Mayfield is probably best known for his anthemic music with The Impressions and for the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Superfly.
Perhaps because he didn't cross over to the pop audience as heavily as Motown's stars, it may be that the scope of Curtis Mayfield's talents and contributions have yet to be fully recognized. Judged merely by his records alone, the man's legacy is enormous. As the leader of the Impressions, he recorded some of the finest soul vocal group music of the 1960s. As a solo artist in the 1970s, he helped pioneer funk and helped introduce hard-hitting urban commentary into soul music. "Gypsy Woman," "It's All Right," "People Get Ready," "Freddie's Dead," and "Superfly" are merely the most famous of his many hit records.
But Curtis Mayfield wasn't just a singer. Born in in Chicago, IL, he wrote most of his material at a time when that was not the norm for soul performers. He was among the first -- if not the very first -- to speak openly about African-American pride and community struggle in his compositions. As a songwriter and a producer, he was a key architect of Chicago Soul, penning material and working on sessions by notable Windy City soulsters like Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, Major Lance, and Billy Butler. In this sense, he can be compared to Smokey Robinson, who also managed to find time to write and produce many classics for other soul stars. Mayfield was also an excellent guitarist, and his rolling, Latin-influenced lines were highlights of the Impressions' recordings in the '60s. During the next decade, he would toughen up his guitar work and production, incorporating some of the best features of psychedelic rock and funk.
Mayfield began his career as an associate of Jerry Butler, with whom he formed the Impressions in the late '50s. After the Impressions had a big hit in 1958 with "For Your Precious Love," Butler, who had sung lead on the record, split to start a solo career. Mayfield, while keeping the Impressions together, continued to write for and tour with Butler before the Impressions got their first Top 20 hit in 1961, "Gypsy Woman."
Mayfield was heavily steeped in gospel music before he entered the pop arena, and gospel, as well as doo wop, influences would figure prominently in most of his '60s work. Mayfield wasn't a staunch traditionalist, however. He and the Impressions may have often worked the call-and-response gospel style, but his songs (romantic and otherwise) were often veiled or unveiled messages of black pride, reflecting the increased confidence and self-determination of the African-American community. Musically he was an innovator as well, using arrangements that employed the punchy, blaring horns and Latin-influenced rhythms that came to be trademark flourishes of Chicago soul. As the staff producer for the OKeh label, Mayfield was also instrumental in lending his talents to the work of other Chi-town soul singers who went on to national success. With Mayfield singing lead and playing guitar, the Impressions had 14 Top 40 hits in the 1960s (five made the Top 20 in 1964 alone), and released some above-average albums during that period as well.
Given Mayfield's prodigious talents, it was perhaps inevitable that he would eventually leave the Impressions to begin a solo career, as he did in 1970. His first few singles boasted a harder, more funk-driven sound; singles like "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Gonna Go" found him confronting ghetto life with a realism that had rarely been heard on record. He really didn't hit his artistic or commercial stride as a solo artist, though, until Superfly, his soundtrack to a 1972 blaxploitation film. Drug deals, ghetto shootings, the death of young black men before their time: all were described in penetrating detail. Yet Mayfield's irrepressible falsetto vocals, uplifting melodies, and fabulous funk pop arrangements gave the oft-moralizing material a graceful strength that few others could have achieved. For all the glory of his past work, Superfly stands as his crowning achievement, not to mention a much-needed counterpoint to the sensationalistic portrayals of the film itself.
At this point Mayfield, along with Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye, was the foremost exponent of a new level of compelling auteurism in soul. His failure to maintain the standards of Superfly qualifies as one of the great disappointments in the history of black popular music. Perhaps he'd simply reached his peak after a long climb, but the rest of his '70s work didn't match the musical brilliance and lyrical subtleties of Superfly, although he had a few large R&B hits in a much more conventional vein, such as "Kung Fu," "So in Love," and "Only You Babe."
Mayfield had a couple of hits in the early '80s, but the decade generally found his commercial fortunes in a steady downward spiral, despite some intermittent albums.
On August 14, 1990, he became paralyzed from the neck down when a lighting rig fell on top of him at a concert in Brooklyn, NY. In 1993, three years after the accident which caused Mayfield's paralysis, Shanachie records released the album People Get Ready: A Tribute to Curtis Mayfield featuring a.o. Jerry Butler, Don Covay and Steve Cropper.
Mayfield received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995.
Curtis Mayfield died December 26, 1999 at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia.
Ain't No Love Lost
Curtis Mayfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Suffered your every weakness
And shared with you every tear
Stood lookin' like a fool
Claimin' you all mine
When I know what you was doin'
People doin' it all the time
How we were supposed to play
You claim not to be serious
And now you wanna leave me
Ain't no love
Ain't no love
Ain't no, ain't no
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
I just should not become ... Casanova
And with a little luck you make it over
You may not know
That ... another love's hard to find
And what's been played on me
Can be played on you in turn
You and I have to say it
How we were supposed to play
You claim not to be serious
And now you wanna leave me
Ain't no love
Ain't no love
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
You told me long ago
That you really love me so
And now you've gone and left
And I'm here by myself
Do you wanna know my feelings
What is really in my heart
Go on about your business
From you girl I don't want no part
And it's such a shame ...
...
... how you play
and you ...
... where you go
cause I really like you out of sight
You and I have to say it
How we were supposed to play
You claim not to be serious
And now you wanna leave me
Ain't no love
Ain't no love
Ain't no love
Ain't no, ain't no, ain't no
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no, ain't no
Ain't no love
Ain't no love
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
Ain't no love lost
In Curtis Mayfield's song Ain't No Love Lost, the singer expresses his pain and frustration at the end of a long-term relationship. After spending many years with his partner, he has suffered through her every weakness and has been with her through every tear. He now realizes that while he thought they were committed to each other, she was actually seeing other people. The singer feels foolish for claiming her as his own and for not seeing the truth earlier. He accuses her of being hypocritical for claiming not to be serious about their relationship, only to leave him in the end. The chorus repeats the phrase "ain't no love lost" as a way to express the finality of their separation and to suggest that there was never really any love between them to begin with.
The song deals with themes of trust, betrayal, and heartbreak that are common in many romantic relationships. The lyrics suggest that relationships can be complicated and that people often hide their true feelings and intentions from each other. The song's message is that even though relationships can be painful and disappointing, it's important to be honest with yourself and your partner about your intentions and feelings.
Line by Line Meaning
Been layin' with you girl a many a year
I have been in a relationship with you for many years
Suffered your every weakness
I have endured and supported you through every struggle
And shared with you every tear
I have shared in every moment of sadness and emotion with you
Stood lookin' like a fool
I have felt foolish for trying to hold onto you while you did not feel the same way
Claimin' you all mine
I have been possessive of you and declared you as mine
When I know what you was doin'
I have been aware of your infidelity
People doin' it all the time
Many people engage in unfaithfulness
You and I have to say it
We need to have an honest conversation
How we were supposed to play
What rules we were supposed to follow in our relationship
You claim not to be serious
You have stated that you do not see our relationship as serious
And now you wanna leave me
Now, you want to end our relationship
Ain't no love
There is no love
Ain't no, ain't no
There is absolutely no
Ain't no love lost
The end of our relationship does not result in the loss of love, because there was no love to begin with
I just should not become ... Casanova
I shouldn't become a womanizer
And with a little luck you make it over
If you're lucky, you'll find someone else
You may not know
You may not realize
That ... another love's hard to find
Finding true love is not easy
And what's been played on me
The way you treated me
Can be played on you in turn
Someone else may treat you the same way
You told me long ago
You had previously expressed to me
That you really love me so
That you loved me very much
And now you've gone and left
But now you have left me
And I'm here by myself
I am alone without you
Do you wanna know my feelings
Do you want to understand how I feel
What is really in my heart
The true emotions in my heart
Go on about your business
Move on with your life
From you girl I don't want no part
I don't want to be involved with you anymore
And it's such a shame ...
It is unfortunate
... how you play
Your behavior and actions
and you ...
Your character
... where you go
Your future
cause I really like you out of sight
Because I still have feelings for you
Contributed by Austin M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.