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.
This Is My Country
Curtis Mayfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Do do do
Some people think we don't have the right
To say it's my country
Before they give in, they'd rather fuss and fight
Than say it's my country
I've paid three hundred years or more
This is my country
Do do do
Do do do
Too many have died in protecting my pride
For me to go second class
We've survived a hard blow and I want you to know
That you'll face us at last
And I know you will give consideration
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation
This is my country
Do do do
Do do do
And I know you will give consideration
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation
This is my country
Do do do
Do do do
Do do do
The lyrics of Curtis Mayfield's song, "This is My Country", touches upon the issues of racial inequality and the struggles of the African-American community in the United States. The song begins with an assertion that some people think African-Americans are not entitled to claim that America is their country. However, the singer argues that they have paid their dues and contributed towards building the country, echoing the sentiments of many civil rights activists during the 1960s.
Mayfield points out that African-Americans have had to endure hundreds of years of slavery, oppression, and violence, which has left a significant mark on their community. This has included the use of brutal means such as whippings and other forms of physical abuse to keep them enslaved. Despite these challenges, the singer states that he is proud of his country and would like to be treated as an equal citizen.
The song’s chorus expresses a desire for consideration and justice, as he wonders whether they will perish unjustly or live as equal members of the nation. The lyrics “this is my country” transcends limiting frameworks and reflects Mayfield's call for racial unity, justice, and equality. Overall, the song is a powerful assertion of African-Americans' right to claim America as their own despite the long-standing discrimination and prejudice that they have faced.
Line by Line Meaning
Some people think we don't have the right
There are individuals who believe that our community doesn't have the privilege
To say it's my country
To claim this land as our own.
Before they give in, they'd rather fuss and fight
Instead of admitting defeat, these individuals would prefer to bicker and engage in hostilities.
Than say it's my country
Or acknowledge us as inhabitants of this nation.
I've paid three hundred years or more
We have endured countless decades of oppression and discrimination.
Of slave driving, sweat, and welts on my back
We have been forced into brutal labor, suffering from physical abuse and torture.
This is my country
But despite all of this hardship, we have an undeniable claim to America.
Too many have died in protecting my pride
There have been countless fatalities in the fight to preserve our dignity and self-respect.
For me to go second class
So we refuse to be relegated to a second-class status.
We've survived a hard blow and I want you to know
We have overcome major hardships, and it's important that everyone recognizes it.
That you'll face us at last
The oppressors will finally have to confront us.
And I know you will give consideration
I trust that you will take this matter seriously.
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation
Either we will succumb to unfair treatment, or we will thrive as a nation with equal rights.
This is my country
Regardless of the outcome, America is still our home.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: CURTIS MAYFIELD
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@louigi82048
Acts 17:22-31 (NIV2011)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: “People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious.
23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is what I am going to proclaim to you.
24 “The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else.
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill.
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
This I must post because the truth will set history straight. GOD informed us that from Adam and Eve He created all the Nations of the world. All races of people were created in the first two parents. Our existence is in GOD. And all races of peoples came from Him. We are all related to one another! But this you won't believe because you don't believe in GOD or His word. One day I am going to be challenged to defend what I have been led by the Spirit of GOD to believe. And my reward will be death at the hands of men who challenge the sovereignty GOD. But my reward at the hands of GOD will be eternal life. Mankind is not greater than GOD. He is a direct creation of GOD. And I find great consolation in the fact that GOD will one day come and give me consolation from the beliefs of men. "Yes, GOD is real and alive."
@thurtletoncrackwinnet1779
Some people think we don't have the right To say it's my country
Before they give in, they'd rather fuss and fight Than say it's my country.
I've paid three hundred years or more.
Of slave driving, sweat, and welts on my back This is my country.
Too many have died in protecting my pride.
For me to go second class.
We've survived a hard blow and I want you to know. That you'll face us at last.
And I know you will give consideration l.
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation.
This is my country.
And I know you will give consideration
Shall we perish unjust or live equal as a nation This is my country
Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Curtis Mayfield
@jeanwiggins5765
"EVERYONE" IN OUR CULTURE NEEDS TO LISTEN TO THIS SONG TODAY AND REMEMBER THOSE WHO SUFFERED AND DIED FOR ALL OF US AS BLACK PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY TO HAVE FREEDOM.
@teredude
What about us other folks with soul.
@williamjones7247
YES MA'AM!!! AMEN!!!
@williamjones7247
@Terrance Fields
Then join the group that's fought the longest and hardest for equality AND justice (Civil Rights, BLM etc) and don't support police murders of Black Americans by making racist dumb comments as: "he was a criminal/drug addict/thug anyway so he deserved to die" crap comments so many "who claim to be for equality".
That's a starting point for all who are not Black Americans who believe they GOT SOUL!!! LOL...pass that fire...then you'll have crossed over into the late John Lewis territory.✌✌
@EcnalKcin
You do realize that the vast majority of people that fought and died for black people to be free were white, right? I mean if you were trying to say that people need to remember that, I 100% agree.
@robertjohnson-er4rp
It shouldn't have been like that in the first place.
@rokrok60
I vividly remember this song while growing up as a child during the Vietnam War/civil rights movement era. My parents had played it often. Many of The Impressions’ songs were about the struggles of the 1960’s.
@adriennerobinson1180
Truth Indeed AMEN
@888bjxjs888
This is more relevant today than ever. Timeless message of strength, power and dignity.
@jeffrp73
In light of everything going on in the world, this is more relevant than ever. Peace to you Mr. Mayfield.