UPTIGHT

well, i just applied to do this. let's see how it goes. i wrote a nice email about how i went to a billion concerts in the pouring rain last summer (you guys remember that? good times!)

but i thought i would do an actual post though, so i realized this today:
up⋅tight
   /ˈʌpˈtaɪt/ [uhp-tahyt]
adjective Slang.
1. tense, nervous, or jittery.
2. annoyed or angry.
3. stiffly conventional in manner or attitudes.

let's talk about this word and its appearances in music. i think it's important that we talk about spoon first because britt daniel uses the word UPTIGHT in two songs i can think of right off the top of my head, and for some reason i think there are more, or i might have it confused with "ignite" which he also uses at least five times.
i can't find an mp3, but WANTED TO BE YOUR is worth listening to at some point in your young life, partially because it's ridiculous and makes little sense. it is good though. "i wanted. to be your friend. i thought. when you danced it looked alright. BUT THAT DIDN'T MEAN I WASN'T.... UPTIGHT!!!" what?
also SMALL STAKES. this is live; the original's on kill the moonlight (buy this if you haven't). i think that small stakes is one of spoon's better songs. "small stakes bring you where you're caught in a rut. you feel so uptight you just want to throw it all up."
i also think that the VIBES (i don't know why i'm using this word) of a lot of spoon songs convey that energy - uptight. tense. nervous. "i'm tense and nervous and i can't relax." (these are talking heads lyrics but the vibes translate!!) i think the best example of this is I TURN MY CAMERA ON. really tense, really shaky. but then when we get into songs like THE UNDERDOG you can't say that at all - there's this total swap. that's really appealing. there's a lot of talent in that.

the most well-known use of the word UPTIGHT in a song in 'modern' (this song is ten years old, though!) music would be radiohead's SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN... "they'd shut me away, but i'd be alright. i'm alright. i'm just uptight." what does this mean, really? surely if you were uptight and they locked you away you'd get worse. what a gorgeous song, though! i always thought this song really sounded like what it was about. that guitar / synth thing was so extraterrestrial --- all that about alien abduction --- but the chorus is just gorgeous, soaring, which really goes along with "show me the world as i'd love to see it..." what a great song that is.