Johnnie Harrison Taylor (born May 5, 1934, Crawfordsville, Arkansas; died M… Read Full Bio ↴Johnnie Harrison Taylor (born May 5, 1934, Crawfordsville, Arkansas; died May 31, 2000, Dallas, Texas) was an American musician that sang in a wide variety of genres, including blues, disco, gospel, pop, and soul. Often using an energetic, belting delivery, he's perhaps best known for his work for the iconic Stax/Volt label, particularly with southern soul classics such as "Who's Making Love" and "Jody's Got Your Girl and Gone" in which he held his own against friendly rivals such as Otis Redding and Sam & Dave.

Growing up amidst music, Taylor had one release, "Somewhere to Lay My Head", on Chicago's Chance Records in the 50s as part of a doo-wop group called Five Echoes. Taylor was also part of the gospel group, The Highway QC's also, replacing r&b artist Sam Cooke that had left to become the lead singer of the Soul Stirrers in 1951. Then, after Cooke left the Soul Stirrers in 1957, Taylor was hired to take Cooke's place as lead singer.

A few years later, after Cooke had established his independent SAR Records, Taylor signed on and recorded "Rome Wasn't Built In A Day" in 1962. However, SAR Records quickly became defunct after Cooke's tradic early death in 1964.

In 1966, Taylor moved to Stax Records in Memphis, where he was dubbed "The Philosopher of Soul". While there he recorded with the label's house band, Booker T. & the MGs. His hits included "I Had a Dream", "I've Got to Love Somebody's Baby" (both written by the team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter) and most notably "Who's Making Love?", which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Top 40 and No. 1 on the R&B charts in 1968. During his tenure at Stax, he became an R&B star, with over a dozen chart successes, such as "Cheaper to Keep Her" (Mack Rice) and producer Don Davis's "I Believe in You (You Believe in Me)".

After Stax folded in the mid 1970s, Taylor switched to Columbia Records, where he made his best-known hit, "Disco Lady", in 1976. "Disco Lady" was the first certified platinum single. Columbia pigeonholed Taylor as a disco artist, however, and neglected his wide-ranging talent. Not surprisingly, his record sales slipped.

After a brief stint at Beverly Glen Records, Taylor signed with Malaco Records after the label's founder Tommy Couch and producing partner Wolf Stephenson heard him sing at blues singer Z.Z. Hill's funeral in the spring of 1984. Backed by members of The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section as well as in-house veterans like former Stax keyboardist Carson Whitsett, Malaco gave Taylor the type of recording freedom that Stax had given him in the late 1960s and early 1970s, enabling him to record ten albums for the Malaco label in his sixteen year stint. Taylor's record sales were good but not enough for the singer to receive the measure of stardom he once had.

In 1996, Taylor's eighth album for Malaco, Good Love!, made it to Number One on Billboard's Blues chart (#15 R&B), the biggest record in Malaco's history.
Malaco recorded a live video of Taylor at the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas, Texas in the summer of 1997.

Johnnie Taylor's 1999 album, "Gotta Get the Groove Back", also reached the # 1 Position on the Billboard Blues Charts. This album which featured veteran songwriter, Lamar Thmas (Woman don't be Afraid) was also a Grammy Nominated album during the same year that Johnnie passed.

Taylor was given a Pioneer Award by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1999. He died in Dallas at the age of 66.

In what would turn out to be a sad foreshadowing, Taylor's final song was "Soul Heaven", in which he dreamed of being at a concert featuring deceased Soul music icons Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Marvin Gaye, Sam Cooke, and MGs drummer Al Jackson, among others. In one verse, Taylor sang, "I didn't want to wake up/I was havin' such a good time".

Take Care Of Your Homework
Johnnie Taylor Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Got to tell you true
I got to tell you true
Oh brother Jack you goin' with sister Sadie
When you ought to be home with your old lady
But your hearts divided in so many pieces
Tryin' to please them both
Never pleasing neither
Oh Jack take it on back

Before your good thing is gone
Because the downfall of too many men
Is up keep of too many women
Take care of your homework fella
Because somebody will, oh yeah
You better take care of your homework, fella
If you don't somebody will

Now wait a minute here
Oh brother Fred how you can run
Staying out all night leaving his homework undone
Now Fred's old lady took as much as she could stand
Then one night the next door neighbor
Taken her in hand
Now fellas let me tell you
These girls are getting hip
You can only slide so long
Before you make a slip

Take care of your homework, fella
If you don't somebody else will

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Johnnie Taylor's song "Take Care of Your Homework" advocates men to stay faithful to their partners and be responsible in their relationships. The song highlights two examples of men who are not taking good care of their relationships. The first verse of the song talks about Brother Jack, who is dividing his heart into so many pieces, and trying to please both his old lady and Sister Sadie. Sister Sadie is a metaphorical title for the woman Jack is cheating on his old lady with. Jack is never pleasing either of them, and the singer warns him to take care of his homework before his good thing is gone. The downfall of too many men is not being able to keep up with too many women.

The second verse tells the story of Brother Fred, who is staying out all night and not taking care of his homework. Fred's old lady tries to put up with him, but one night she leaves him. The next door neighbor takes her in hand, and the song suggests that these girls are getting hip now, and men cannot slide forever before making a slip. The song advises the men to take care of their homework, or else someone else will.

Line by Line Meaning

Got to tell you true
I must speak sincerely

I got to tell you true
I really have to tell you honestly

Oh brother Jack you goin' with sister Sadie
Jack is going out with Sadie, who is not his wife

When you ought to be home with your old lady
When he should be spending time with his wife

But your hearts divided in so many pieces
His attention and love are divided into many pieces and given to multiple women

Tryin' to please them both
Trying to make both women happy

Never pleasing neither
But failing to please either of them

Oh Jack take it on back
Jack must come back to his senses

Before your good thing is gone
Before he loses his wife

Because the downfall of too many men
Because many men have suffered the same fate

Is upkeep of too many women
Because it is hard to take care of too many women

Take care of your homework fella
Take care of your responsibilities, man

Because somebody will, oh yeah
Otherwise, someone else will do it for you

Now wait a minute here
Hold on, let me tell you something

Oh brother Fred how you can run
Fred goes out a lot

Staying out all night leaving his homework undone
Spending too much time out without taking care of his responsibilities

Now Fred's old lady took as much as she could stand
Fred's wife reached her limit

Then one night the next door neighbor taken her in hand
Fred's wife went to the neighbor's to complain or seek help

Now fellas let me tell you
Let me give you some advice

These girls are getting hip
Women are becoming smarter

You can only slide so long
You can only cheat for so long

Before you make a slip
Before you make a mistake

If you don't somebody else will
If you don't take care of your responsibilities, someone else will

Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: DONALD DAVIS, HOMER BANKS, RAYMOND E. JACKSON, THOMAS F. KELLY

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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