"Up tight" redux

[Wilson Gray]

Exactly so, Ben. (Am I correct in detecting a note of irony or,
perhaps, even sarcasm, in your response?) In any case, I agree with
your analysis as to how the truly relevant example came to be
overlooked.

Thank you.
-Wilson

On 9/8/05, Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at rci.rutgers.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "Up tight" redux
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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.
>
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0508a&L=ads-l&P=1393
>
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>


--
-Wilson Gray