to the composers and performers of this music. My thanks also to the producers of these sound files and uploaders of these featured videos

My thanks also to those whose transcription work I quoted in this post.

FEATURED SOUND FILES AND LYRICS

Sound File #1 -Tampa Red & Georgia Tom - It's Tight Like That - Vocal Piano Guitar RARE 78rpm record



Uploaded by xodusattack on Sep 9, 2010

LYRICS:

Listen here folk, wanna sing a little song
Don't get mad, we don't mean no harm

Chorus:
You know it's tight like that, beedle um bum
Boy it's tight like that, beedle um bum
Oh you hear me talking to ya,
I mean it's tight like that

There was a little black rooster met a little brown hen
Made a date at the barn about a half past ten

Chorus

I went to see my gal all across the hall
Found another mule kickin' in my stall

Chorus

Now the gal I love she's long and slim
When she whip it it's too bad, Jim

Chorus

Now the rooster crowed and then hen looked rind (?)
And bom bom billy got to carry me to time

Chorus

Mamma had a little dog his name was Ball
If you gave him a little taste he want it all

Chorus

Spoken: awww folks that's tight like that
What are we gonna sing this time (?) Red?
Red: come play it for me

Uncle Bud and aunt Jane went to chenkapane hun(???)
Aunt Jane fell down Uncle Bud's idea

Chorus

If you see my gal tell her to hurry home
I ain't had no bread since she's been gone

Chorus

I wear my britches up above my knees
Strut my jelly with who I please

Chorus

Uncle bill came home about a half past ten
Put the key in the hole but he couldn't get in

Chorus

Me and my brother was up in the law
We seen uncle bill when he broke it all
-snip-
[Added May 18, 2017]
With the exception of the chorus, the lyrics to this version of "It's Tight Like That" are two line "floating" verses (verses that are found in various early 20th century Southern African American folk songs, particularly the obscene "Uncle Bud" songs.

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Sound File #2: Tampa Red - (Honey) It's Tight Like That [1929]



Uploaded by DutchBluesfan on Jun 9, 2010

LYRICS: Tampa Red - (Honey) It's Tight Like That [1929]

I woke up this morning at the break of day
had my head on the pillow my baby’s leg
Oh it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, reedipbeedo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

Aunt Jane had a boy his name was Snow.
Broke all the locks off of the hen house door.
It’s tight like that.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, reedipbeedo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

Poor little spider goin' up the wall,
He's goin' up there to get his ashes hauled.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, reedipbeedo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

Momma and Papa down in the cell* [*cellar]
What she doin down there it awful hard to tell.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, doo doo doo doo doo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

Guitar break

The reason my grandma loves grandpa so
She shake up to him like she went before [?]
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, doo doo doo doo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

Sam and ole Henry were two good pals
Till Sam caught Henry kissin his gal.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, reedipbeedo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

I looked at the clock. The clock struck one.
Looka here baby, let’s have some fun.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
It’s tight like that, reedipbeedo.
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.
Say you got a dollar, I got a dime.
Let’s go down the alley and buy some wine.
it’s tight like that, reedipbeedo
Oh, doo doo doo doo
Baby but it’s good.
Honey and it’s tight like that.

[Transcription by Azizi Powell, 6/3/2012, from the sound file. The word followed by a question mark in brackets means that I'm unsure of that transcription. Corrections to this transcription are welcome]

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THE MEANING OF "IT'S TIGHT LIKE THAT" IN THESE RECORDS
The phrase "it's tight like that" in Thomas A. Dorsey's (Georgia Tom) & "Tampa Red" Whittaker's late 1920s song of that name and in other versions of that song definitely have sexual connotations. However, there's plausible deniability that no sexualized meaning at all is intended by that title or those verses. For instance, "it's tight like that" could be said to mean something like "That's the way it is" ("It bes that way some time.). Or "It's tight like that" could be said to mean "Times are bad." (as in "Money is tight").

While the first "clean" meaning I suggested might be the meaning of some of the lyrics in versions of "It's Tight Like That", I'm not sure that the second "clean" meaning was ever intended in any of those song's verses. There's no a doubt in my mind that, with the exception of Leadbelly's version, most of the lyrics of the "It's Tight Like That" song are meant to be risque.

It bes that way sometime.

RELATED LINKS

Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokum for information about Thomas A. Dorsey and Tampa Red Whittaker. Here's an excerpt from that page:

"The bottleneck guitarist Tampa Red was accompanied by Thomas A. Dorsey (performing as "Barrelhouse Tom" or "Georgia Tom") playing piano when the two recorded "It's Tight Like That" for the Vocalion label in 1928. The song went over so well that the two bluesmen teamed up and became known as The Hokum Boys. Both previously performed in the band of the Mother of the Blues Ma Rainey, who had traveled the vaudeville circuits with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels as a girl, later taking Bessie Smith under her wing. The Hokum Boys recorded over 60 bawdy blues songs by 1932, most of them penned by Dorsey, who later picked up his Bible and became the founding father of black gospel. Dorsey characterized his hokum legacy as "deep moanin', low-down blues, that's all I could say!" "
-snip-
Dorsey is best known for the gospel songs "Peace In The Valley" and "Take My Hand, Precious Lord".
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Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/12/lead-belly-dig-hole-put-devil-in-its.html for a recording of Lead Belly singing "It's Tight Like That" in a 1940 recorded interview. In that interview Lead Belly indicated that this song was sung by enslaved African Americans.

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Click http://www.heptune.com/lyrics/itstight.html for two additional transcriptions of "It's Tight Like That"

Lyrics of "It's Tight Like That" by Dorsey & Whittaker, transcribed from McKinney's Cotton Pickers, vocals by George Thomas and Dave Wilborn; recorded 11/23/1928 and Transcribed from vocals by Zack Whyte's Chocolate Beau Brummels, recorded February 26, 1929, From Richmond Rarities: Recorded in Richmond, Indiana, 1927-33; Jazz Oracle, BDW 8008.
For the most part, those transcriptions have very similar lyrics to those found above. Another verse given for that second transcription is:

"My baby says she likes her lovin' done
Early in the morning before the rising sun,
'Cause it's tight like that!
Yes, sir,
'Cause it's tight like that!
Yes, sir, mmmm,
'Cause it's tight like that!"

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