Spencer Wiggins recorded the definitive version of Up Tight Good Woman and made it one of the definitive Memphis soul songs of the mid-Sixties.

Sometimes a slice of steamy southern-fried deep Memphis soul is the only way to start the day. And today is one of those occasions. Up Tight Good Woman is the archetypal example, with its funereal pace, slow-burning brass, and Spencer Wiggins’s impassioned vocals.

Written by Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham and released on Goldwax, Penn originally demo-ed his song with Spooner at Fame under the title I Want A Good Woman (Or No Woman At All).

The song was written with Joe Tex in mind and Penn recorded a demo himself, including a Tex-style spoken homily – omitted on the Wiggins version – which remained unreleased until 2012.

Wiggins cut his Goldwax version at American Studios in Memphis sometime in early 1967 but he was not the first to record it. Wilson Pickett released his own version six months earlier and it came out on his Wicked Pickett album in January 1967 – three months before Wiggins’.

it was also recorded the following year by Solomon Burke for his 1968 album Proud Mary. But, as great as both their versions are, for me it’s the Wiggins one that wins. And it’s an enduring mystery that he never really made a name for himself at the time.

Rediscovered years later by discerning Northern Soul crate diggers, he has since become a favourite on the dancefloor through songs like the irrepressible stomper Let’s Talk It Over and slow-burning I Never Loved A Woman (The Way That I Love You), which has the added attraction of Duane Allman on guitar.