Who Is He And What Is He To You?

U.S. Army-Jody (mp3)

Hawks-Joe The Grinder

Quincy Jones-Boogie Joe The Grinder

Jimmy Coe-Run, Jody, Run

"Jody Calls"

Wordorigins.org:

The military use of jody was introduced to the U.S. Army by African-American soldiers. Jody is a clipping of the name of Joe the Grinder, a slightly older character in jazz and blues mythology.

Joe the Grinder is the name of mythical ladies man in blues tunes who seduces the wives and sweethearts of prisoners and soldiers. He’s also known as Joe De Grinder and Joe D. Grinder. The term dates to at least 1939. Grinder is from an old slang verb, to grind, meaning to copulate.

Jean Knight-Don't Talk About Jody

Darker Shades Ltd-Trackin' Down Jody

Fillmore Slim-Jody

James Reese And The Progressions-Jody's Freeze

More Jody after the jump!

Slim Harpo-Jody Man

Bobby Patterson-Right On Jody

Bobby Newsome-Jody Come Back And Get Your Shoes

Ann Sexton-You've Been Gone Too Long

Johnny Taylor-Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone

Johnny Taylor-Standing In For Jody

Bonus tracks for the ladies:

Shirley Brown-Woman To Woman

Barbara Mason-From His Woman To You

Mable John-Your Good Thing

Don Covay-I Was Checkin' Out

There's also "G.I. Fever" by Mercy Dee Walton and Joe Williams Jr's "Don't Let Me Catch You Jody".  Are there more Jody songs?  Is anyone still recording "Jody" songs for the current war?

Comments

[andy]

Is it too obvious to mention the band The Jody Grind? If so, I'm sorry!

[Debbie D]

The Jody Grind rocks, Andy! Viva Bill Taft & Co.

[lord infamous]

Johnnie Taylor - Jody's Got Your Girl And Gone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe9hg3riBfM

...and, alternatively:

Johnnie Taylor- Standing In For Jody
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUoXbwsfu9U

[Fatherflot]

Is That Redd Foxx about to tap him some Pam Grier badonkadonk?

[Debbie D]

No, Fatherflot. That would be Luther "Don't Wanna Be Right" Ingram and "unidentified" at Stax 1972.

[Peter]

"Jody" is the name of the ballad (to a female, though) on Jeff Beck's LP, circa 1971 or so.

[the GRD]

The first (and only other) time that I heard this term was in "Coming Home" when Bruce Dern calls Jon Voight a "jody fuck". I always wondered what that meant. Thanks, BotB!

[bb]

In "Old man from the mountains" Merle Haggard says "get rid of Joe the grinder". I never knew what that meant.

[Greg G.]

Nice post, Debbie. You asked about other Jody-related tunes, so here are a couple country efforts for ya.

1. Red Sovine's Go Hide John on Starday, a Viet Nam war tune where the grinder in question is a draft dodger. Sample lyrics:

I wrote you how I fell from Cam Ranh Bay
He burned his card then stole you away
Now I'm back on the sweet side of the pond
I thought I'd call to tell you go hide John

2. A guy named Dick Bruce recorded A Letter From Home for the K-Ark label. It's a recitation of a letter to a soldier (again in Viet Nam) and the soldier/recipient obviously has the worst wife ever: she's given away her husband's best suit, thrown beer-guzzling parties funded by the soldier husband, sold his movie camera and golf clubs and wrecked his car AND is carrying on with another man.

[bill]

there are references to 'jody' on those famous recordings of prison worksongs from Angola State Prison in Louisiana (recorded in '59, i think) - always assumed they were about an actual individual thus named ... guess not!

[debbie daughtry]

Damn, Greg! Now THAT'S the "Cold Hard Facts Of Life"!!

[Pete Wilson]

My favorite Jody song is "Uncle Sam Blues," which is by Sonny Thompson's band though someone else sings (I can never remember his name). You can get it on a Sonny Thompson compilation on the Blue Moon label. The singer urges Uncle Sam to draft Jody for Korea, because otherwise he's going to take everyone else's girl. Musically it's really hot--great jump blues.

[Simon Hanes]

Thats my dad, John Hanes, playing drums on the Fillmore Slim tune.

My dad is very cool all of the sudden.

[Galliard]

I can think of one...a song-poem, no less. "Joedy Is A Wise Guy", with lyrics by White-Dienna, sung by Bob Gerard. Here are the lyrics, in all their grammatically-creative/awkward splendor:

"Joedy is a wise guy
He steals a girl and tells her lies
What makes him so cool
He tries to be smooth
And with you away, you're bound to lose

Joedy doesn't fake
He'll ask your girlfriend for a date
And when you receive the news, you'll be blue
'Cause your love is gone without you being clued

He seeks the girls whose guys told Uncle Sam "Hi"
What makes it so bad
He's got a boss pad

And then you receive a letter from her
Labelled "Hi, Dad"

Labelled "Hi, Dad"!

Joedy's no machine
He's cool and smart and tough and mean
But he can be licked
And he can be whipped
Because Uncle Sam will get him just like you

He seeks the girls whose guys has told Uncle Sam "Hi"
What makes it so bad
He's got a boss pad

And then you receive a letter from her
Labelled "Hi, Dad"

Labelled "Hi, Dad"

Joedy's no machine
He's cool and smart and tough and mean
But he can be licked
And he can be whipped
Because Uncle Sam will get him just like you"

[Fred@Dreamtime]

I'm a little late to the party, but readers interested in learning more about Jody, aka Joe the Grinder, might enjoy my podcast on the subject...

http://www.dreamtimepodcast.com/2008/08/episode-58-jodys-got-your-girl-and-gone.html

which includes many of the songs listed here.

[chocolatmama]

Marvin Sease's CandyLicker song and album refer to Jody several times.

[Kaboom]

In the song "Big Black Funky Slave" by Eddie Simpson, the last line of the song is "Ain't gonna take care of you and Jody too..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-40JXrhafg

[Dave Gower]

"Run Jody Run", Wilson Pickett