You've Been Gone Too Long

Annotation

The song "You've Been Gone Too Long" (Seventy 7 Records # 77-104), a highly sought-after record by Northern Soul collectors - this issue usually sells for around $100. Even more collectible is the original issue on Impel (# SS-AS-103), which sells for around $500-$1000, as of late 2012 - see "You've Been Gone Too Long". Ann Sexton, born Mary Burton in 1950, in Greenville, South Carolina, fronted a soul group called both "The Masters of Soul" and "The Soul Masters". In 1971 she met soul producer / singer-songwriter David Lee, who also owned a record shop in Shelby, NC, called Washington Sound. Out of this shop, was based Lee's label Impel, which released this song. It gained decent airplay, and Nashville DJ John "R." Richbourg picked up the song and distributed it on his national label Seventy 7, selling around 90,000 copies. (1) This song picked up on the "Jody" theme - the mythical man who stole the wives and girlfriends of soldiers away from home, as discussed with Johnnie Taylor's well-known "Jody Got Your Girl and Gone". Sexton switched between narrating from the soldier's perspective to that of the soldier's girlfriend / wife. The soldier has noticed that something is wrong with his girl: "I know you've been running around", he tells her. But the girl says that "I found me a man who loves me better", adding the justification: "you've been gone too long". Then in the third person, Sexton tells the listener the famous line: "ain't no use in coming home, cause Jody got your girl and gone".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: The smile on your face baby is not there anymore / And the thrill of a kiss honey is not like it was before / I know you've been running around, I know / Because the look on your face is beginning to show / You might as well run on, baby you've been gone too long / Ain't no use in coming home / Cause Jody got your girl and gone / The way you used to hold me when we were all alone / It's not there anymore because baby / The thrill is gone / Somehow it doesn't matter because I found me a man who loves me better / You've been gone too long

Notes

Seventy 7 Records, Record No. 77-104 (SS 108), "Division of J R Enterprises, Inc., P.O. Box 6128, Nashville, Tennessee 37212"; "You've Been Gone Too Long" (David M. Lee, Ann Benton, Melvin Benton), 2:26, Cape Ann Music, Inc.; produced by David Lee; Ann Sexton and the Soul Masters. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

Ann Sexton (born Mary Ann Sexton, 6 February 1947, Greenville, South Carolina; died 13 March 2025) was an American soul singer; 'You've Been Gone Too Long' (1971), first on the Impel label and reissued on John Richbourg's Seventy Seven Records, became a Northern soul standard, and she charted R&B with 'You're Gonna Miss Me' (1973) before leaving music to work for the New York City school system, returning to performing in 2007. [Source: Wikipedia]

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Jody

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · Jody Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs