What is "uptight"

"tense," slang, 1934, from up- + tight (adj.). Meaning "straight-laced" first recorded 1969. It was used in a sense of "excellent" in jazz slang c.1962.

a. 1 (context colloquial English) Excessively concerned with rules and order. 2 (context colloquial English) Sexually repressed. 3 (context colloquial English) Unfriendly and rude. n. (context colloquial English) An uptight person.

adj. being in a tense state [syn: edgy, high-strung, highly strung, in suspense(p), jittery, jumpy, nervy, overstrung, restive]

"Uptight (Everything's Alright)" is a 1966 hit single recorded by Stevie Wonder for the Tamla ( Motown) label. One of his most popular early singles, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" was the first Stevie Wonder hit single to be co-written by the artist.

The single was a watershed in Wonder's career for several reasons. Aside from the number-one hit " Fingertips", only two of Wonder's singles had reached the Top 40 of Billboard's Pop Singles chart, ("Workout, Stevie Workout" reached #33 in late 1963 and "Hey Harmonica Man" reached #29 Pop in the Summer of 1964) and the fifteen-year-old artist was in danger of being let go. In addition, Wonder's voice had begun to change, and Motown CEO Berry Gordy was worried that he would no longer be a commercially viable artist.

As it turned out, however, producer Clarence Paul found it easier to work with Wonder's now-mature tenor voice, and Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby set about writing a new song for the artist, based upon an instrumental riff Wonder had devised. Nelson George, in Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound, recorded that Wonder had also sought something based on the driving beat of the Rolling Stones's "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," after playing several dates with the Stones on tour and being impressed with the British band. As Wonder presented his ideas, finished or not, "he went through everything," remembered Moy. "I asked, 'Are you sure you don't have anything else?' He started singing and playing 'Everything is alright, uptight.' That was as much as he had. I said, 'That's it. Let's work with that.'" The resulting song, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)", features lyrics which depict a poor young man's appreciation for a rich girl's seeing beyond his poverty to his true worth.

On the day of the recording, Moy had completed the lyrics, but didn't have them in Braille for Wonder to read, and so sang the song to him as he was recording it. She sang a line ahead of him, and he simply repeated the lines as he heard them. In 2008, Moy commented that "he never missed a beat" during the recording.

A notable success, "Uptight (Everything's Alright)" peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart in early 1966, at the same time reaching the top of the Billboard R&B Singles chart for five weeks. Billboard ranked it as the 59th biggest American hit of 1966. An accompanying album, Up-Tight, was rushed into production to capitalize on the single's success.

Uptight (also known as Up Tight!) is a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin. It was intended as an updated version of John Ford's 1935 film, The Informer, but the setting was transposed from Dublin, Ireland to Cleveland, Ohio, United States. The soundtrack was performed by Booker T. & the MG's. The film opens with documentary footage of the funeral procession of Martin Luther King, Jr., which is used as a backdrop for the film's fictional narrative.

The film was released on DVD by Olive Films on October 16, 2012.

"Uptight" is the fourth single from Shara Nelson's first solo album What Silence Knows. It was released in 1994 on Cooltempo Records.

Uptight is an Australian music television series aired on ATV-0 in Melbourne in 1967 until 1969 every Saturday mornings at 8am to 12pm, It hosted by Ross D. Wylie.

Category:Network Ten shows Category:Australian music television series Category:1967 Australian television series debuts Category:1969 Australian television series endings Category:1960s Australian television series Category:Black-and-white Australian television programs Category:English-language television programming

Uptight may refer to:

• Up-Tight or Uptight (Everything's Alright), a 1966 album by Stevie Wonder
  • " Uptight (Everything's Alright)", a 1966 song by Stevie Wonder
• Uptight (film), a 1968 American drama film directed by Jules Dassin
  • Up Tight (soundtrack), a soundtrack album by Booker T. & the MG's
• Uptight, a 1960s Australian TV show featuring pop music
• "Uptight" (Share Nelson song), 1994
• "Uptight", a song by Green Day from the album Nimrod
• "Uptight", a song by The Hives from the album Tyrannosaurus Hives

UpTight is a soundtrack album by Southern soul band Booker T. & the M.G.'s for the film of the same title.

The album's highlights include " Time Is Tight," the single version of which became a US Top 10 hit (the second biggest of their career) and a signature song for the band. The version of "Time Is Tight" included on the Up Tight soundtrack album is an alternate recording, which differs from the single version in several respects: it is in stereo, it is played at a faster tempo, it runs almost two minutes longer (4'55"), and it includes both an extended introduction and an instrumental "breakdown" (beginning around 3'30"), neither of which are in the single version. "Johnny, I Love You" (the B-side of "Time Is Tight") features a rare vocal by keyboardist Booker T. Jones. Judy Clay provides vocals on "Children, Don't Get Weary."

The album was recorded at Stax Records' studios by Ron Capone, produced by Jones, and was overdubbed and mixed at Ardent Studios by Steve Cropper and Terry Manning.

The album charted at number 98 on the Billboard 200 album chart and number 7 on the Billboard R&B albums chart.

"Time is Tight" was covered by the Clash on their 10-inch vinyl Black Market Clash LP in 1980 (and later on their Super Black Market Clash CD) and by Paul Shaffer on his 1993 double CD The World's Most Dangerous Party.