>>It’s a genuine standard, a late addition to the Great American Songbook, in the sense that zillions of singers take a crack at it - Anne Murray, Joey Ramone, Céline Dion, Shane MacGowan, Ziggy Marley - which is more than can be said of “Green Tambourine” or “Tighten Up” or the other hits of ‘68.
Well Tighten Up became a standard too, recorded originally by Archie Bell and the Drells but subsequently covered by James Brown and many others...
I saw Archie Bell and the Drells at the Bamboo Hut on Galveston Beach during the summer of ‘67 or ‘68. They did the “Tighten up” about 10 times. The instrumentals on the recording and at that performance were by the Texas Southern University Tornadoes. Archie spoke the limited lyrics and the Drells did the fancy steps ala the Temptations. They wore lime green jackets with lemon yellow slacks and white shoes.