On a recent episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney explained how he and Dan Auerbach made “Tighten Up,” which hit number 96 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far). It was their first collaboration with Danger Mouse, and changed the Black Keys’ career forever — but first, they had to decide to release it.
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“The intro was Dan’s melody,” says Auerbach, “but it was my idea to whistle it. We got the song to the point where it was like maybe two minutes and 20 seconds long – too short – and then the conversation moved into the idea that we’ve never had a song played on the radio. Brian goes, it’s pretty catchy. We couldn’t just put another chorus on it – it would be annoying. So Brian had the idea to do something where the tempo just drops and like it’s almost like an outro/bridge that takes the song somewhere else.
“While we were in a studio making it, I guess I was kind of aware of this might be the poppiest song the Black Keys have ever made. But it’s hardly a pop song, really. We sent it off to Tchad Blake, who was mixing that record for us, and when we got a mix back, Dan and I both were pretty uncomfortable with the song — just because Brothers had come about in this really kind of organic way. There was no Pro Tools. There was no editing. It was in Alabama, in like 100-degree weather. We were kind of concerned the energy of that song didn’t fit on the album. But Dan was a little bit more concerned than me.