It's Tight Like That

Hudson Whittaker and Thomas A. Dorsey met by playing in the backing band accompanying Ma Rainey on her numerous tours.[2][3] In 1924, Rainey was accompanied by the pianist and bandleader Dorsey and the band he assembled, the Wildcats Jazz Band.[4] They began their tour with an appearance in Chicago in April 1924 and continued, on and off, until 1928.[5] Dorsey left the group in 1926, because of depression from which he suffered for around two years.[6] Having recovered by 1928, he formed a partnership with the blues singer-guitarist Tampa Red.[1] Dorsey adopted the name "Georgia Tom" and together they wrote "It's Tight Like That".[1] The song was composed overnight due to the demand made by J. Mayo Williams of the Vocalion Records when Tampa Red approached Williams hoping to make a recording: "come back two o’clock the next day with somethin’" that is "[your] own to sing."[7]

A Chicago street slang superlative was recounted by Georgia Tom, who helped parlay it into the song.[8] "There used to be a phrase they used around town, you know, folks started saying, "Ah, it's tight like that! Tight like that!"[9] Red supplied the words, and Dorsey wrote the music, modeled after Papa Charlie Jackson’s "Shake That Thing".[10]

The title is a sly wordplay with the double meaning of being "tight" with someone, coupled with a more salacious physical familiarity.[11] Georgia Tom later had time to regret the use of the double entendre.[12]

Being based in Chicago, they had access to the record label Vocalion Records. Vocalion recorded two versions of the song in Chicago, on September 19, and October 8, 1928, but these were unreleased.[14] It was the third recording undertaken on October 24 that year, which became the version that was issued in December.[14] Both Tampa Red and Georgia Tom provided the vocals in a call and response style. Tampa Red on bottleneck guitar and Georgia Tom playing the piano supplied the musical accompaniment.[14] "It's Tight Like That" is performed in the key of A minor, and has 102 beats per minute.

The record was a million seller (an extraordinary achievement at that time), and went on to become a big blues hit, covered by a wide variety of blues, jazz, and country artists over the years.[1] Eventually the record sold more than seven million copies.[12] The B-side of the disc was recorded on October 16, 1928. It was "Grievin' Me Blues", accredited to Georgia Tom alone, even though his vocals and piano playing were accompanied by Tampa Red on guitar. That song was written by Georgia Tom.

The song is included on Tampa Red Vol.1 (May 1928 to 4 December 1953) (1999, Document Records).[15] A version credited to "Papa Too Sweet and Harry Jones" recorded on December 11, 1928, opens the Columbia Records compilation Tampa Red: The Guitar Wizard (1994).[16]

Billed as either "Tampa Red and Georgia Tom" or "The Famous Hokum Boys", the duo found great success together, eventually collaborating on 60 songs between 1928 and 1932, and coining the term "hokum" to describe their guitar/piano combination with simple, racy lyrics.[17] Several sequels of "It's Tight Like That" were waxed by Tampa Red and Georgia Tom (who, as Thomas A. Dorsey, was later to be hailed as 'the father of black gospel music').[8]

Tampa Red's partnership with Georgia Tom ended in 1932, but Red remained much in demand as a session musician, working with John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson, Memphis Minnie, Big Maceo, and many others.[2] Dorsey became the music director at the Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago, a role he undertook for fifty years.[18]

In 2014, the Blues Hall of Fame inducted "It's Tight Like That" as a 'Classic of Blues Recording – Single or Album Track'.[8] In an induction statement, the song is described as " a playful vocal duet to rework a hot street slang phrase, [it is] a prime example of the good-time music known as hokum".[8]

• Harris, Michael W. (1992). The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-506376-7.
• Humphrey, Mark (1994). Tampa Red: Guitar Wizard (CD booklet). Tampa Red. New York City: Columbia Records. CK 53235.
• Lieb, Sandra (1983). Mother of the Blues: A Study of Ma Rainey (3rd ed.). University of Massachusetts Press. ISBN 0-87023-394-7.
• Oliver, Paul; Wright, Richard (1990). Blues Fell This Morning: Meaning in the Blues. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-37793-5.
• O'Neal, Jim; van Singel, Amy (2013). The Voice of the Blues: Classic Interviews from Living Blues Magazine. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1136707414.
• Russell, Tony (1997). The Blues: From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray. Dubai: Carlton Books. ISBN 1-85868-255-X.
• Staig, Laurence (January 26, 1993). "Obituary: Thomas Dorsey". The Independent. Retrieved June 24, 2023.
• Schwartz, Roberta Freund (2018-10-01). "How Blue Can You Get? "It's Tight Like That" and the Hokum Blues". American Music. University of Illinois Press. 36 (3): 367–393. doi:10.5406/americanmusic.36.3.0367. ISSN 0734-4392. S2CID 192728133.

• Vocalion newspaper advertisement from The Houston Chronicle, 1929