Politics, Race, Society, Speaking the Truth – 50th Anniversary of Curtis Mayfield’s Debut

Born in 1942 (the same year of birth as guitarist Jimi Hendrix, who was influenced lyrically by Mayfield), Curtis Mayfield began his career with the R&B group The Impressions. Curtis Mayfield was one of the first African American artists to address the Civil Rights Movement in his lyrics in “Keep On Pushing” (released in 1964, the year of the Civil Rights Act and the birth of Kamala Harris) and “People Get Ready” (released in 1965, the year of the Voting Rights Act). These songs became anthems for the Freedom Riders and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Another of Curtis Mayfield’s songs, “Move On Up” (from his 1970 debut), has been played by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as one of their closing campaign songs. It is ironic that Joe Biden (who as a senator participated in the congressional legislation of the crime bill by Bill Clinton and Republicans that disproportionately imprisoned and incarcerated black men from the 1990s onward, often for minor drug offenses) and Kamala Harris (who as an attorney general enforced drug laws that disproportionately prosecuted and punished, once again, minor drug offenders) would use a Curtis Mayfield song for their campaign. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are certainly not the most progressive candidates, although they have adopted a few more progressive positions since being nominated as the Democratic presidential and vice presidential candidates. Despite their flaws, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are, on Election Day 2020, preferable to Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a bigoted, corrupt, egomaniacal, narcissistic, xenophobic tyrant who deliberately discriminated against black tenants during his bankrupt career as a “businessman” and has intensified the culture wars divide of partisan rancor and racism raging in the United States by amplifying fears and hatreds in white rural and suburban voters (hence Trump’s glorification by right-wing terrorists and white supremacists.)

Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” and “Wild and Free” are affirmative, positive songs that share similarities lyrically with “Keep On Pushing” and “People Get Ready”. Instrumentally, though, “Move On Up” is much different from the Impressions as Curtis’ backup band stretches out over the course of almost nine minutes (the longest track on his 1970 debut) for a funky, horns and percussion driven jam. The song “Miss Black America” is Curtis Mayfield’s empowering vision of a future when black women will be admired and valued. If Curtis Mayfield had lived longer (he passed away at the age of fifty-seven on December 26, 1999), he would have been the same age as Joe Biden is in 2020 and would have felt his song’s dream had finally happened with Michelle Obama as the first African American First Lady and Kamala Harris as the first African American vice presidential candidate.

Curtis Mayfield paved the pathway in his 1970 debut for so many African American artists to discuss deep issues in their songs – Marvin Gaye (“Inner City Blues”, What’s Going On, 1971), Gil Scott-Heron (“The Revolution Will Not Be Televised”, 1971), Funkadelic (“Everybody’s Going To Make It This Time”, America Eats Its Young, 1972). Curtis did it first with songs such as “We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue” and “The Other Side of Town”. “We The People Who Are Darker Than Blue” is a conversation about segregation and violence (“Shall we commit our own genocide before you check out your mind? There’s the joker in the street loving one brother and killing the other.”)

“The Other Side of Town” is a sad song about the economic suffering in black communities that is still, unfortunately, a problem today:

“My little sister
She’s hungry
For bread to eat
My brother’s hand me down shoes
Are now showing his feet
Ghetto blues showed on the news
But what the hell do they care?
You’re across the tracks.”

The most radical song on Curtis Mayfield’s debut and perhaps one of the most psychedelic and radical songs of his entire career is the opening track “(Don’t Worry) If There’s a Hell Below, We’re All Going to Go”. Released as the lead single in November 1970, the song starts with a woman talking about reading the Book of Revelations as a fuzzed-out bass groove drives the track and Curtis Mayfield’s echoplexed scream and shout sets the apocalyptic atmosphere. Cinematic horns and strings and powerful percussion exhilarate the listener during this almost eight minute epic.

Curtis Mayfield delivers a direct protest against environmental destruction, police brutality, and Richard Nixon:

“Police and their backers
They’re all political actors
While the judge and the juries
Dictate the law that’s partly flawed
Pimping people is the rule
Polluted water in the pool
And Nixon talking about ‘don’t worry’
He says ‘don’t worry’
And if there’s a hell below
We’re all gonna go.”

The world needs an artist like Curtis Mayfield and a song like this during the coronavirus crisis and the ongoing economic crises. The issues Curtis Mayfield was concerned about in 1970 and Nixon’s response are even worse with Trump. Trump has denied climate change and said “don’t worry” about the coronavirus. Curtis Mayfield’s message is still important fifty years later.

by Mark Lager