Picture this – You wake up, eat breakfast and head to work at 6am. A man approaches your door at 6:01am. Well that fella goes by the name of Jody. He is a slick cat, who steps up to serve anybody’s woman with some sideline loving. At this moment, your wheels are turning, your eyes are rolling and you’re boiling mad, right? Although what Jody’s doing is cold blooded and wrong there could be a silver lining here.
In the words of the late Don Cornelius -‘The forever exciting and always funky, Johnnie Taylor’, delivers the deets on the movements and motives of Jody in a live performance at Nightclub in 1973. The performance was included in the Golden Globe nominated documentary, Wattstax. The film functioned as a visual reflection of the Black community in the section Watts section of Los Angeles. Johnnie Taylor is a soul brother all the way. Tells it just like it is no matter how brutal. In this song ‘Jody’s Got your Girl’ and ‘Gone’ Jody plots on the ladies of the two job working men, who may not have the time to devote to giving their woman all the attention she wants.
Jody swoops in and plays back door man to the ladies, showering her with compliments. In the words of Johnnie, “Jody leave ashes in your ashtray, footprints on your carpet while you work all day. He even got the nerve to sleep in your bed, sit down at the table and eat your bread. When you get home from working hard all day, Jody’s got your girl and he’s gone away.” The situation that Jody provides is clearly messy and deceitful but there is two sides to every story, well in this case three sides. The woman who makes the decision to let Jody in. The man who works hard but in the process may not have the time to attend to his lady. And then there is Jody, the hunter, who preys on women who want more.
Who’s right? Who’s wrong? Maybe everyone is a little bit of both but nonetheless the song is funky and you’ll definitely want to get down once you feel the groove. Just remember to be on the lookout for Jody, he could be right around the corner.
Johnnie Taylor – Jody’s Got Your Girl (1973)
From Mel Stuart’s ‘Wattstax’ (1973)
