Johnnie Taylor – Super Taylor

What can I say about Johnnie Taylor……I guess we can just “pour another taste for the brotha’s who are no longer with us” and keep on steppin?
Might I suggest that there is something else we can also do, we can remember to give our GREAT artists the props they deserve while they are still here with us!

Johnnie Taylor is one of the DEFINITAVE singers in Soul Music and he deserved better treatment!
Here is how we will remember Johnnie Taylor at Soul Patrol…. starting first with some Johnnie Taylor memories from Debra, then some more Johnnie Taylor memories from our SPECIAL GUEST, Candi Staton and finally with a Discography. Check it out!

–Bob Davis

Johnnie Taylor Memories – by Debra

IMHO, Johnnie Taylor (the “Blues Wailer”, as some of the DJ’s on the old, original WVON radio station, here in Chicago, called him…) was, indeed, BADD! I have heard LOTS of great black music, in my lifetime.
But, this man was, and always will be, one of my favorite artists. I remember “Who’s Makin’ Love”, too, and dancing to this song when it first came out. I was a kid, too, and, probably, in the 7th grade.
Then, there were other early favorites:

1. That infamous tune (theme) about “Jody” – “…Ain’t no sense in goin’ home…Jody’s got your girl, and gone…”
2. “…Take care of your homework, fellas…If you don’t, somebody will…”
3. “Cheaper To Keep Her”

:….& so was…
:”shake it up shake it down, move it in move it around, disco lady…”

“Disco Lady” was cool, too :)… But, to me, these last two CD’s that I bought (“Good Love” and “Gotta Get The Groove Back”), via the influence of a couple of local blues radio shows, as well as that of the Soul Patrol, were/are some of the best releases that I have purchased, in quite some time. “Last Two Dollars” & “Big Head Hundreds” are, in my opinion, straight-up jams, and bona fide hits (on my personal “hit parade” ), and I like most of everything else on these CD’s, too.

AFAICT, Johnnie Taylor did not care about the artificial “classification”(s) of his music. He just seemed to do his thing, and, apparently, he enjoyed it. It shows, and I, for one, felt(feel) it, when I listen (ed) to his body of work.

Johnnie Taylor is no longer here, on this earth. But, in my mind, heart, soul, and in my CD player, his musical legacy lives on. I will truly miss him.

–Debra