ROCK Sex: "Time Is Tight!" - Booker T > The Clash > Elvis Costello > Squeeze

ROCK Sex knows sometimes time is timeless.

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Booker T And The MG's were the premiere Soul band of the 1960s.

They backed Atlantic Records stars like Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, and Sam And Dave, as well as Stax Records artists like William Bell, Eddie Floyd, and Carla Thomas. They also made their own classic instrumental albums, inspiring bands like The Meters, the Muscle Shoals studio bands, and CCR.

Here they are backing up Otis on this killer groove.

OTIS REDDING -"I Can't Turn You Loose" (1965)



A few years later, when doing the soundtrack for the film UPTIGHT, the MG's retooled the riff into this proto-Funk instrumental classic.

BOOKER T & THE MG'S -"Time Is Tight" (1968)



Notice their heavy influence on the sound of Creedence Clearwater Revival, like for instance this song.

CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL -"Down On the Corner" (1969)



Directly on the MG's heels this Ska version quickly followed.

SOUND DIMENSIONS -"Time Is Tight" (1969)



The song gained new life in the late '70s as an into theme for The Blues Brothers, whose band included guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald "Duck" Dunn from The MG's, which they combined with Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose".

THE BLUES BROTHERS -"I Can't Turn You Loose" (1978)



About the same time it was covered by these eclectic Punk upstarts:

THE CLASH -"Time Is Tight" (1978)



ELVIS COSTELLO used it as the basis for this song.

ELVIS COSTELLO -"Temptation" (1980)



And his friends molded it into this song.

SQUEEZE -"In Quintessence" (1981)




© Tym Stevens

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See Also:

• SHAKE AND FINGER POP! Soul Music and the Interior Truth, with Music Player!

• "I Thank You" - Sam And Dave > ZZ Top

• "Walk On By" - Dionne Warwick > Isaac Hayes > The Stranglers > Hooverphonic > Mono > Pete Rock

• "You Can't Hurry Love" - The Supremes > Iggy Pop > The Jam > David Bowie

• "25 Miles" - Wilson Pickett > Edwin Starr > The Three Amigos


• Chuck Berry > Bob Dylan > Ultravox > Elvis Costello

• "Sweet Dreams" - Squeeze > Eurythmics


• The Real History of Rock and Soul!: The Music Player Checklist

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