Time Is Tight
The idea seems so anachronistic-a record label with its own house band. Back in the 60’s though, the majors weren’t simply offices populated by executives. The best- Motown, Atlantic Records, Stax-Volt Records-were thriving art communities, with distinct personalities forged in large part by the stable of musicians who created the arrangements and rhythm tracks that helped define the sides they released.
Booker T. and the MG’s spent some time behind the scenes before taking center stage in 1962 to record their first hit, “Green Onions.” As members of the Stax-Volt house band, keyboardist Booker T. Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper, bassist Donald “Duck” Dunn and drummer Al Jackson contributed their skills to many of the label’s early hits, including Rufus Thomas’ “Walkin’ The Dog,” which was covered shortly after its release by a young British band called the Rolling Stones. They would also back Sam and Dave on both “Hold On, I’m Coming,”and “I’m a Soul Man.” Along the way, Booker T. and the MG’s managed to follow up on the success of “Green Onions{ with several other major hits, including “Hip Hug-Her,” “Soul Limbo,” and in 1968, this month’s classic track,"Time Is Tight.”
After the group disbanded in 1972 Steve Cropper went on a creative spree that may slow down at some point- but it hasn’t yet. He co-wrote “Knock On Wood” with Eddie Floyd, “In The Midnight Hour” with Wilson Pickett, and his signature song, “Dock Of The Bay,” with the late, great Otis Redding. He still tours with the Blues Brothers band and produces out of his home in Nashville, Tennessee. The day we spoke Cropper was getting ready to mix a song his friend T. Graham Brown wrote for the Tennessee Titans.
It takes no savant to figure out that Booker T. Jones lent his name to the group, but where did the MG’s come from? “The British car company,” laughs Cropper. “Duck has a different theory, though-the says it stands for musical geniuses! Seriously, back then groups were often named after cars; there were the Cadillacs, the El Dorados, Stax had the Triumphs. We were just following in that tradition.”
The group would often get together, hash out a few ideas, and develop the best ones. This process led them to write "Time Is Tight,” which initially was untitled. “By the time the track made it to its second film (more on that later) we called it “Uptight,” but a young artist named Little Stevie Wonder had taken that title!”
Originally written for the 1968 film Duffy, which starred James Mason, James Coburn and James Fox, rights to "Time Is Tight" reverted back to the group when a business arrangement acceptable to all parties couldn’t be reached. “James Fox told Stax that Booker T. and the MG’s were James Coburn’s favorite band, and that he wanted us to write a song for his new film. The next day we went into the studio to try and come up with something.
“The track started out with Duck and I putting that little rhythm figure together. We’re just swimming around on top of the beat. If you listen carefully you can hear that it’s similar to the guitar line on Otis’ “Can’t Turn You Loose.” Booker put a melody on it and the tune came together quickly. The film people liked the track and wanted to use "Time Is Tight" in their picture, but they also wanted publishing rights-they told us that’s how things were done in the movie business. Not with our music, we replied! There were no hard feelings though, and we hung on to the track.
“We cut "Time Is Tight” in the main room at Stax. It was just us and the engineer, Ron Capone. Ron passed away several years ago. We worked out a lot of tunes in that room, and as soon as we had an idea where it needed to be we’d drop it to a four track tape machine. We did very little overdubbing. Ron was able to get a good balance, and all we needed him to do was press record.”
Cropper has no reservations about sharing the group’s motivation. “We wanted to make hit records, and we were greatly influenced by whatever was going up the charts. For me this went all the way back to the first successful band I was in, the Mar-Keys. If you didn’t play the hits people wouldn’t dance. The MG’s knew that if we didn’t make records that made people dance they wouldn’t be hits.
“In the 60’s every college had their own dance going on, and we played a lot of college dates. We’d also watch American Bandstand and pick up on the dances that were popular with different audiences. It wasn’t like today, when five million kids pick up on a record at the same time. Things were much more regional back then. Al Jackson had a real talent for working out the beats behind dances like the Camel Walk and the Stroll, and when we got back into rehearsal on Monday following a weekend of dates the first topic of discussion would be the beats. Al would watch the steps and bring the most popular beats to our attention. Remember the Jerk? Wilson Pickett’s “Midnight Hour” was given a Jerk beat.”
Although he owns a Pro Tools rig and has no problem sliding parts around to improve the feel of a track, Steve Cropper has clear thoughts about the state of today’s music production methods. “Don’t get me wrong-you can take an old song, clean it up on a computer, and make it sound great. But when the computer itself is the source of the pulse, I think the basic soul, the energy is gone. That’s the problem with loops and drum machines. I still play the same way I did 30 or 40 years ago, by bouncing off the music and the singer. By the time they quantize my part and run it through Pro Tools, it ain’t really exactly the way I played it. Sometimes people want to throw a fresh coat of paint on when it’s not needed.
“I grew up fishing with my dad, and there’s something to be said about the energy that goes from the guy holding the pole all the way down to the fish. The way you handle the pole defines who you are as a fisherman. In the old days we were making records that had that same pulse between living things. People heard it and felt it, and couldn’t wait to go out and buy a record. Same as the fish who, for some reason, can’t wait to hook himself on the pole of the fisherman who has the right energy. These days our brains have been quantized!”
Though "Time Is Tight" never showed up in Duffy, it did find its way onto the soundtrack of another film shot in 1968, Uptight. A simple, four chord tune laid to tape with no overdubs, "Time Is Tight" is characteristic of the Booker T. and the MG’s oeuvre. You might call it soul minimalism. With no unnecessary gestures and the fewest notes possible they produced a texture that reflects quiet spaces as well as party places, reeled audiences into their unique sonic canvas, and helped define the soundtrack of the 60’s.
