Authors: Todd Mayfield
“Since we were going to New York”
: Butler, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Y'all take that white shit someplace”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 59.
“I'll tell you what to do”
: Ibid.
“Plenty of junkies and rats”
: Ibid.
“Every junkie and booster in Harlem”
: Ibid., 61.
“We had sold only so many records”
: Ibid., 63.
“Turn on American Bandstand”
: Ibid., 110.
“Nixon has a genius for convincing one”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 119.
“This is the creative moment”
: Ibid., 124.
“We were making more money”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 68.
“We never had decent-looking furniture”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“All of a sudden, the smells we used to ignore”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 68.
“Helen used to come over the house”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“We let Richard go ahead”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Young girls, seeing the spectacle”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 67.
“They all interviewed us”
: Ibid., 68.
“Okay, baby,” Abner said
: Ibid., 70
“Arthur pitched a bitch”
: Ibid., 71.
“[Mom] bought this great big freezer”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I found out later”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Hey, this a great record”
: Lewis, “The Impressions.”
“We scuffled some”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 79.
For a few months, they scraped by
: Ibid.
“There were so many fights”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
“He was always coming round and looking through my bag”
: Williams, “Everything Was a Song.”
“We were still living in Cabrini-Green”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I beat her up, and the next thing I heard”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I don't think that relationship”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Man, I don't know anybody's songs”
: Butler, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“
When Jerry called, I had nothing”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 81.
“I was his chaufferâor flunky”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“We were living together”
: Ibid.
“I was making history”
: Ibid.
“I can assure you that we did it very poorly”
: Butler, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“He always had an instrument”
: Ibid.
He introduced it to Eddie
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I was there with my tin cup”
: Ibid.
“I used to take him out to dinner”
: Ibid.
“This is me, man”
: Ibid.
“Eddie was such a hustler”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 83.
Harris said, “No, I can't see this group”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“He was black, and I'm black”
: Ibid.
“Being with Jerry Butler, I know a lot of DJs”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 83.
“Man, we're going to have to roll our sleeves up”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I could see it coming, but I didn't know”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 92.
“Everybody who was part of the Impressions”
: Ibid.
5. Keep On Pushing
“Brill was a building where songwriters would go up”
: Dwyer, “In a World of Songwriting.”
“If a songwriter was doing a demo session”
: Ibid.
“I believed very early in life”
: Light, “Lasting Impression.”
“Publishers were hitting the lottery”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
“My friends were being intimidated”
: Butler with Smith,
Only the Strong Survive
, 108.
“Once they saw that, they released it”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I was scared to death”
: Lewis, “The Impressions.”
“Girls were there by the fortress”
: The History Makers.
“Man, you think the people are gonna like me?”
: Farberman, “Q&A: The Impressions' Fred Cash.”
“The country was our neighborhood”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 85.
“We went downtown to pay the ticket”
: Ibid.
“Oh Lord, it was rough”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“A lot of auditoriums that we played”
: Ibid.
“You had your room”
: Ibid.
“When the fellows would go out to have fun”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 86.
“During those times of my life”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“Our style was so different”
: Pruter,
Chicago Soul
, 139.
“They were wanting to do stuff like Little Richard”
: Lewis, “The Impressions.”
“Sam, Curtis, and I had become really tight”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“I wanted Curtis more for his guitar”
: Page, “Does Curtis Mayfield Sincerely Want to Be Rich?”
“Because I play with my fingers”
: “Soul of an R&B Genius,”
Guitar Player
.
“My voicings are different”
: Ibid.
“I chose to use Johnny in particular”
: Pruter,
Chicago Soul
, 74.
“I used to go out to Curtis' house”
: Ibid., 73.
In the furtive early days of their relationship
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.
“They were taking me out of my range”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“We were trying to establish something”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“In gospel, you knew how to sing lead”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 120â122.
Dad “got to talking and running off at the mouth”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“I drove most of the time”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“He knew that I liked coffee”
: Davis,
Man Behind the Music
, 55.
“Which one do you like?”
: Ibid., 56.
“A lot of [Curtis's] entertainment friends”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“That was my first introduction to arranging”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 120.
“My group's the Impressions”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“He started putting brass”
: Ibid.
“I never tried to cover what Curtis was doing”
: Ibid.
“We didn't record anything else”
: Carmichael, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“When we recorded that song, I discovered”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“That song bought Sam's home”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“The hatred was strong, strong”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“The Negro is shedding himself of his fear”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 273.
“I started out reading the speech”
: Ibid., 283.
“You know, this dream of King's”
: Marable,
Malcolm X
, 257.
“We aren't going to stop”
: “Race Relations in Crisis,”
The Open Mind
.
“If the NAACP can tell me”
: Malcolm X, interview at UC Berkeley.
“[Curtis] would never share”
: Davis,
Man Behind the Music
, 58.
“If you made a dollar”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
“The record company called and said”
: Carmichael, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“We were fascinated by”
: Steffens, “Soul Survivor.”
“Hey man, come and listen to this”
: Lewis, “The Impressions.”
“I wrote something that maybe can help”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“I'm living”
: Courter, “R&B Trio, with Two Chattanooga Members.”
“All I needed to do was change”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 118â119.
“It wasn't like they were starstruck”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“Man, you look like Curtis Mayfield”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“On the end of âI've Been Trying'”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Dear Mother”
: Author's collection.
“On his part, I didn't feel any iota”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“He had poor table manners”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“The building basically was white people”
: Ibid.
“They called us names”
: Ibid.
6. People Get Ready
“The fragile unity that had made possible”
: Marable,
Malcolm X
, 297.
In what he called “a deep mood”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 125.
“Curtis would usually bring me the material”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“The Temptations went out and did”
: Carmichael, “Curtis Mayfield.”
My father said, “Well, we got âPeople Get Ready'”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“The song touched me quite a bit”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Lyrically you could tell”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“There's no room for the hopeless sinner”
: Williams, “Everything Was a Song.”
“I was observing things”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“âPeople Get Ready' was one that we used”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
Some churches changed the final couplet
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“It was so different”
: Ibid.
“I'm not totally about being just”
: Salewicz, “Keep On Pushing.”
“When we came out, it was like”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
“We did a lot of shows with James Brown”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“We were doing a show with him at the Regal”
: Ibid.
“It is wrongâdeadly wrong”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 408.
Forman wasn't alone in advocating
: Ibid., 410.
“I never will forget, I was looking”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“They thought they had the cream”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“We would go to friends' houses”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.
“He seemed like butter”
: Ibid.
“He picked my friends”
: Ibid.
“He was a better father”
: Ibid.
“Because of who he was”
: Ibid.
She yelled, “I want to work!”
: Ibid.
“He was always up late writing”
: Ibid.
“King had this naive faith”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 455.
“I have never seen”
: Ibid., 544.
“You ain't never seen”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 124.
“[Curtis] just kind of lost his way there”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“This fella, you could just talk to him”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“This is the twenty-seventh time”
: Churcher, “Stokely Carmichael.”
“The only way to end”
: Bauerlein et al.,
Civil Rights Chronicle
.
“I have seen many demonstrations”
: James, “Martin Luther King Jr. in Chicago.”
“I don't know what the answer to that is”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 497.
“We raised the hopes tremendously”
: Ibid., 540.
“For years I labored with”
: Ibid., 562.
One journalist pointedly predicted
: Ibid., 568.
“I asked Hendrix who”
: Shadwick,
Jimi Hendrix: Musician
, 78.
“I really like Curtis Mayfield”
: Ibid., 84.
“There were dark days before”
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 569.
“They don't plan to just burn”
: Ibid., 570.