"Up tight" redux

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Thu, 8 Sep 2005 02:17:10 -0400, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:

>During our earlier discussion of the now long-lost positive reading of
>"up tight," how did we all manage to overlook Little Stevie Wonder's
>"Up Tight (Everything Is All Right)," from 1966?

Let's see... you wrote:

>I'm sure that the more mature of us remember the positive use in the
>line from "Fingertips part deux," by Little Stevie Wonder: "Everything
>is all right! Up tight and out of sight!"

Then I wrote:

>That line is the chorus from "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", which
>charted in early 1966. "Fingertips, Pt. 2", Little Stevie's first hit,
>was released in 1963 and doesn't have "uptight" in the lyrics, AFAIK.

Then you wrote:

>It matters not, as long as an instance of the once-primary positive use
>of "up tight" is demonstrated.

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--Ben Zimmer