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 My Hand
Johnnie Taylor Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Nowadays everybody's going around losing something
I told my love the other day, I said
"Honey, if I should lose you it'd be like losing the sun out of the sky"
Then I thought about it, I told again, I said
"Honey, please don't take my sunshine away"
But I have been noticing little things like
Yesterday my life, my life was bright and sunny
Today I feel like a bee that's lost all it's honey
Girl, ? to face
Someone else has taken my place
Girl, if this is true, in my heart I'm begging you
Please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Lately you don't kiss me like you use to do
You shy away from my love, I've been watching you
Can we make a brand new start? Please say, yeah
And mend a broken heart, oh please, oh please
Please, don't you tear us apart
Please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Darling, darling, darling, darling
When did our love go wrong?
We been together so long, well
I can't stand the sorrow, I've tried to face tomorrow
Tell me where, tell me where
Did our love go wrong, go wrong
You got me holding, you got me uptight
Please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
The song "Don't Take My Sunshine" by Johnnie Taylor is a soulful ballad that captures the feeling of experiencing heartbreak and loss. The singer begins by noting that it seems like everyone is losing something these days, and he tells his love that losing her would be like losing the sun out of the sky. He begs her not to take away his sunshine, but then notes that he has been noticing little things that suggest she may have already done so. The singer's life was bright and sunny yesterday, but today he feels like a bee that has lost all its honey. He implores his love to make a brand new start, saying that he can't stand the sorrow of their broken relationship.
Line by Line Meaning
You know it seem like to me that Nowadays everybody's going around losing something
People these days seem to be losing things, both physical and emotional
I told my love the other day, I said "Honey, if I should lose you it'd be like losing the sun out of the sky"
I told my significant other that losing them would be like losing the most important thing in my life
Then I thought about it, I told again, I said "Honey, please don't take my sunshine away"
After thinking about it more, I begged my significant other not to leave me and take away my happiness
Yesterday my life, my life was bright and sunny Today I feel like a bee that's lost all it's honey
I used to feel fulfilled and happy, but now I feel empty and lost
Girl, ? to face Someone else has taken my place Girl, if this is true, in my heart I'm begging you
I suspect that someone else may be taking my place in your heart, and I'm asking you not to let them replace me
Please, don't you take my sunshine away Oh please, don't you take my sunshine away
I'm pleading with you not to leave me and take away the source of my happiness
Lately you don't kiss me like you use to do You shy away from my love, I've been watching you
I've noticed that you've been avoiding my love and affection, and it's concerning me
Can we make a brand new start? Please say, yeah And mend a broken heart, oh please, oh please
Can we start over and repair our relationship? I'm begging you to help heal my broken heart
Darling, darling, darling, darling When did our love go wrong? We been together so long, well I can't stand the sorrow, I've tried to face tomorrow Tell me where, tell me where Did our love go wrong, go wrong You got me holding, you got me uptight
I'm confused and heartbroken about where our relationship went wrong after years of being together, and it's causing me intense stress and worry
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: BOBBY LEE NEWSOME
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@augustuscaesar7846
NOW ITS NO ISSUE FOR ME.
ILL BE GOOD EITHER WAY IT GOES. YET FINAL STRETCH is whatever that means. but to 1 whos seen the end & God.
TAKE MY EYES. I KNOW
TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE
SO I WORK AROUND TIME & DISTANCE TO ACCOMMODATE ALL INVOLVED WITH NO PROBLEM.
ILL TELL U & U CAN DO IT AS TO TRUST YOUR SUPERVISION AS REGARDS THE CONTENT.
ALL THE VAST KNOWLEDGE & WISDOM I HAVE COLLECTED OVER TIME. I HAD ALREADY WILLED TO DEUCE ANYWAY.
FOR I ALREADY PAID THE COST THAT as to know.
YES THERE IS THE TRUTH.
then there's all the TRUTH one really needs. I'M THE VENOM IN THE SERPENT & THE SERPENT. THUS THE TO HARM OR HELP.
TO MUCH TRUTH & TO LITTLE TRUTH. IVE COME TO KNOW THE PROPER MEASURE & BE IT THE FIRE IS TRUTH, VENOM IS LIQUID FIRE BURNING THE WEAK HUMAN. CATCH THE ANALOGY. METAPHOR.
I'VE ALREADY CENSORED WHAT I KNOW DEUCE NEEDS TO HEAR BUT IM SENDING TO U NOW TO FUFILL MY PART REGARDLESS & TO U SO U CAN JUDGE FOR YOURSELF & ADD IN MORE.
YOU CAN DIRECT HIM ON WORK, MONEY & THAT PRINCIPALB OF INTERGRITY THAT MEANS MORE NOW ON EARTH IN THE PHYSICAL SENSE.
& ILL AID AS TO GIVE THE RIGHT MEASURE OF KNOWLEDGE TO KEEP HIS FREEDOM & NOT BE WRONGED BY IT.
AS I SENT SOMETHING EARLY ON
☆TRAP HIM IN☆ =THE CAR, a long ride, every ride. ingage in
take care of your homework fellas: ' J.T. the philosopher of love.
@sharrielee911
"Judy"brought me here 🔥 for 2021.. amazing movie a must see😍
@504mrbig
I remember my mother playing this and my daddy getting in his feeling...lol..a few songs she used to play like Harold Melvin & the Bluenotes I Should be your lover was another one that used to piss him off...lol
@richsingh8845
I've been trying to listen to every J.T. song I can I found he made so many songs I sure didn't hear all of them, "Great Johnnie Taylor"!
@gracejones5315
Great Pete great advice Pete you can sing anything they put in front of you and did and your ban is on time right with you on every I love it I love everything you. So keep singing. I know you got to be in that heavenly choir singing your heart out keep on singing. I love you.❤😅❤
@cuthbertjolly4859
I was a teenager when this song first came out. I remember holding the transistor radio to my ears to listen to it when it was played on radio which was oh so seldom. I absolutely loved this tune. The last time I heard it before now was about 45 years ago. Simply amazing experience.
@cheallen1626
I had a similar experience. I taped a snippet of this song off the radio, but didn't who it was, thought it was Sam and Dave! took me 25 years. This tune is incredible.
@danbayer1788
That guitar lick at the end of the chorus... killer. Wonder who's playing on this cut.
@jimy0803
@Dan Bayer Most likely the great Steve Cropper, from Booker T and the MG's, whom were the initial house-band for Stax/Volt Records.
@blewfootblewfoot5300
The Cut! From Blewfoot....
@coreyoliphant3268
Tell it like TIZ Johnnie. Come on now