Even among talented creative folks there are people who specialize and
know their limitations. There are great singers who couldn't write a
song to save their life. There are incredible musicians who can't sing.
There are excellent songwriters who are far too shy and retiring to ever
perform their own works. There are skilled performers who have zero
business sense and defer all financial decisions to their managers,
agents, attorneys and promoters. There are talented bandleaders who
really shouldn't be trusted to engineer or produce their own recordings.
And so on.
But sometimes, along comes a man who is capable of doing just about
whatever is necessary to create his music and bring it to the public.
Curtis Mayfield was such a man. He was at various times and often
simultaneously, a singer, songwriter, producer, arranger, bandleader,
guitarist, A&R man, record company executive/owner, promoter,
multi-media tycoon and social activist. So he was a giant among giants.
Curtis Mayfield had a masterful career both with The Impressions where
he had become the primary songwriter and lead vocalist and later as a
solo artist. If someone could be said to have his pulse on the feelings
of Black America and transmit that musically it would have been Curtis
Mayfield as much as anyone, and that includes heavyweights like James
Brown, Donnie Hathaway and others. Songs like "Move on Up" , "Keep on
Pushing" and "We're a winner" did become mainstays of the Civil
Rights/Black Power movements.
As mentioned Mayfield was a very inventive guitarist. His peculiar chord
structures and rhythms were picked up on by among others, Jimi Hendrix
(just listen to Little Wing or Electric Ladyland)
and Jeff Beck and provided an interesting different approach to the
guitar than was common in the late sixties and early seventies. As a
solo artist Mayfield often sang in a falsetto register, which was miles
apart from his normal speaking voice. Again, Hendrix put this to great
use, especially in Electric Ladyland.
There is occasionally a controversy about whether someone who describes
brutal conditions of being black or poor in America and/or negative
responses to those conditions is indeed endorsing such responses. This
dinged Mayfield a bit with his songs "Superfly" and "Pusherman". But
people who knew his work knew that the positive but realistic Mayfield
was just telling it like he saw it. So in that way he was a forerunner
of people like The Last Poets or the Watts Prophets or other rappers
that would later come on the scene. He was also a collaborator, patron
and producer of Donny Hathaway.
If you have the opportunity I would pick up just about any of Mayfield's
music-starting with his gospelly/doo-wop with The Impressions thru his
sixties soul with that group and the late sixties/early seventies
movement into funk and funk rock as a solo artist. I'm a little iffy
about some of his late seventies work as it's in the same universe as
disco but even "bad" Mayfield work is better than "good" disco in my
book. So if you're not hip to his work, please check him out. Sadly he's
no longer with us, having passed away after a freak accident left him a
quadriplegic, but he left more than enough music to show that he was
indeed a master of 20th century music. You don't get inducted in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice by just showing up. He worked. The
below songs are just a very small sampling of Mayfield's solo and group
work. His music takes me back to a more positive time.
Curtis Mayfield, among the most talented musicians to call Chicago home
and arguably the greatest songwriter the city has ever produced, would
have been 70 years old yesterday. Mayfield's influence is still felt in
hip-hop, R&B, reggae (Bob Marley lifted the early looks and
harmonies of The Wailers directly from Mayfield and The Impressions) and
a major inspiration for conscious rappers like Talib Kweli and ability
to work equally well as a singer, songwriter, arranger, producer and
A&R man has a direct line down to musicians like Ahmir "?uestlove"
Thompson of The Roots.
Today we look at the evolution of Mayfield's music from his days with
The Impressions to his final years, when he refused to let a lighting
rig incident that left him paralyzed stop him from pursuing his art and
message.
"Gypsy Woman" and "Amen"
Mayfield dropped out of Wells Community Academy High School early to
join The Impressions, a vocal group that started out as The Roosters in
Chattanooga, Tenn. who already had a young singer from Chicago named
Jerry "Iceman" Butler handling lead vocals. The Impressions had a hit
with "For Your Precious Love but, by 1961, Butler had departed to pursue
a solo career. Mayfield wrote many of Butler's early solo hits and
funneled that money back into The Impressions, and take over lead vocal
duties. 1961's "Gypsy Woman" became The Impressions' first post-Butler
hit.
While a reworking of the Gospel standard "Amen" was one of the
earliest Impressions songs to feature Mayfield's signature falsetto and
was featured prominently in the Sidney Poitier film Lillies of the Field. (Chicagoans who grew up watching WGN in the 70s and early 80s will remember Lillies of the Field was a Christmas holiday standby.)
1960s: The Impressions Soar
The Impressions' Gospel foundation served as a springboard for
Mayfield's growing social and political consciousness. Songs like "Keep
on Pushing," "People Get Ready" and "We're a Winner" became early
staples in churches and as part of the black pride and Civil Rights
movements. "We're a Winner" was a number one soul hit for The
Impressions when it was released in 1967. These songs would also serve
as the high water mark of Mayfield's tenure with the group.
"Keep on Pushing" "People Get Ready" "We're a Winner"
The 1970s: "The Gentle Genius" Arrives
Where Marvin Gaye sang to more universal concerns on What's Going On? and Stevie Wonder made the criticisms of inner city America in Innervisions
more palatable with lush musical arrangements, Mayfield, who left the
Impressions before the 60s concluded, spared no one in his social
commentary. Songs like "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All
Going to Go" (with its haunting reverb on the opening line) and "We the
People Who Are Darker Than Blue" were direct missives to the listener
that, once we got past the color of our skin, we're all the same.
"(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" "We Are the People Who Are Darker Than Blue"
Mayfield's early solo albums led to the masterpiece that is the Superfly
soundtrack. Mayfield's approach to scoring the film also stood out in
stark contrast to other "blaxploitation" soundtracks of the time (like
Isaac Hayes's Shaft) by taking the main characters in the film
to task for their actions. Shaft may have been a bad mother... shut
your mouth. Priest, Eddie and Fat Freddie were no different than the
white criminals to Mayfield. Mayfield's Superfly soundtrack
served as both a score, the film's Greek chorus, and its conscience. His
lyrics were unvarnished truths and accounts of inner city life. The 70s
were the decade where Mayfield established himself as a master
storyteller and an urban griot. Some called him a prophet.
"Pusherman" "Little Child Running Wild"
The 80s: Looking for Hope
By the end of the 70s Mayfield was on the verge of overextending
himself, with his production responsibilities, label ownership and
prolific writing for other artists in addition to himself leading to
some introspection and a slower working pace in the Reagan Era. Songs
like "Love Me Love Me Now" from 1980's Something to Believe In
and "Hey Baby" found Mayfield in a sensual mood and seeking affairs of
the heart, albeit one marred in his records later in the decade by some
decidedly 80s production touches.
"Love Me Love Me Now" "Hey Baby"
The 90s: Struggle
Every rose, as the cliche goes, has its thorn. The 1990s found
Mayfield going back to his 70s heyday for inspiration, which made sense
since we hadn't progressed that far socially after the decade ended.
Mayfield also dealt with the physical effects of the 1990 lighting rig
accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down. He only recorded
two albums in the 90s. The latter, 1997's New World Order was a Herculean effort, with Mayfield often recording his vocals line by line, lying on his back. As a coda, New World Order is fitting; he would be dead from the physical complications of his accident two years after its release.
"Homeless" from 1990s Take It to the Streets "New World Order" from 1997's New World Order
Contact the author of this article or email tips@chicagoist.com with further questions, comments or tips.
Curtis Mayfield was known for introducing social consciousness into African-American music as well as R&B and wrote songs protesting social and political inequality. He wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film Super Fly with the Impressions. Super Fly
is regarded as an all-time great body of work that influenced many and
truly invented a new style of modern black music. Just as the Civil
Rights Act passed into law in 1964, his group the Impressions produced
music that became the soundtrack to a summer of revolution. Black
students sang their songs as they marched to jail or protested outside
their universities, while King often marched to the peaceful sounds of
Mayfield's "Keep On Pushing", "People Get Ready" and "We're A Winner".
Mayfield had quickly become a civil rights hero.[17]
Mayfield, along with several other soul and funk musicians, spread
messages of hope in the face of oppression, pride in being a member of
the black race and gave courage to a generation who were demanding their
human rights. He has been compared to Martin Luther King Jr arguably for making a greater lasting impact in the civil rights struggle with his music.[citation needed]
By the end of the decade Mayfield was a pioneering voice in the black
pride movement, along with James Brown and Sly Stone. Paving the way for
a future generation of rebel thinkers, Mayfield paid the price,
artistically and commercially, for his politically charged music.
Irrespective of the persistent radio bans and loss of revenue, he
continued his quest for equality right until his death. His lyrics on
racial injustice, poverty and drugs became the poetry for a generation.
Mayfield was also a descriptive social commentator. As the influx of
drugs ravaged through black America in the late 1960s and 1970s his
bittersweet descriptions of the ghetto would serve as warnings to the
impressionable. Determined to warn all about the perils of drugs,
"Freddie's Dead" is a graphic tale of street life.[17] In 1965, another gospel song emerged – "People Get Ready" by Mayfield and the Impressions. "Keep On Pushing"
and "People Get Ready" were two songs that became embedded in the
national movement for civil and social rights, heard at all the rallies
and marches, songs-as-inspiration.
One of the most remarkable things about the new, definitive Curtis Mayfield biography, Traveling Soul, is
that it took this long for someone to write one. In terms of influence
and popularity, Mayfield’s stature in the 1960s through early ’70s
easily puts him in the same conversation as such R&B icons as Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and James Brown.
Yet somehow, his life has never been as lavishly chronicled. Written by
Curtis’s son Todd, with help from music writer Travis Atria, Traveling Soul
provides a long overdue corrective, not only in returning Curtis’s
legacy into a proper light but also by offering revealing, intimate
evaluation of him as a musical leader, business partner, friend,
husband, and father. Traveling Soul serves as a vital reintroduction to one of soul music’s most important—yet under-considered—figures.
It’s staggering to
contemplate just how prodigious Curtis was, beginning at age 8, when he
taught himself the guitar and began to tour with the Chicago gospel
outfit, the Northern Jubilee Singers. In his teens, he and a motley crew
drawn from different doo-wop groups formed the Impressions,
scoring a surprise Top 10 single in 1958 with “For Your Precious Love.”
After then-lead singer Jerry Butler left to go solo, Curtis became the
band’s de facto head. He was barely 16.
The Impressions rehearsing in the studio, Chicago circa 1965. (Photo from author’s collection)
The Impressions briefly
struggled to find its footing until Curtis penned their gold-selling
“Gypsy Woman” in 1961. Chicago’s OKeh Records offered him a gig as a
staff songwriter and Curtis quickly turned into one-man hit machine,
writing and/or producing a parade of chart-toppers for the likes of
Major Lance (“The Monkey Time”), Gene Chandler (“Nothing Can Stop Me”),
Billy Butler (“I Can’t Work No Longer”), and others. Even though these
songs didn’t feature his signature, fragile tenor, many of them sound
indistinguishable from what Curtis was cooking up for he and the
Impressions over at rival label, ABC-Paramount. Curtis was so talented,
he could simply stockpile potential hits, randomly handing them off to
whatever artist came asking for one. As Todd contends, “unlike at
Motown, where a factory of writers created the hits, at OKeh, Curtis was the factory.”
Meanwhile, Curtis and the
Impressions began to draw from “gospel’s deep, holy well,” perfecting a
three-man vocal weave, with Curtis, Fred Cash, and Sam Gooden deftly
trading off lead vocals and sliding into group harmonies. (To hear the
effect at its most sublime, listen to “I’ve Been Trying” around the two-minute mark.)
That style was common enough in gospel but it electrified pop
listeners, propelling “It’s All Right” to become the Impressions’
best-selling single ever. But their next smash was even more iconic:
“Keep On Pushing” became the first in a string of Civil Rights paeans,
followed by “People Get Ready” and culminating in “We’re A Winner,”
whose subtle message of racial pride was deemed too controversial for
some white radio DJs to play. It went to No. 1 anyways.
Curtis was never the kind of
songwriter to pen as on-the-nose an anthem as James Brown’s “(Say It
Loud) I’m Black and I’m Proud,” and even his most politically charged
albums never earned the same acclaim given Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On.Yet few other soul artists of that era seemed as socially engaged as Curtis. One of the great insights in Traveling Soul explains
that Curtis’s decision to leave the Impressions in 1970 wasn’t just
financial but also artistic. The group had an incredible run under his
leadership, but with Curtis increasingly eager to speak to the tumult of
the times, the group’s basic structure became a creative liability. “He
couldn’t deliver lines in idiosyncratic ways,” writes Todd, “because he
had two other guys whose job was to follow his lead. As a result, it
changes the subject, the attitude, and the meaning he could imply behind
his lyrics.” Being on his own was a way to be “funkier, freer” and sure
enough, his debut solo album from 1970, Curtis,
contains some of his most outspoken songs, including “Move On Up,” “The
Other Side of Town,” and the solemn masterpiece of self-critique: “We People Who Are Darker Than Blue.”
By winter of 1971, Curtis agreed to record the soundtrack for an upcoming film about a drug dealer-turned-folk hero: Super Fly. It
became, for better or for worse, Curtis’s most signature album. Todd
suggests that creating it “allowed Dad to craft his most
autobiographical lyrics ever” by drawing upon personal experiences in
hardscrabble Chicago neighborhoods. As Curtis celebrated his 30th
birthday in the summer of 1972, the Super Fly soundtrack became a runaway hit, the commercial capstone of his career. Yet even as the album marked a professional apogee, Traveling Soul reveals
how Curtis’s personal life seemed to continually tumble towards new
nadirs. Todd stresses how deeply insecure his father was throughout his
life, a pathology rooted in an impoverished Chicago childhood in the
1940s and ’50s. Raised amidst both economic and emotional instability,
Curtis became obsessed with the idea that “possessing a special talent
earned control, and control brought security.” Curtis obviously
cultivated a special talent, but his need for control undermined the
security he craved. The book reminds us, ad nauseum, thatCurtis
was a Gemini; this is meant to explain his mercurial nature, where his
loyalties could prove as unstable as his moods. “Only with music was he
constant,” Todd writes.
For Super Fly,
Curtis had called upon the Impressions’ longtime arranger, Johnny Pate,
for help, but when Pate asked to share writing credits on two of the
soundtrack’s songs, Curtis balked. The two men never worked together
again. Likewise, Curtis also alienated manager Eddie Thomas, who had
been at his side so long that Thomas had not only come up with the name
“the Impressions,” but when Curtis created his own publishing company
and label, he named it “Curtom,” i.e. Curtis + Thomas. As Todd grimly
asserts, “when it came to money, power, and control, he wanted all of
it,” even if that meant freezing out old friends and partners.
Meanwhile, Curtis’s home life was little better. Though Traveling Soul
paints Curtis as a decent, semi-present father, the book chronicles the
years of rampant infidelity and emotional neglect that Curtis’s various
wives and lovers suffered through. By the mid-’70s, his children would
witness signs of Curtis physically abusing his partners; while Todd is
unsparing in detailing his father’s other foibles, describing Curtis’s
abusive behavior as an “inexplicable occurrence of weakness” it feels
blatantly, frustratingly euphemistic.
Backstage
before a 1973 concert. From left: Curtis's partner Diane and her son
Tracy; Curtis, daughter Sharon, and son Todd; Grandma Sadie. (Photo from
author’s collection)
Curtis certainly wouldn’t
have been the first soul man whose virtuous public face masked a private
life of discord. Gaye was the undisputed title-holder here, but his
life, and especially his death (shot dead by his father at the age of
44), helped turn Gaye into a tragic figure of Aristotelian
proportions. For all his own personal pathos, Curtis has never been
mythologized in the same way. Instead, along with other R&B
contemporaries of the 1960s, Curtis suffered through a slow decline into
cultural irrelevance over the shifting course of pop music in the ’70s.
Like many peers, he cut ill-advised disco albums, and even Traveling Soul writes
off most of his ‘80s records as middling fare. The rise of hip-hop
revived some interest in Curtis, but mostly via samples of his classic
recordings rather than an embrace of his new ones. Then, in 1990, a
freak, wind-whipped accident at a Brooklyn show brought a light fixture
onto Curtis’s neck, rendering him a quadriplegic.
What most people remember of the aftermath is that Curtis still managed to record one more album—1996’s New World Order—even
though his inoperative diaphragm required that he record his vocals
while lying prone. The public rightfully lauded the album as a heroic
comeback but while New World Order may
have marked a bright spot, Todd writes of the bleak and despondent
conditions that his father spent his last decade dwelling in, filled
with physical agony and spiritual decay. For most of his life, Curtis’s
guitar had been his “shield against the world” but his injury had
permanently robbed him of that. In 1999, following a rapid decline in
his health, Curtis died in Atlanta at the age of 59. Traveling Soul only
deepened my appreciation of Curtis’s musical genius, but I couldn’t
help but be unsettled by its portrait of his fragility and insecurity.
After finishing the book, I found myself repeatedly returning to the
Impressions’ “I’m So Proud,”
from 1964, one of their most delicate and enduring ballads. Previously,
I dwelled on the glorious, multi-harmony hook–“I’m so proud of being
loved by you”–but now, it’s the lyric after that
haunts me. Curtis sings it solo: “And it would hurt / Hurt to know / If
you ever were untrue.” With that one line, he pierces through the
song’s aura of loving bliss and twists the hilt. The Curtis portrayed in
Traveling Soul
simply couldn’t help himself. His fear of losing control meant that
even when penning an ode to love’s power, doubt lingered within, writing on for the darkness.
THE MUSIC OF CURTIS MAYFIELD: AN EXTENSIVE VIDEO OVERVIEW, A CROSS SECTION OF RECORDINGS, MUSICAL ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY, PLUS VARIOUS INTERVIEWS WITH MR. MAYFIELD:
"People Get Ready" was a 1965 single by The
Impressions, and the title track from the album of the same name. The
single is today the group's best-known hit, reaching number-three on the
Billboard R&B Chart and number 14 on the Billboard Pop Chart. The
gospel-influenced track was a Curtis Mayfield composition, and displayed
the growing sense of social and political awareness in his writing.
Rolling
Stone magazine named "People Get Ready" the 24th greatest song of all
time. The song was included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500
Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. "People Get Ready" has also been chosen
as one of the Top 10 Best Songs Of All Time by a panel of 20 top
industry songwriters and producers, including Paul McCartney, Brian
Wilson, Hal David, and others as reported to Britain's Mojo music
magazine, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998 .
Mayfield
said, "That was taken from my church or from the upbringing of messages
from the church. Like there's no hiding place and get on board, and
images of that sort. I must have been in a very deep mood of that type
of religious inspiration when I wrote that song." The song is the first
Impressions hit to feature Mayfield's guitar in the break.
Lyrics:
People get ready, there's a train a comin' You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin' Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
People get ready for the train to Jordan It's picking up passengers from coast to coast Faith is the key, open the doors and board 'em There's hope for all among those loved the most.
There ain't no room for the hopeless sinner Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner For there's no hiding place against the Kingdom's throne
So people get ready, there's a train a comin' You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels hummin' Don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord
"People Get Ready" -- The Impressions (in HD--Composition by Curtis Mayfield:
The Impressions - "We're a Winner"
The Impressions with Curtis Mayfield resynced live tv performance from 1967. Audio is dubbed with the original studio recording
Composition by Curtis Mayfield:
Curtis Mayfield ~'CURTIS'--[full album]--1970:
All Compositions by Curtis Mayfield:
1 (Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go 2 The Other Side of Town 3 The Makings of You 4 We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue 5 Move on Up 6 Miss Black America 7 Wild and Free 8 Give It Up
Curtis Mayfield - The Very Best Of Curtis Mayfield—1998- (Full Album):
Tracklist:
00:00 Move On Up 08:48 Get Down 14:29 Give It Up 18:11 Little Child Runnin' Wild 23:25 Pusherman 28:38 Freddie's Dead 34:04 Give Me Your Love (Love Song) 38:21 Eddie You Should Know Better 40:39 No Thing On Me (Cocaine On Me) 45:34 Superfly 49:28 Peolple Get Ready 53:25 Right On For The Darkness 01:00:55 (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Gonna Go 01:08:01 You're So Good To Me
Curtis Mayfield - Live @ the Bitter End (NYC) - 1971:
01. Mighty Mighty (Spade And Whitey) 02. Rap 03. I Plan To Stay A Believer 04. We're A Winner 05. Rap (2) 06. We've Only Just Begun 07. People Get Ready 08. Rap (3) 09. Stare And Stare 10. Check Out Your Mind 11. Gypsy Woman 12. The Makings Of You 13. Rap (4) 14. We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue 15. (Don't Worry) If There's A Hell Below We're All Going To Go 16. Stone Junkie 17. Superfly 18. Mighty Mighty (Spade And Whitey) (Single Version)
Three Songs Which Inspired and Informed the Black Freedom Struggle
June 7, 2010
“To take part in the African revolution it
is not enough to write a revolutionary song; you must fashion the
revolution with the people. And if you fashion it with the people, the
songs will come by themselves and of themselves.”
--Sekou Toure, President of Guinea, West Africa
The 1960s freedom struggle was reaffirmation of Sekou Toure
postulation that the freedom struggle informs and produces the songs
and artistic expression of the times. His statement also addresses the
concern by some that black music, in particular “Rap”, is to profane
denigrating, especially as it relates to women. Toure’s statement
suggests that conditions create consciousness and consciousness creates
songs. Hence, the demand for a change in black music is demand to change
the social conditions out of which the music comes.
Black music in the 1960s and early 1970s reflected and was informed
by social movement which swept across America. “Black people” as poet,
singer and musician Gil Scott Heron
remarked, were in the “streets looking for a better tomorrow.”
Moreover, the civil rights and the black power movements served as the
catalyst of a new ethos for a new people.
A Change is Coming
In 1963 when Martin Luther King gave his historic I Have A DreamSpeech at the March on Washington, Sam Cooke
echoed the optimism of the movement, recording that same year what
would become an anthem for the American Civil Rights Movement, “A Change Is Gonna Come”: “It’s been a long, a long time coming /but I know A change gon’ come oh yes it will.”
Cooke reminds his listeners that the struggle is long and difficult,
but he is up to the task because he knows change is coming- “There been times that I thought I wouldn’t last for long/ Now think I’m able to carry on/ A change gon’ come, oh yes it will.”
Keep on Pushing
Change, however, was not easy, nor was it automatic. As the civil
rights movement spread and protest increased, black and the movement
were met with an upsurge in white terror and violence most notably the 16th Street Baptist church bombing and the murder of three civil rights workers by members of the Ku Klux Klan in Mississippi. Curtis Mayfield, song writer, singer and unofficial griot of the movement, lifted the spirit of everyone with his hit single, Keep on Pushing: “I’ve got to keep on pushing I can’t stop now,” Mayfield exhorts blacks. He’s sure blacks will attain freedom if they keep their soul (their moral essence), singing, “Now maybe some day/ I’ll reach that higher goal I know that I can make it/ With just a little bit of soul”.
Mayfield lets black know that they will be victorious because history
and righteousness-the real and enduring force- is on their side: “’Cause I’ve got my strength And it don’t make sense/ Not to keep on pushin’.”
Mayfield again signals that opposing forces are on the horizon: “Now look-a look (look-a look)/ A-look-a yonder. What’s that I see/ A great big stone wall/ Stands there ahead of me.” but now, he lets us know things have changed. Black people have a new pride and self-consciousnessand are no longer intimidated. He punctuates this phrase with a religious reference at the end “But I’ve got my pride/ And I’ll move on aside/ And keep on pushin/ Hallelujah, hallelujah”.
We’re A Winner
By the mid-sixties, dashikis, and the “natural”-a hair style
associated with Africa and black consciousness movement, “Black is
Beautiful” affirmation, and the adoption of African names were normative
and informed everyday life for African Americans. Curtis Mayfield gave
voice to the spirit and ethos of African Americas with a bold and
affirmative statement- “We’re A Winner.” “We’re A Winner,” a Number 1
soul hit, became an anthem of the black power and black pride movements
when it was released in late 1967,] much as Mayfield’s
earlier “Keep on Pushing” (whose title is quoted in the lyrics of
“We’re a Winner”) had been an anthem for Martin Luther King and the
civil rights movement. “As a young man,” Mayfield states, “I was writing
songs like ‘Keep on Pushing’ and ‘This is My Country’ and feeling all
the love and all I observed politically. Of course with everything I saw
on the streets as a young black kid, it wasn’t hard during the late
fifties and early sixties for me to write in my own heartfelt way of how
I visualized things, how I thought things ought to be.”
That “We’re A Winner” became a number 1 hit is a testimony to how the
song captured the heart and minds of black people. Many radio stations
banned or refused to play “We’re A Winner”, associating the record with
the black power movement, and the more militant phase of the freedom
struggle. The record starts with female voices (representing everyday
community folk) in the background, and then a two chord introduction
indicating that sounding of importance would follow. At the beginning of
the song, Mayfield asserts the new self-concept of blackness, “We’re a winner/And never let anybody say/Boy, you can’t make it/‘Cause a feeble mind is in your way". To reinforce the new identity of African Americans he asserts, "No more tears do we cry/ And we have finally dried our eyes/ And we’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up)". Highlighting
the pride which black had started displaying among themselves and the
world, he says: "We’re living proof in alert/ That we’re from
the good black earth/ And we’re a winner/ And everybody knows it too".
Mayfield then moves to affirming and make the link between black
leadership and progress by the black masses, reinforcing the unity of
the movement: We’ll just keep on pushin’/ Like your leaders tell you to.”
This is followed by a sweeping pronouncement of that the day has come
when blacks are unified and making progress as a race, a stellar
accomplishment: “At last that blessed day has come/ And I don’t care where you come from/ We’re all movin’ on up (movin’ on up).” And,
acknowledging the willingness of black people to sacrifice their lives
(e.g., Martin Luther King, Malcolm X Medgar Evers) in the service of
freedom to show the world that black people are unafraid to speak truth
to power and to stand-up to power: “I don’t mind leavin’ here/ To show the world we have no fear/’Cause we’re a winner.”
Clearly, the black freedom movement produced the socially conscious
commercial songs of the sixties. And reciprocally, the socially
conscious commercial songs informed and infused the masses of black
people with a new consciousness, reflected in the movement and in music
of Sam Cooke and Curtis Mayfield. The songs of the 1960s, and more
importantly the movement, point suggest what is to be done if black
music is to return to its state of being a force for moral and social
change.
Notes:
Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of The Earth, Sekou Toure Address to the Second Congress of black Writers and Artist
2. Gerri Hirshey, Nowhere To Run: The Story of Soul Music
3. Suzanne E. Smith, Dancing In The Street: Motown and The Cultural Politic of Detroit
4. Craig Werner, Higher Ground: Stevie Wonder, Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield, and the Rise and Fall of American Soul
5. Kwanzaa Guide, website on African American culture and history with a special emphasis on the African American holiday Kwanzaa.
Curtis Mayfield -"We People Who Are Darker Than Blue" (Composition and lyrics by Curtis Mayfield): We people who are darker than blue Are we gonna stand around this town And let what others say come true? We're just good for nothing they all figure
A boyish, grown up, shiftless jigger Now we can't hardly stand for that Or is that really where it's at? We people who are darker than blue
This ain't no time for segregatin' I'm talking 'bout brown and yellow too High yellow girl, can't you tell You're just the surface of our dark deep well
If your mind could really see You'd know your color the same as me Pardon me, brother, as you stand in your glory I know you won't mind if I tell the whole story
Get yourself together, learn to know your side Shall we commit our own genocide Before you check out your mind?
I know we've all got problems That's why I'm here to say Keep peace with me and I with you Let me love in my own way
Now I know we have great respect For the sister, and mother it's even better yet But there's the joker in the street
Loving one brother and killing the other When the time comes and we are really free There'll be no brothers left you see
We people who are darker than blue Don't let us hang around this town And let what others say come true
We're just good for nothing they all figure A boyish, grown up, shiftless jigger Now we can't hardly stand for that Or is that really where it's at?
Pardon me, brother, while you stand in your glory I know you won't mind if I tell the whole story Pardon me, brother, I know we've come a long, long way But let us not be so satisfied for tomorrow can be an even brighter day
Sinead O'Connor: "Nothing compares to Curtis Mayfield's 'Fool For You':
Welcome to our all-new Playlist feature. Every week, we get some
unsuspecting musician to make their dream playlist. To kick things off,
Sinead O'Connor marks the release of her ninth album, Theology, with a
retrospective account of the music that has influenced and impressed her
over her life.
Sinead O'Connor at a 2005 concert. Photograph: Daniel Pierce Wright/Getty
"Fool For You", Curtis Mayfield and the Impressions, from the album This Is My Country
This is my favourite track of all time, a flawless love song. The
lyrics are incredible, but the band are just outrageous. There's an
instrumental section halfway through that sounds like clowns, as if
Mayfield is trying to show just how much this woman is making a fool out
of him. I did a cover of his song We People Who Are Darker Than Blue on
my new album Theology. I'm just such a fan of Curtis Mayfield. He has a
lone wolf quality that I admire. He's a mysterious guy, very soulful
and quiet.
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, who is regarded as a driving force behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.[1][2] He first achieved success and recognition with the Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.
Born in Chicago, Illinois, Mayfield started his musical career in a gospel choir. Moving to Chicago's North Side he met Jerry Butler in 1956 at the age of 14, and joined vocal group the Impressions.
As a songwriter, Mayfield became noted as one of the first musicians to
bring more prevalent themes of social awareness into soul music. In
1965, he wrote "People Get Ready" for the Impressions, a soul song that displayed his more politically charged songwriting. Ranked at no. 24 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time,[3] the song received many other awards, and was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll,[4] as well as being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.
After leaving the Impressions in 1970, Mayfield released several solo albums, including the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly
in 1972. The soundtrack was noted for the social commentary in the
lyrics, mostly dealing with problems surrounding inner city minorities,
addressing crime, poverty and drug abuse. The album was ranked at no. 72
on Rolling Stone's list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[5] Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after lighting equipment fell on him during a live performance at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York on August 13, 1990.
Curtis Mayfield was born on 3 June 1942, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Marion Washington and Kenneth Mayfield.[6][7] Mayfield's father left the family when Mayfield was five;[6] his mother moved the family into various Chicago projects before settling at Cabrini–Green when Mayfield reached his teenage years. Mayfield attended Wells Community Academy High School.
His mother taught him the piano, and encouraged him to enjoy gospel
music; when he was seven he was a singer with the gospel quintet, the
Northern Jubilee Gospel Singers.[8]
When he was 14 years old he formed the Alphatones; when he was 15 he
joined his school friend Jerry Butler's group the Roosters with Arthur
and Richard Brooks;[9] this group would become the Impressions four years later.[10]
Mayfield's career began in 1956 when he joined the Roosters with Arthur and Richard Brooks and Jerry Butler.[10] Two years later the Roosters, now including Sam Gooden, became the Impressions.[11]
The band had two hit singles with Butler, "For Your Precious Love" and
"Come Back My Love", then Butler left. Mayfield temporarily went with
him, co-writing and performing on Butler's next hit, "He Will Break Your
Heart", before returning to the Impressions.[12] Butler was replaced with Fred Cash, (a returning original Roosters member), Mayfield became lead singer, frequently composing for the band, starting with "Gypsy Woman", a Top 20 Pop hit. Their hit "Amen" (Top 10), an updated version of an old gospel tune, was included in the soundtrack of the 1963MGM film Lilies of the Field, which starred Sidney Poitier.
The Impressions reached the height of their popularity in the
mid-to-late-'60s with a string of Mayfield compositions that included "Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready", "It's All Right"
(Top 10), the uptempo "Talking about My Baby"(Top 20), "Woman's Got
Soul", "Choice of Colors,"(Top 20), "Fool For You," "This is My Country"
and "Check Out Your Mind." Mayfield had written much of the soundtrack
of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, but by the end of the decade he was a pioneering voice in the black pride movement along with James Brown and Sly Stone. Mayfield's "We're a Winner", a Number 1 soul hit which also reached the Billboard pop Top 20, became an anthem of the black power and black pride movements when it was released in late 1967,[13] much as his earlier "Keep on Pushing" (whose title is quoted in the lyrics of "We're a Winner" and also in "Move On Up") had been an anthem for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.[14]
Mayfield was a prolific songwriter in Chicago even outside his work
for the Impressions, writing and producing scores of hits for many other
artists. He also owned the Mayfield and Windy C labels which were
distributed by Cameo-Parkway, and was a partner in the Curtom
(first independent, then distributed by Buddah then Warner Bros and
finally RSO) and Thomas labels (first independent, then distributed by
Atlantic, then independent again and finally Buddah).
Among Mayfield's greatest songwriting successes were three hits that
he wrote for Jerry Butler on Vee Jay. His harmony vocals are very
prominent ("He Will Break Your Heart", "Find Another Girl" and "I'm
A-Tellin' You"). He also had great success writing and arranging Jan
Bradley's "Mama Didn't Lie". Starting in 1963, he was heavily involved
in writing and arranging for OKeh Records (with Carl Davis producing),
which included hits by Major Lance, Billy Butler and The Artistics. This
arrangement ran through 1965.
The commercial and critical peak of his solo career came with Super Fly, the soundtrack to the blaxploitationSuper Fly film. Unlike the soundtracks to other blaxploitation films (most notably Isaac Hayes' score for Shaft), which glorified the ghetto excesses of the characters, Mayfield's lyrics consisted of hard-hitting commentary on the state of affairs in black, urban ghettos at the time, as well as direct criticisms of several characters in the film. Bob Donat wrote in Rolling Stone magazine in 1972 that while the film's message "was diluted by schizoid cross-purposes" because it "glamorizes machismo-cocaine
consciousness... the anti-drug message on [Mayfield's soundtrack] is
far stronger and more definite than in the film." Along with Marvin Gaye's What's Going On and Stevie Wonder's Innervisions, this album ushered in a new socially conscious, funky style of popular soul music.
He was dubbed 'The Gentle Genius' to reflect his outstanding and
innovative musical output with the constant presence of his soft yet
insistent vocals. The single releases "Freddie's Dead" and "Super Fly" both sold over one million copies each, and were awarded gold discs by the R.I.A.A.[15]
Super Fly brought success that resulted in Mayfield being
tapped for additional soundtracks, some of which he wrote and produced
while having others perform the vocals. Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded Mayfield's soundtrack for Claudine in 1974, while Aretha Franklin recorded the soundtrack for Sparkle in 1976. Mayfield also worked with The Staple Singers on the soundtrack for the 1975 film Let's Do It Again, and teamed up with Mavis Staples exclusively on the 1977 film soundtrack A Piece of the Action (both movies were part of a trilogy of films that featured the acting and comedic exploits of Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier and were directed by Poitier).
One of Mayfield's most successful funk-disco meldings was the 1977 hit "Do Do Wap is Strong in Here" from his soundtrack to the Robert M. Young film of Miguel Piñero's play Short Eyes.
In his 2003 biography of Curtis Mayfield, titled "People Never Give
Up", author Peter Burns noted that Curtis has 140 songs in the Curtom
vaults. Burns indicated that the songs maybe already completed or in
the stages of completion, so that they could then be released
commercially. These recordings include "The Great Escape", "In The
News", "Turn up the Radio", "What's The Situation?" and one recording
labelled "Curtis at Montreux Jazz Festival 87". Two other albums
featuring Curtis Mayfield present in the Curtom vaults and as yet
unissued are a 1982/83 live recording titled "25th Silver Anniversary"
(which features performances by Curtis, The Impressions and Jerry Butler) and a live performance, recorded in September 1966 by the Impressions titled 'Live at the Club Chicago'.
Curtis Mayfield was known for introducing social consciousness into African-American music as well as R&B and wrote songs protesting social and political inequality. He wrote and recorded the soundtrack to the 1972 blaxploitation film Super Fly with the Impressions. Super Fly
is regarded as an all-time great body of work that influenced many and
truly invented a new style of modern black music. Just as the Civil
Rights Act passed into law in 1964, his group the Impressions produced
music that became the soundtrack to a summer of revolution. Black
students sang their songs as they marched to jail or protested outside
their universities, while King often marched to the peaceful sounds of
Mayfield's "Keep On Pushing", "People Get Ready" and "We're A Winner".
Mayfield had quickly become a civil rights hero.[17]
Mayfield, along with several other soul and funk musicians, spread
messages of hope in the face of oppression, pride in being a member of
the black race and gave courage to a generation who were demanding their
human rights. He has been compared to Martin Luther King Jr arguably for making a greater lasting impact in the civil rights struggle with his music.[citation needed]
By the end of the decade Mayfield was a pioneering voice in the black
pride movement, along with James Brown and Sly Stone. Paving the way for
a future generation of rebel thinkers, Mayfield paid the price,
artistically and commercially, for his politically charged music.
Irrespective of the persistent radio bans and loss of revenue, he
continued his quest for equality right until his death. His lyrics on
racial injustice, poverty and drugs became the poetry for a generation.
Mayfield was also a descriptive social commentator. As the influx of
drugs ravaged through black America in the late 1960s and 1970s his
bittersweet descriptions of the ghetto would serve as warnings to the
impressionable. Determined to warn all about the perils of drugs,
"Freddie's Dead" is a graphic tale of street life.[17] In 1965, another gospel song emerged – "People Get Ready" by Mayfield and the Impressions. "Keep On Pushing"
and "People Get Ready" were two songs that became embedded in the
national movement for civil and social rights, heard at all the rallies
and marches, songs-as-inspiration.
Later years and death
Mayfield remained active in the 1970s; output began to slow during
the 1980s. Then, on August 13, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck
down after stage lighting equipment fell on him at an outdoor concert at
Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.[18] He was unable to play guitar, but he wrote, sang, and directed the recording of his last album, New World Order. Mayfield's vocals were painstakingly recorded, usually line-by-line while lying on his back.[19]
His last appearance on record was with the group Bran Van 3000 on the song "Astounded" for their album Discosis, recorded just before his death and released in 2001.
Curtis Mayfield died from complications of diabetes on December 26, 1999, at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia; his health having steadily declined following his paralysis.[20]
Awards
Hall of Fame
As a member of the Impressions, he was posthumously inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2003.
The Impressions hits, "People Get Ready" and "For Your Precious Love" are both ranked on Rolling Stone′s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, as No. 24 and No. 327 respectively.
Mayfield is ranked No. 34 on Rolling Stone′s list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.[22]
Mayfield is ranked No. 40 on Rolling Stone′s list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time.[23]
Mayfield's solo Super Fly is ranked No. 69 on Rolling Stone′s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Mayfield No. 98 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[24]
Other
The Impressions' 1965 hit song "People Get Ready", composed by
Mayfield, has been chosen as one of the Top 10 Best Songs Of All Time by
a panel of 20 top industry songwriters and producers, including Paul
McCartney, Brian Wilson, Hal David, and others, as reported to Britain's
Mojo music magazine.
Legacy
Mayfield was among the first of a new wave of mainstream African-American R&B performing artists and composers injecting social commentary into their work.[1] This "message music" became extremely popular during the 1960s and 1970s.
Curtis Mayfield,
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. "…significant for the forthright
way in which he addressed issues of black identity and self-awareness.
…left his imprint on the Seventies by couching social commentary and
keenly observed black-culture archetypes in funky, danceable rhythms.
…sounded urgent pleas for peace and brotherhood over extended, cinematic
soul-funk tracks that laid out a fresh musical agenda for the new
decade." Accessed on line November 28, 2006.
Soul icon Curtis Mayfield dies, BBC News, December 27, 1999. "Credited with introducing social comment to soul music". Accessed on line November 28, 2006.
Freeland, Gregory (2009). "'We're a Winner': Popular Music and the Black Power Movement". Social Movement Studies8 (3): 261–288. doi:10.1080/14742830903024358.
John Tobler (1992). NME Rock 'N' Roll Years (1st ed.). Reed International Books Ltd. p. 473. CN 5585.
Curtis Mayfield 
Backstage
before a 1973 concert. From left: Curtis's partner Diane and her son
Tracy; Curtis, daughter Sharon, and son Todd; Grandma Sadie. (Photo from
author’s collection)
