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.
Ghetto Child (Little Child Run
Curtis Mayfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Watch a while, you see he never smiles
Broken home, father gone
Mama tired so he's all alone
Kind of sad, kind of mad
Ghetto child, thinkin' he's been had
But I can just hear him
Didn't have to be here
You didn't have to love for me
While I was just a nothin' child
Why couldn't y'all just let me be
Let me be, let me be, let me be
Little child, runnin' wild
Watch a while, you see he never smiles
Broken home, daddy gone
Mama tired and he's all alone
Kind of sad, oh, baby, kind of mad
Ghetto child, thinkin' he's been had
And I can just hear him sayin'
I didn't have to be here
You didn't have to love for me
While I was just a nothin' child
Why couldn't they just let me be
Let me be, let me be, let me be
Ain't got no money
He's runnin' wild through the streets, feeling sad and angry as he takes in the world around him. He carries the weight of a broken home without a father present, and his mother is too drained and exhausted to provide him with the support he desperately needs. The lyrics paint a picture of a young child from the ghetto who is struggling to make sense of his difficult circumstances.
Despite this, the singer can still hear the child's voice inside his head, questioning the love and affection that should have been given to him when he was just a "nothing child." He wonders why he wasn't just left alone, allowed to be himself without the constant struggle of trying to survive on the streets and in a tough environment.
Line by Line Meaning
Little child, runnin' wild
A young child is running around without control or direction
Watch a while, you see he never smiles
If you observe him, you'll notice he never smiles
Broken home, father gone
The child comes from a family that is not whole, and the father is not present
Mama tired so he's all alone
The child's mother is exhausted, leaving the child to fend for himself
Kind of sad, kind of mad
The child is experiencing a range of emotions such as sadness and anger
Ghetto child, thinkin' he's been had
The child, who lives in the ghetto, feels like he has been cheated in life
But I can just hear him
The singer can almost hear what the child is thinking/saying
In the back of his mind sayin'
The child is thinking this to himself
Didn't have to be here
I didn't have to be born into these circumstances
You didn't have to love for me
My parents didn't have to bring me into this world if they were unable to provide for me
While I was just a nothin' child
When I was too young and helpless to do anything about my situation
Why couldn't y'all just let me be
Why couldn't my parents just let me be by not having me and subjecting me to this life
Let me be, let me be, let me be
Leave me alone to deal with my own struggles
Ain't got no money
The child is also suffering from poverty and lack of resources
Contributed by Julian N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
T.H.Q
Here the lyrics y'all:
Little child
Runnin' wild
Watch a while
You see he never smiles
Broken home
Father gone
Mama tired
So he's all alone
Kind of sad
Kind of mad
Ghetto child
Thinkin' he's been had
In the back of his mind he's sayin'
Didn't have to be here
You didn't have to love for me
While I was just a nothin' child
Why couldn't they just let me be
Let me be, let me be, let me be
One room shack
On the alley-back
Control, I'm told
From across the track
Where is the mayor
Who'll make all things fair
He lives outside
Our polluted air
And I didn't have to be here
You didn't have to love for me
While I was just a nothin' child
Why couldn't they just let me be
Let me be, let me be, let me be
I got a Jones
Runnin' through ma' bones
I'm sorry son
All your money's gone
Painful rip
In my upper hip
I guess it's time
To take another trip
Don't care what nobody say
I got to take the pain away
It's getting worser day by day
And all my life has been this way
Can't reason with the pusher man
Finance is all that he understands
You junkie, mama cries, you know
Would rip her, but I love her so
Love her so, now
Cæ Fē
Homeless right now. Writing this from a McDonald’s. Times are tough and bills are tough. I’m not giving up and this song keeps me moving. Love y’all. God is good.
FM GENESIDE
how are you doing?
Michael Jenkins
🙏🏿
Chistability
I've Been There & I Hope You Are Ok🙏🏾
Bob Miller
power to u brother,, love and contentment from Liverpool UK,, one life, one love, one more chance to shine,,never STOP loving,,Bobble&MrTao,xxx
RedHawk
🙏💙🌻🌹
Fred Allen
Grown folks music. Little child running wild. There's never gonna be another a man like Mr. Curtis Mayfield. Rest In Peace.
alethea davis
It does seem that way, at least in the secular world.
Willie Brown
This is one of the most realest songs ever recorded, still so relevant today. RIP Curtis Mayfield👍🏾🙏🏾
Jarvis Murriel
💖💖💖💙MDR