7
2. Johnnie Taylor
Jody’s Got Your Girl And Gone
(Kent Barker-James Wilson-Don Davis)
Stax STA-0085
The combination of singer Johnnie
Taylor and producer Don Davis was
paying huge dividends for Memphis-
based Stax Records. Until they teamed
up, Taylor had specialized in singing
smoky blues at Stax. Davis sent the
singer in funkier, more musically
aggressive directions, and whether
Taylor liked it or not (he disparaged
Who’s Making Love
right up until it
became apparent it was on its way to
R&B chart-topping status in 1968), the
public approved of the switch
wholeheartedly.
The funky followups
Take Care Of Your
Homework, Testify (I Wonna), Love
Bones, Steal Away,
and
I Am Somebody
Part II
kept Taylor in the R&B Top Five
after that. Writers Davis, James
Wilson, and Kent Barker updated an
old military chant into the pounding
Jody’s Got Your Girl And Gone
. The
song reportedly was a particular
favorite with black servicemen
fighting in Vietnam.
Davis initially had nothing more
than a pounding rhythm track that
he’d played guitar on when he cut
it at Stax. His best friend Wilson
stopped by Don’s place a couple of
months later and made an offhand
remark involving the line
“Jody’s
got your girl and gone.”
Inspiration
immediately struck and the two got
to work on the song, Barker helping
out later on. Since Davis was
