Mayfield was born in Minden, Louisiana. As a youth, he showed a talent for poetry, so he thought he would try songwriting and singing. He began his performing career in Texas and had moved to Los Angeles by 1942.
He auditioned his song "Two Years of Torture" to Supreme Records (a Los Angeles-area record label) because he thought it would be a good song for Jimmy Witherspoon. The label liked his performance and asked him to record it in 1947. Although his vocal style was influenced by such stylists as Charles Brown, Mayfield did not focus on the white market as did many West Coast bluesmen. Rather, he sang blues ballads, mostly his own songs, in a gentle vocal style.
In 1950, he signed with Specialty Records and released several well-received R&B records. His most famous performance: "Please Send Me Someone to Love" was a number one R&B hit in 1950. His career continued to blossom with songs like "Strange Things Happening", "Lost Love," "What a Fool I Was," "Prayin' for Your Return," "Cry Baby," and "Big Question." A 1953 auto accident left him seriously injured, including a facial disfigurement that limited his performing.
Mayfield's songs tend to be downbeat and his lyrics tend to be heartbreaking, but his vulnerability and emotional sensitivity prevent songs like "Life Is Suicide" and "The River's Invitation" from being maudlin.
Mayfield continued to write and record for Specialty until 1954 and then recorded for Chess Records and the Imperial label. In the early 1960s, he became one of Ray Charles's favorite songwriters, writing classic songs such as "Hit the Road Jack", "At the Club", and "Danger Zone" (which has the same melody of "Please Send Me Someone to Love". Charles signed Mayfield to his Tangerine logo in 1962.
When Mayfield died of a heart attack in 1984, at the age of 63, he had fallen back into obscurity.
Mayfield hit his creative peak in the years before his music became a mainstream sound. Thus it was always a struggle to gain recognition that he was due. But available examples of his music demonstrate his writing and performing talent and his enormous influence on other performers
Memory Pain
Percy Mayfield Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Serve me right to be alone
Hey, to be alone
Lawd, serve me right to suffer
Oh! Serve me right to be alone
Hey, to be alone
You know I'm still livin' with a memory
Of the days that's passed and gone
Everytime I see a woman
Hey, hey, it make me think of mine
Yeah
Ohh, everytime I see a woman
Oh, It make me think of mine
Make me think of mine
But the way she treat me
Lord, I just can't keep from cryin'
Oh, can't keep from cryin'
Oh yeah
Ohh
Serve me right to suffer
Ohh
Serve me right to be alone
Ohh yeah
When I get home in the evenin'
Hey, hey, my woman would be gone
Yes she would be gone
Ohh, when I get home in the evenin'
Hmm, my old lady would be gone
Oh! she would be gone
When I get up in the mornin'
Her lights would just be comin' home
Just be comin' home
Ohh yea
Look out now
Yea
Yea
Ohh, serve me right to suffer
Hey, hey, serve me right to be alone
Serve me right to be alone
Hmm, serve me right to suffer
Ohh, serve me right to be alone, uh
Yes to be alone
'Cause I'm still livin' with a memory
Of the days that's passed and gone
The days that's passed and gone
Percy Mayfield's song "Memory Pain" is a deep and melancholic blues piece, conveying the pain and sorrow of a man who has been left alone to deal with his memories. The opening lines, "Serve me right to suffer, serve me right to be alone," speak volumes about the singer's resigned acceptance of his fate. The repetition of the phrase "to be alone" reiterates the theme of loneliness, one of the many emotions that the song evokes.
The second half of the song describes the man's memories, specifically how he cannot help but compare every woman he sees to his ex, who has left him. Every time he sees a woman, he is reminded of her, and the pain of her absence forces him to cry. This is further emphasized in the lines, "But the way she treat me, Lord, I just can't keep from crying." The man's sadness is made even more apparent in the last stanza, which describes how his woman is never home when he comes back in the evening and how her lights are just turning on in the morning when he has to leave.
Overall, "Memory Pain" is a testament to Mayfield's skill at painting a vivid picture of despair through his lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Serve me right to suffer
I deserve to suffer the pain of lost love
Serve me right to be alone
I deserve to be alone as a result of my actions
Hey, to be alone
Being alone is my punishment
Lawd, serve me right to suffer
God has deemed that I must suffer this heartache
Oh! Serve me right to be alone
I have no one to blame but myself for being lonely
You know I'm still livin' with a memory
I am haunted by the memory of a lost love
Of the days that's passed and gone
I long for the days when my love was still with me
Everytime I see a woman
The sight of another woman reminds me of my lost love
It make me think of mine
I cannot help but compare every woman to my lost love
Make me think of mine
Every woman I see brings back memories of her
But the way she treat me
The way my lost love treated me still hurts me deeply
Lord, I just can't keep from cryin'
I still cry over the pain she caused me
Oh yeah
When I get home in the evenin'
I can never predict when my lost love will be gone
My woman would be gone
She often leaves me without warning or explanation
Yes she would be gone
Ohh, when I get home in the evenin'
I am never excited to come home because she might be gone
Hmm, my old lady would be gone
My partner often disappears without warning
Oh! she would be gone
When I get up in the mornin'
I never know what to expect when I wake up
Her lights would just be comin' home
She often comes home in the early hours of the morning
Just be comin' home
Look out now
Yea
Ohh, serve me right to suffer
I deserve this pain and heartache
Uh, serve me right to be alone
I brought this loneliness upon myself
Yes to be alone
The days that's passed and gone
I cannot move on from my lost love
Writer(s): Percy Mayfield
Contributed by Michael P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Guitar D
Cool song. Listen to John Lee Hooker's, It Serves Me Right To Suffer. Seems like he copied from this song