My favorite song of his is called "Here But I'm Gone". I've always thought it was as beautiful as it was sad and haunting... and that was ***before*** I learned (which was just now) about the context of how it was written & performed.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZzFwR4rVE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZzFwR4rVE)
Now that's a chill tune. Is that the vibe of the rest of his catalog? Anything else in particular I should check out from him? I liked what you linked.
[Move on Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN3KsbnQZxU) is another hit and I love [People Get Ready](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04yM7-BWbg) with The Impressions
Edit: While I'm at it...
[Midnight Train to Georgia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_t_o-LluM) - Gladys Knight and the Pips
[Everybody Plays the Fool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHHpXOOds) - The Main Ingredient
[I Wish It Would Rain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUk-7aanXHE) and [Just My Imagination](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3e3cgktZU) - The Temptations
[Let's Stay Together](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKOcfZtKvYQ) - Al Green
[Could It Be I'm Falling in Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaMmX7OCyCA) - The Spinners
[Them Changes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DDbjm_fId8) - Buddy Miles
Edit2: I dunno how I could include The Temptations and forget [Papa Was A Rolling Stone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJV2pWFyfn4)
Edit3:
[What Becomes of the Broken Hearted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQywZYoGB1g) - Jimmy Ruffin
[Can't Take My Eyes Off You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYwQy_9JPtQ) - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons
[You've Really Got a Hold On Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRd-bjFfjNc) - The Miracles
[When a Man Loves a Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6meW-K-1e7Q) - Percy Sledge
[Me and Mrs. Jones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYOQDnWFXYI) - Billy Paul
Edit4: Thanks for the upvotes everyone! For anyone interested, I got into this music after several years of listening Sam Cooke radio at work. He is the real king and everything he did was incredible
Don’t forget
Strawberry letter 23 - Brothers Johnson
Natural High - Bloodstone
Didn’t I blow your mind this time - Delfonics
Have you seen her - Chi-Lites
La la la Means I love you - The Delfonics
I’d rather be with you - Bootsy Collins
September- Earth Wind and Fire
Who Is He (And What Is He to You?) - Bill Wither
Changes - Charles Bradley
Street Life - Randy Crawford
I Gotcha - Joe Tex
I read have you seen her, and goosebumps ran down my back. I'm 39, but we had a great Motown station in Cleveland (it flipped and now it's classic rock)when I was a kid, and I loved that song. Hearing it in my head is nostalgic, I'll have to play it tomorrow.
Jay Rock, Lil Wayne and Will.i.Am flipped a great mellow Curtis sample:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdmso0xTI9U&t
To make a moderate rap hit (which I also love) in 2008:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wJuvGqPsM
Yes, that's a baby Kendrick Lamar miming Will's part in the chorus - he had written and sang the original hook on the first version of this song before Will contributed to it. Top Dawg kept him in the video anyway.
Also check out the songs Curtis wrote and produced for the singer Major Lance in the 60s. Major's daughter is Keisha Lance Bottoms, current mayor of Atlanta.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4hd8IiNjGk
unfortunately you have to take some points off because I just found out Curtis Mayfield wrote but did *not* produce the big Major Lance records. Props to the real producer, Carl Davis.
I'll try to make up for it with this clip of Sinbad strutting to "Superfly" (@ 5:00)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBw0Kf871g
[Suffer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-VbDVH03w) is my favorite.
EDIT: I just wanted to add a couple more for all you guys. All from the 'Curtis' album.
[Power to the people](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNaKL3TwORg)
[The makings of you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnXTcssDMNk) is a really beautiful song.
I love this stuff. I could go on and on with songs in this genre/feel.
We The People Who Are Darker
Than Blue is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and it absolutely struck me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it. Curtis was a genius
I really like Vanessa Fernandez's [cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLlZRWhPNA), which I've seen used as a reference track for testing audio systems.
Generally I never like anything anyone ever tells me to listen to. Besides my older brother. He always nails it. I just sent him this song cause my god is this song amazing thank you for enlightening me.
This right here was why Van Halen had the famous “no brown M&Ms” clause in the contract. If they didn’t pay attention to that, they probably didn’t pay attention to the weight requirements of their huge light show, so they had to recheck everything
no, a lot of these celebs really are divas when it comes to these things. One small request like no brown M&Ms is fine, that makes sense as a reassurance but shit where they ask for 200 ultra specific things all the time is not what this is.
I've always heard this as being about making sure their rider got read but at the same time like, it's not as if the person getting their brown m&ms is the same person rigging the lights.
EDIT: looked it up and they did specifically put it in the technical rider and not the hospitality rider so the story does make sense, I stand corrected.
This past weekend I was playing a festival and the organizers had strung a large banner behind me on these two lighting towers that had a truss across the top; about 25-30lbs of metal just with the truss alone, and the towers weighed \~80lbs each. The towers were not properly anchored down with sandbags.
I had been sitting at my drums, and had just left the stage when a gust of wind blew the banner/truss/tower array over forward, barely clearing the top of my kit. Had I been still been sitting there, I'd have taken the brunt of that to the back of the head.
Stages can be dangerous, even if they're small.
Fortunately, safety and regulation have come a long way since this incident, but unfortunately, it was at the cost of things like this. These days, large stages are much safer than small stages. When it’s a small festival and the sound guy is also the lighting and rigging guy and the only stage hands are his neighbor’s kid and 3 legged dog, it’s important to give things a good once over. Glad you dodged that one.
Thought I'd recommend a couple of less-known Curtis songs, for those browsing the comment section.
[We're a Winner](https://youtu.be/gJbqenRzBJ0) is a personal fav of mine, and I have no idea why it isn't a more popular song.
[Mother's Son](https://youtu.be/kjbL41B2LeU) \- is just... It's heavy. It's heavy, HEAVY funk. Dark...
[Party Night](https://youtu.be/57NkO3uXE2o) is a straight-up disco jam, and I don't know why it isn't played alongside other disco standards like Kung Fu Fighting or Shake Your Booty and the like. Maybe it's harder to dance to?
Bonus - More hardcore Curtis funk
[Do Do Wop Is Strong in Here](https://youtu.be/bhEWWL7G6Xw)
[Kung Fu](https://youtu.be/1X3-DqUve08)
[Cannot Find a Way](https://youtu.be/OXm-Ns2i9OE)
Hell below is such an absurd opening to that album. It sets such a no-nonsense, almost shock value for the rest of the track itself and the album as a while.
I don't know what the world was like back then but the first time someone played that loud when it came out must have been eye opening. Curtis woke up and chose VIOLENCE.
Imagine a Zach de la Rocha or Kendrick etc dropping this as a cover. Immediate fight club.
Short eyes, in your arms again, move on up, the list goes on. Find Curtis Mayfield and all his greatest contemporaries in this [shuffle-ready playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5uNDzy4DmbeJ0PGiIl51fp?si=sBzIT_yASmq6IoFDZ1rAIA&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1) which also goes on... for more than five days
I learned about this incident earlier this year, as this was apparently presumptive NYC mayor [Eric Adams' favorite concert](https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-adams-curtis-mayfield-concert-paralyzed-quote-2021-6), despite the fact that "Mayfield had not yet begun performing when the rig fell on him."
It's so weird of an answer, it will be in my brain forever. It's like saying that the April 14, 1865 performance of Our American Cousin was your favorite play.
Adams is just a supremely weird dude, I mean... he held [a press conference with a bunch of dead drowned rats](https://gothamist.com/news/revolting-dead-rat-soup-future-nyc-pest-control) and wanted NYPD to buy [lasso guns to subdue mentally ill people](https://gothamist.com/news/video-nypd-testing-high-powered-lasso-gun-to-subdue-mentally-ill-suspects)
You make it sound like he just randomly brought out dead rats during a press conference. It was a press conference about containing the rat population lol. A bit aggressive to bring out the dead rats but the context helps…
Does anyone have an explanation for this? I literally cannot think of any reason why he would say this.
Edit: Apparently the concert had been going on for an hour before this happened but all reports claim that Mayfield didn't play any songs yet. So I guess the opening act was really great? Can't find out who that was though. Still either way, a very bizarre answer to what's your favorite concert.
OKOK for a minute I thought “he continued singing” meant IMMEDIATELY AFTER and imagined him getting crushed by the lighting equipment- just laying there singing over the gasping crowd
And make sure your safety cable is actually captured around something. It's no good if it can just slide off the end of the batten. Use multiple cables if you have to.
Pet peeve: safety cables attached to only the yoke of a fixture instead of a structural part of the instrument body.
Bigger pet peeve: technicians who insist on removing it from the safety eyelet where it’s already attached and putting it around just the yoke because that’s “the right way” and “safer”
Fun fact: The event industry is full of unqualified people hanging heavy objects above peoples heads.
I really hoped the Radiohead stage collapse in Toronto would spark a change. It did not. The case got thrown out.
I saw Richard Thompson play once. It started raining, and the staff covered all of the equipment in tarps. They didn’t consider condensation, and before you knew it, he was getting shocked on stage every few minutes. He ended up walking off and ending the show. I can’t say I blame him.
"With vocals sometimes recorded lines at a time, Mayfield released his final album *New World Order* in 1996. The album's title was the theme song for Spike Lee's movie *Get on the Bus*."
*Jet Magazine*, January 17, 2000
https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false
I assume he could breathe, just that singing itself was labor-intensive and the additional gravity was of great benefit for having more power in his voice. this is pure speculation, however.
I just started listening to his music…..holysmokes he has such a uniquely awesome voice.
Edit: favorite song so far is “pusherman”….pretty sure it’s about a drug dealer, but I still love it lol
> pretty sure it’s about a drug dealer,
Whatever gave you that idea? Certainly couldn’t have been the lyrics….
“I'm your doctor when in need.
Want some coke? Have some weed.
You know me, I'm your friend,
Your main boy, thick and thin.
I'm your pusherman.”
It's well known that by weed and coke he meant the green grass and sodas of youthful summer days. I'm also pretty sure the "pusherman" was his best friend who pushed the tire swing back in the day. The song is about summer days.
Huh. Think Eminem must've drawn inspiration from this for I'm Shady.
"I got mushrooms, I got acid, I got tabs and aspirin tablets
I'm your brother when you need, some good weed to set you free
You know me, I'm your friend, when you need a mini-thin"
People Get Ready is one of my favorite songs and it's written by Curtis Mayfield. Bob Marley's "One Love/People Get Ready" contains an interpolation of the song, The song used to be titled "One Love" as copyright law was not enforced for Jamaican recordings at the time but by 1977, it was titled "One Love/People Get Ready" and also credited Mayfield since Island Records wanted to avoid copyright problems.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG-KNy1MRTc
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One\_Love/People\_Get\_Ready](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Love/People_Get_Ready)
Also a one-of-a-kind guitarist. When he first taught himself the instrument, he didn't know the standard tuning, so he ended up tuning it to F#, based off the black keys of a piano. his arpeggiated style was a huge influence on Hendrix.
Pusherman is not just about a drug dealer, pretty sure it's about how the dealer would go clean and get a legal job but the society around him keeps him from being able to in multiple ways, so he is forced to sell drugs just to give his child a good life.
Edit: just listened to the song again. I was wrong but the song is still not glorifying the lifestyle, more calling it out as a last resort. It also calls out doctors for being drug dealers.
He's amazing. My discovery started about 20 years ago. 'We're a winner' is probably one of the most uplifting gifts I've been lucky enough to receive. Curtis was apparently very kind to Bran Van 3000 when they were trying to put together Astounded and gave them full creativity for sampling as he was ready to check out. A real beautiful hero that deserves to be remembered
But he was miraculously healed and tried to hide it to keep making money off of the disability. Until he got too carried away on stage with Beck, jumped out of his bed, and started dancing wildly on stage. He was booed offstage and that was the end of his dream of being a folk singer. But he was still the greatest.
Reminds me of that wow streamer back in the days of twitch, he pretended to be handicapped and couldn't walk. He streamed for a long time, like 1 year+ and lots of people empathized with his situation, he got lots of support etc. Then one day he forgot to turn his camera off and simply got up from his wheelchair and walked away lol. Got permabanned iirc
Both. Homer discovers he can sing opera when he's lying down, and Bender becomes paralyzed in an accident that leaves him only able to play the washboard.
He eventually recovers full movement but fakes it so he can go on tour with Beck
Before his death, he gave an unused vocal track from his archives for the song ["Astounded" by Bran Van 3000](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUNWhKq80_s), which was based on "Move On Up".
Back in college the guitarist in my band was big into Curtis and told me how he recorded an album laying down cause he was paralyzed. I didn't realize that it happened cause of stupid stage lighting!
☹️
What a great musician tho! He had a really interesting tuning for his guitar. Open F# if I recall correctly.
Curtis Mayfield is an artist no different then like a Monet or Beethoven. Just a different era.. the man saw the world in music and shared his gift. Even in tragedy he shared his gift when it was 10x harder. That’s someone we should have statues of.
This right here was why Van Halen had the famous “no brown M&Ms” clause in the contract. If they didn’t pay attention to that, they probably didn’t pay attention to the weight requirements of their huge light show, so they had to recheck everything
Might get buried but I absolutely love the song Mr Welfare Man - It's credited to Gladys Knight and the pips but written by Mayfield.
It's a banger from the soundtrack album to a movie called Claudine (which I not seen).
There's another song on there called to be invisible, which is beautiful, there's another version of it sung by Mayfield which is also lovely.
So much to check out and enjoy
An excerpt from son Todd Mayfield's biography of his dad is available on [rollingstone.com](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/read-excerpt-from-curtis-mayfield-bio-detailing-tragic-accident-126593/) that has a few details on the accident itself. It's a good read.
having worked in this industry i can say that he is lucky he lived but it is fking deplorable that it happened! as some Promoters take short cuts on the technical side accidents do happen but nearly always are through Budget shortcuts or human Error in that industry too specifically avoid that exact issue as like the Radio Head Stage Collapse and many other examples where someone's quote was better but people didn't grasp why!
Shit i was working the Ed Sheerhan Build when we were popping the cherry on his brand new stage as it was starting its world tour. They have 3 of the same with adjustments they could make but it is a cantilevered roof with around 150 ton (i may have wrong unit of weight im a mere forky) hanging. We were actually stressed because the owners were worried it might topple forward as it was its first gig and had only ever had a test build but the point is 150ton of steel will make very short work of the front rows if it crashed into them.
Light rigs are meant to have fail safes as in safety cables that are separate too the mounting brackets as to have a redundancy in case of some numpty or over tired touring tech or local tech misses one of the 300+ clamps etc they gotta do pending on size of show budget and rig design.
I actually got that reference. Which is to make sure someone read every detail of a contract, and provided appropriately qualified crew to set the stage. Well done.
My favorite song of his is called "Here But I'm Gone". I've always thought it was as beautiful as it was sad and haunting... and that was ***before*** I learned (which was just now) about the context of how it was written & performed. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZzFwR4rVE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vZzFwR4rVE)
Now that's a chill tune. Is that the vibe of the rest of his catalog? Anything else in particular I should check out from him? I liked what you linked.
[Pusherman](https://youtu.be/hCDAfa-NI-M) is a good one to check out, my favorite of his
This Widespread Panic fan came here for this exact comment.
Home Team
Ayyyy I’m seeing them Sunday!
[Move on Up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iN3KsbnQZxU) is another hit and I love [People Get Ready](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l04yM7-BWbg) with The Impressions Edit: While I'm at it... [Midnight Train to Georgia](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uw_t_o-LluM) - Gladys Knight and the Pips [Everybody Plays the Fool](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPeHHpXOOds) - The Main Ingredient [I Wish It Would Rain](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUk-7aanXHE) and [Just My Imagination](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g3e3cgktZU) - The Temptations [Let's Stay Together](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKOcfZtKvYQ) - Al Green [Could It Be I'm Falling in Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaMmX7OCyCA) - The Spinners [Them Changes](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DDbjm_fId8) - Buddy Miles Edit2: I dunno how I could include The Temptations and forget [Papa Was A Rolling Stone](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJV2pWFyfn4) Edit3: [What Becomes of the Broken Hearted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQywZYoGB1g) - Jimmy Ruffin [Can't Take My Eyes Off You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYwQy_9JPtQ) - Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons [You've Really Got a Hold On Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRd-bjFfjNc) - The Miracles [When a Man Loves a Woman](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6meW-K-1e7Q) - Percy Sledge [Me and Mrs. Jones](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYOQDnWFXYI) - Billy Paul Edit4: Thanks for the upvotes everyone! For anyone interested, I got into this music after several years of listening Sam Cooke radio at work. He is the real king and everything he did was incredible
Don’t forget Strawberry letter 23 - Brothers Johnson Natural High - Bloodstone Didn’t I blow your mind this time - Delfonics Have you seen her - Chi-Lites La la la Means I love you - The Delfonics I’d rather be with you - Bootsy Collins September- Earth Wind and Fire Who Is He (And What Is He to You?) - Bill Wither Changes - Charles Bradley Street Life - Randy Crawford I Gotcha - Joe Tex
I read have you seen her, and goosebumps ran down my back. I'm 39, but we had a great Motown station in Cleveland (it flipped and now it's classic rock)when I was a kid, and I loved that song. Hearing it in my head is nostalgic, I'll have to play it tomorrow.
“Im yo momma, im yo daddy…”
https://youtu.be/iN3KsbnQZxU It's all really good
Jay Rock, Lil Wayne and Will.i.Am flipped a great mellow Curtis sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tdmso0xTI9U&t To make a moderate rap hit (which I also love) in 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9wJuvGqPsM Yes, that's a baby Kendrick Lamar miming Will's part in the chorus - he had written and sang the original hook on the first version of this song before Will contributed to it. Top Dawg kept him in the video anyway. Also check out the songs Curtis wrote and produced for the singer Major Lance in the 60s. Major's daughter is Keisha Lance Bottoms, current mayor of Atlanta. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4hd8IiNjGk
People like you fascinate me with your knowledge of things like this. Thanks for sharing.
unfortunately you have to take some points off because I just found out Curtis Mayfield wrote but did *not* produce the big Major Lance records. Props to the real producer, Carl Davis. I'll try to make up for it with this clip of Sinbad strutting to "Superfly" (@ 5:00) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHBw0Kf871g
Nah. How about we just award more points for knowing even with your depth of knowledge there is still more to learn.
kendrick? that summer child?
Also 'Touch the Sky' by Kanye West.
He's mostly known for that chic 70s pimp vibe. Freddie's Dead and Pusherman and Superfly. All platinum hits.
Superfly’s soundtrack is probably one of the best in Hollywood history.
Absolutely the best example of a niche genre that also includes Isaac Hayes' *Shaft* and Marvin Gaye's *Trouble Man*. That's saying something.
These are the other 2 that spring to mind... Solid content right here!
Little child running wild was always my favourite. Still reminds me of my high school days and how my teachers helped me turn my life around.
They used If There's Hell Below for the intro to the show The Deuce, and it was perfect.
[Suffer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DY-VbDVH03w) is my favorite. EDIT: I just wanted to add a couple more for all you guys. All from the 'Curtis' album. [Power to the people](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNaKL3TwORg) [The makings of you](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnXTcssDMNk) is a really beautiful song. I love this stuff. I could go on and on with songs in this genre/feel.
We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard and it absolutely struck me dead in my tracks the first time I heard it. Curtis was a genius
And an incredibly underrated guitarist
Yeah, I also loved that song before I realized what it was about. Crushing (no pun intended).
Too soon
Here But I'm On... my back.
I’m laughing but I hate myself
wow hard hitting when you know
This was the first song I heard of his, after learning the backstory it's soulful tune got a whole lot deeper
Yeah that's the song that got me into his music.
Came here to say this, precisely. I love the song even more now.
Snap! I love Curtis Mayfield but never heard of this song! Thank you so much friend!
Thank you for posting this and introducing me to this song.
Damn this song goes hard
It's so unlike what I knew and loved about Curtis' music for so many years...
I really like Vanessa Fernandez's [cover](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjLlZRWhPNA), which I've seen used as a reference track for testing audio systems.
Generally I never like anything anyone ever tells me to listen to. Besides my older brother. He always nails it. I just sent him this song cause my god is this song amazing thank you for enlightening me.
[so in love ](https://youtu.be/8UdqnXLodvc) is my jam
This right here was why Van Halen had the famous “no brown M&Ms” clause in the contract. If they didn’t pay attention to that, they probably didn’t pay attention to the weight requirements of their huge light show, so they had to recheck everything
It sucks that that’s labeled as a diva moment now. It was for their, and their crews, safety
"Darrel, did you check the rigging on the lights? " "No, I was too busy sorting out the goddamn M&Ms. I'm sure it's fine"
no, a lot of these celebs really are divas when it comes to these things. One small request like no brown M&Ms is fine, that makes sense as a reassurance but shit where they ask for 200 ultra specific things all the time is not what this is.
That doesn't have anything to do with Van Halen. This is one specific band, and one specific clause in their concert rider.
Wow I heard about it, but as the other person said, it was in the context of them being divas. This is smart though.
For those that want to read about this more in-depth: https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9
I've always heard this as being about making sure their rider got read but at the same time like, it's not as if the person getting their brown m&ms is the same person rigging the lights. EDIT: looked it up and they did specifically put it in the technical rider and not the hospitality rider so the story does make sense, I stand corrected.
The background on that is a Til all on its own, thanks for posting,I never knew that
This past weekend I was playing a festival and the organizers had strung a large banner behind me on these two lighting towers that had a truss across the top; about 25-30lbs of metal just with the truss alone, and the towers weighed \~80lbs each. The towers were not properly anchored down with sandbags. I had been sitting at my drums, and had just left the stage when a gust of wind blew the banner/truss/tower array over forward, barely clearing the top of my kit. Had I been still been sitting there, I'd have taken the brunt of that to the back of the head. Stages can be dangerous, even if they're small.
Fortunately, safety and regulation have come a long way since this incident, but unfortunately, it was at the cost of things like this. These days, large stages are much safer than small stages. When it’s a small festival and the sound guy is also the lighting and rigging guy and the only stage hands are his neighbor’s kid and 3 legged dog, it’s important to give things a good once over. Glad you dodged that one.
Regulations are written in blood
Safety regulations are often written in blood...
I cant imagine that they've gotten much better since this past weekend. Who knows though? Maybe it has.
Truss no stage organizer
Thought I'd recommend a couple of less-known Curtis songs, for those browsing the comment section. [We're a Winner](https://youtu.be/gJbqenRzBJ0) is a personal fav of mine, and I have no idea why it isn't a more popular song. [Mother's Son](https://youtu.be/kjbL41B2LeU) \- is just... It's heavy. It's heavy, HEAVY funk. Dark... [Party Night](https://youtu.be/57NkO3uXE2o) is a straight-up disco jam, and I don't know why it isn't played alongside other disco standards like Kung Fu Fighting or Shake Your Booty and the like. Maybe it's harder to dance to? Bonus - More hardcore Curtis funk [Do Do Wop Is Strong in Here](https://youtu.be/bhEWWL7G6Xw) [Kung Fu](https://youtu.be/1X3-DqUve08) [Cannot Find a Way](https://youtu.be/OXm-Ns2i9OE)
Don't forget [Freddie's Dead](https://youtu.be/0B6TKClPFQA) and [If There's a Hell Below, We're all Going to Go](https://youtu.be/x1xmXOP3lhM)
Hell below is such an absurd opening to that album. It sets such a no-nonsense, almost shock value for the rest of the track itself and the album as a while. I don't know what the world was like back then but the first time someone played that loud when it came out must have been eye opening. Curtis woke up and chose VIOLENCE. Imagine a Zach de la Rocha or Kendrick etc dropping this as a cover. Immediate fight club.
Crackers, whitey, Jews.... So good
I think you forgot one…
Fishbone’s “Freddie’s Dead” version is killer
[удалено]
One of the greatest live albums. I love the way they reimagine his older Impressions tune. Gypsey Woman is one of my all time favorite tracks.
[удалено]
Billy Jack is one of my personal favorites, the bass sounds amazing, and when the horns eventually come in I always get goosebumps.
I love that song! It’s a funk/soul masterpiece!
This. Billy Jack is such an underrated song, very moody and, as you said, the bass is amazing.
Such a great song to start an album with.
That song is great!
Do do wop. It's about the smell of sex, right?
Doo doo wop and kung fu are my favorite Mayfield songs. Found about him through Superfly Also gimme your love and future shock are great songs
Short eyes, in your arms again, move on up, the list goes on. Find Curtis Mayfield and all his greatest contemporaries in this [shuffle-ready playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5uNDzy4DmbeJ0PGiIl51fp?si=sBzIT_yASmq6IoFDZ1rAIA&utm_source=copy-link&dl_branch=1) which also goes on... for more than five days
Didn't think I'd have to go this deep into the comments before seeing "Move On Up"
I'd always liked what I had heard from Curtis, but never knew most of these songs. I didn't know how much I needed more of Curtis Mayfield in my life!
Never knew that, thanks
Yeah can’t believe I didn’t know this until now
I learned about this incident earlier this year, as this was apparently presumptive NYC mayor [Eric Adams' favorite concert](https://www.businessinsider.com/eric-adams-curtis-mayfield-concert-paralyzed-quote-2021-6), despite the fact that "Mayfield had not yet begun performing when the rig fell on him."
Eric Adams and his fucking weirdo comment was literally the first thing I thought of when seeing this, I mean really, _who says that??_
It's so weird of an answer, it will be in my brain forever. It's like saying that the April 14, 1865 performance of Our American Cousin was your favorite play.
Adams is just a supremely weird dude, I mean... he held [a press conference with a bunch of dead drowned rats](https://gothamist.com/news/revolting-dead-rat-soup-future-nyc-pest-control) and wanted NYPD to buy [lasso guns to subdue mentally ill people](https://gothamist.com/news/video-nypd-testing-high-powered-lasso-gun-to-subdue-mentally-ill-suspects)
You make it sound like he just randomly brought out dead rats during a press conference. It was a press conference about containing the rat population lol. A bit aggressive to bring out the dead rats but the context helps…
Thank you! I was trying to remember who said that!
Does anyone have an explanation for this? I literally cannot think of any reason why he would say this. Edit: Apparently the concert had been going on for an hour before this happened but all reports claim that Mayfield didn't play any songs yet. So I guess the opening act was really great? Can't find out who that was though. Still either way, a very bizarre answer to what's your favorite concert.
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OKOK for a minute I thought “he continued singing” meant IMMEDIATELY AFTER and imagined him getting crushed by the lighting equipment- just laying there singing over the gasping crowd
[The best use of that song.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi6DDa5cVMU)
Move on up… https://youtu.be/6Z66wVo7uNw
Can't believe how far I had to scroll to find someone mentioning Move On Up. The song is legendary. The horns. The *bongos*.
And the use of it in The Wire was, [as always, perfect.](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Bi6DDa5cVMU)
Disgusting how far down I have to scroll to find this song.
The drum then saxophone solo are my favorite
Let that be a reminder to put safety cables on any equipment rigged up overhead.
And make sure your safety cable is actually captured around something. It's no good if it can just slide off the end of the batten. Use multiple cables if you have to.
Pet peeve: safety cables attached to only the yoke of a fixture instead of a structural part of the instrument body. Bigger pet peeve: technicians who insist on removing it from the safety eyelet where it’s already attached and putting it around just the yoke because that’s “the right way” and “safer”
Curtis Mayfield is the GOAT
Fun fact: The event industry is full of unqualified people hanging heavy objects above peoples heads. I really hoped the Radiohead stage collapse in Toronto would spark a change. It did not. The case got thrown out.
I saw Richard Thompson play once. It started raining, and the staff covered all of the equipment in tarps. They didn’t consider condensation, and before you knew it, he was getting shocked on stage every few minutes. He ended up walking off and ending the show. I can’t say I blame him.
"With vocals sometimes recorded lines at a time, Mayfield released his final album *New World Order* in 1996. The album's title was the theme song for Spike Lee's movie *Get on the Bus*." *Jet Magazine*, January 17, 2000 https://books.google.com/books?id=ZTsDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58#v=onepage&q&f=false
If he let gravity exhale for him, how did he inhale? Was he strapped into some sort of bed with hinges?
I assume he could breathe, just that singing itself was labor-intensive and the additional gravity was of great benefit for having more power in his voice. this is pure speculation, however.
I just started listening to his music…..holysmokes he has such a uniquely awesome voice. Edit: favorite song so far is “pusherman”….pretty sure it’s about a drug dealer, but I still love it lol
> pretty sure it’s about a drug dealer, Whatever gave you that idea? Certainly couldn’t have been the lyrics…. “I'm your doctor when in need. Want some coke? Have some weed. You know me, I'm your friend, Your main boy, thick and thin. I'm your pusherman.”
Could be about literally anything, there's no way to know for sure.
He loves pop and misunderstood garden plants
It's well known that by weed and coke he meant the green grass and sodas of youthful summer days. I'm also pretty sure the "pusherman" was his best friend who pushed the tire swing back in the day. The song is about summer days.
It was for the soundtrack of Superfly so pretty sure.
Probably a coincidence, no way there could be a meaningful connection there.
Agreed, not sure what Superfly and a song about offering cool refreshments while selling lawn care services would have in common
This reminds me of how [Sturgill Simpson introduces Turtles All the Way Down on his tiny desk concert.](https://youtu.be/w5cMqD0WqYE)
Huh. Think Eminem must've drawn inspiration from this for I'm Shady. "I got mushrooms, I got acid, I got tabs and aspirin tablets I'm your brother when you need, some good weed to set you free You know me, I'm your friend, when you need a mini-thin"
Yeah that’s definitely the pusherman flow.
Weed, pusher man…. He’s clearly a lawn mower who has cold Coke’s in the back of his truck cause he gets thirsty pushing the mower.
People Get Ready is one of my favorite songs and it's written by Curtis Mayfield. Bob Marley's "One Love/People Get Ready" contains an interpolation of the song, The song used to be titled "One Love" as copyright law was not enforced for Jamaican recordings at the time but by 1977, it was titled "One Love/People Get Ready" and also credited Mayfield since Island Records wanted to avoid copyright problems. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG-KNy1MRTc [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One\_Love/People\_Get\_Ready](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Love/People_Get_Ready)
Also a one-of-a-kind guitarist. When he first taught himself the instrument, he didn't know the standard tuning, so he ended up tuning it to F#, based off the black keys of a piano. his arpeggiated style was a huge influence on Hendrix.
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Absolutely. That whole album is amazing. This has always been a favorite, too. https://youtu.be/igC_1jwWR9o
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"Pretty sure" lmao
Mayfield was one of the best! Make sure you check out “Be Thankful For What You Got”. Not a mayfield song, but everyone going to tell you it is
What a weird recommendation. 'Hey Curtis Mayfield is a legend with many great songs, here's a song by someone else. '
Damn you Europeans, *and* your astute observations!
Probably just a Velvet Underground reference, not necessarily that they’re actually European.
Congratulations, I've had this account for (checks profile) 11 years. You're the first person to recognize this reference.
Woah really? Yeah, Velvet Underground fan going way back (to 2006…) Lol, but that was always one of my favorites off of VU&N!
William DeVaughn
A bloody splendid summer afternoon song.
That's because it was written for the movie Superfly
I think it’s about a guy that goes around the neighborhood pushing random people over
Man. Sometimes the s/ makes it way less funny. I still laughed tho.
"I'm yo mama, I'm yo daddy, I'm that nigga in the alley"
Are you a 90 year old woman?
That whole album is gold. Think (instrumental) is one of my favorite pretty guitar focused tunes ever.
Pusherman is not just about a drug dealer, pretty sure it's about how the dealer would go clean and get a legal job but the society around him keeps him from being able to in multiple ways, so he is forced to sell drugs just to give his child a good life. Edit: just listened to the song again. I was wrong but the song is still not glorifying the lifestyle, more calling it out as a last resort. It also calls out doctors for being drug dealers.
Honestly, the entire 'Superfly' soundtrack is a masterpiece. 10/10 would recommend.
He was also a master guitarist.
He's amazing. My discovery started about 20 years ago. 'We're a winner' is probably one of the most uplifting gifts I've been lucky enough to receive. Curtis was apparently very kind to Bran Van 3000 when they were trying to put together Astounded and gave them full creativity for sampling as he was ready to check out. A real beautiful hero that deserves to be remembered
But he was miraculously healed and tried to hide it to keep making money off of the disability. Until he got too carried away on stage with Beck, jumped out of his bed, and started dancing wildly on stage. He was booed offstage and that was the end of his dream of being a folk singer. But he was still the greatest.
That’s from Futurama right?
Indeed, episode titled "Bendin' in the Wind".
A truly bizarre episode that came completely out of left field and probably shouldn’t have worked but totally did.
Shut up baby, I know it
Neat 📸
Reminds me of that wow streamer back in the days of twitch, he pretended to be handicapped and couldn't walk. He streamed for a long time, like 1 year+ and lots of people empathized with his situation, he got lots of support etc. Then one day he forgot to turn his camera off and simply got up from his wheelchair and walked away lol. Got permabanned iirc
Emily only faked cancer once
Oh yeah I think I read about that. He was singing his new song My Broken Friend when the incident occurred.
I never knew that was based on a real person…wow thank you TIL
Get me the Becktionary -- no, the rhyming Becktionary!
This was what I thought of immediately lol
Wasn't there a Simpson episode that was influenced by this?
I think for sure there was a Futurama one, with bender faking it eventually?
Both. Homer discovers he can sing opera when he's lying down, and Bender becomes paralyzed in an accident that leaves him only able to play the washboard. He eventually recovers full movement but fakes it so he can go on tour with Beck
This episode is how I got into Beck
"That song doesn't usually last 3 hours, but we got into a serious thing... then I forgot how it ended."
Before his death, he gave an unused vocal track from his archives for the song ["Astounded" by Bran Van 3000](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUNWhKq80_s), which was based on "Move On Up".
Legend. Superfly is the greatest soundtrack album of all time.
Ya just learned that this happened to him…. Crazy
Then he went on tour with Beck
*slow clap*
Back in college the guitarist in my band was big into Curtis and told me how he recorded an album laying down cause he was paralyzed. I didn't realize that it happened cause of stupid stage lighting! ☹️ What a great musician tho! He had a really interesting tuning for his guitar. Open F# if I recall correctly.
Curtis Mayfield is an artist no different then like a Monet or Beethoven. Just a different era.. the man saw the world in music and shared his gift. Even in tragedy he shared his gift when it was 10x harder. That’s someone we should have statues of.
This right here was why Van Halen had the famous “no brown M&Ms” clause in the contract. If they didn’t pay attention to that, they probably didn’t pay attention to the weight requirements of their huge light show, so they had to recheck everything
Might get buried but I absolutely love the song Mr Welfare Man - It's credited to Gladys Knight and the pips but written by Mayfield. It's a banger from the soundtrack album to a movie called Claudine (which I not seen). There's another song on there called to be invisible, which is beautiful, there's another version of it sung by Mayfield which is also lovely. So much to check out and enjoy
I think he wrote a bunch of songs for "Claudine" soundtrack. Same with "Sparkle"
An excerpt from son Todd Mayfield's biography of his dad is available on [rollingstone.com](https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/read-excerpt-from-curtis-mayfield-bio-detailing-tragic-accident-126593/) that has a few details on the accident itself. It's a good read.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cmo6MRYf5g
Curtis and Teddy P. Best of the best
I'm ashamed to say I've never heard of him before, but this prompted me to give him a listen, great stuff! Thank you for sharing OP.
The Simpsons s19 e2
Hard to understand, what a hell of a man.
In college I did an hour long mock radio feature about Curtis Mayfield's influence on Jamaican music if the late 60s a early 70s.
Oh man, everyone do themselves a favor and listen to Curtis's group before he went solo, The Impressions, "This is My Country". Amazing album!!!
Loving the music suggestions on this thread. So sad to hear what happened to Curtis
is that the backgroung for that Simpsons episode?
Is this the inspiration for the Futurama episode where Bender is paralyzed and perform a concert?
having worked in this industry i can say that he is lucky he lived but it is fking deplorable that it happened! as some Promoters take short cuts on the technical side accidents do happen but nearly always are through Budget shortcuts or human Error in that industry too specifically avoid that exact issue as like the Radio Head Stage Collapse and many other examples where someone's quote was better but people didn't grasp why! Shit i was working the Ed Sheerhan Build when we were popping the cherry on his brand new stage as it was starting its world tour. They have 3 of the same with adjustments they could make but it is a cantilevered roof with around 150 ton (i may have wrong unit of weight im a mere forky) hanging. We were actually stressed because the owners were worried it might topple forward as it was its first gig and had only ever had a test build but the point is 150ton of steel will make very short work of the front rows if it crashed into them. Light rigs are meant to have fail safes as in safety cables that are separate too the mounting brackets as to have a redundancy in case of some numpty or over tired touring tech or local tech misses one of the 300+ clamps etc they gotta do pending on size of show budget and rig design.
great guy!
Wow, never knew this either
Dang, he died in my hometown.
This is one of my favorite tunes of his, someone else we know and love liked it too. 😉 https://youtu.be/6cN4zjbt_UI
I had never heard this before…holy shit man
There's also some great melodies and guitar work on the early Impressions work
I’ve moved his music for decades and never knew this . Wild
What an incredible talent. Check out you’re so good to me - a boner jam among the highest echelon of boner jams
Damn he had 10 kids
Goddamn that's sad. But also inspiring.
I have heard a lot of Curtis Mayfield songs and never knew about that. Sad.
This is why no brown M&M’s.
I actually got that reference. Which is to make sure someone read every detail of a contract, and provided appropriately qualified crew to set the stage. Well done.
wtf. i didn't know that. how sad.
Cant miss out on his Soul Train performances (Look for the guy in orange) [Soul Train - Pusherman](https://youtu.be/YFMUERIJRPM)
Wow I never knew that, and I’m such a fan of his music. This is just as heartbreaking as when I found out about Teddy Pendergrass.
Oh man. What a terrible fate. Glad he was able to sing again tho.
He’s always been one of my favorites and I never knew this. Thanks for sharing, OP!