The Origin Of Jody Calls

That might be true for jody calls in the military, but jody calls go all the way back to 17th and 18th centuries when work crews and slaves sang what is called "call and response". Where one person would sing a line, and the rest of the crew would repeat the line. Just like military cadence. Jody calls from the old days would be used to pass time and/or keep pace while working, or in churches in rural areas where much of the population couldn't read the hymn books.
 
I think they were referring to the actual term "Jody" when speaking of "Jody Calls".
 
shanty

Back in the old days when ships had sails the sailorman had many hard hard tasks to perform. Many of these tasks required many men to perform as one. One example is the hoisting of the sails where the crew went around the capstan and had to keep a certain rythm. The shantyman would then climb upon the capstan and sing a shanty. The shanty had a certain rythm so the work where done efficient fast and cohesive(?). Many of these shanties required the men to sing back at regular intervals. There where different shanties for differen tasks because the rythm required was different.
The disipline abord these ships where, and had to be strict to the point of the absurd. A funny tradition emerged where the shanties were excused from this disipline. The shantyman could insult and ridicule the officers and a popular shantyman would certainly do this.
I am not sure but i think hard labor through all times has included sung rythm to increase efficiency an make the work more fun. But I think that in the old man-of-wars the seed to the military jodies and cadences of today were founded.
Please correct me if I'm wrong!
-BC:stupid:
 
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