Authors: Todd Mayfield
“I have found out that all that I have been doing”
: Ibid., 580.
“That song came to me in a dream”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
it was “a message to all”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 44.
“I was listening to all my preachers”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 140.
“Curtis had written some real tough lyrics”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“They thought that we had become militant”
: Ibid.
“I've run into frustrating obstacles”
: Ibid.
“I wasn't a quitter”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 143.
“Mom would take us”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.
7. Curtom
Abernathy rushed over to him
: Garrow,
Bearing the Cross
, 624.
“That's one place that anybody could find you”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“How are young people supposed to feel”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”
“Now that they've taken Dr. King off”
: Kurlansky,
1968
, 117.
“A truck came through here”
: Whitaker,
Cabrini Green
, 25.
“Black people had torn it up”
: Ibid., 26.
“Donny could do everything”
: Goins, “Soulful Conversation.”
“One thing you knew”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“With my own label”
: Berry, “Curtis Mayfield's âSuper Fly.'”
“On to Chicago”
: Swanson,
Chicago Days
, 212.
“I only look upon my writings”
: Werbin, “Curtis Mayfield's Biggest Score.”
“The style, the clothes, the wide pants”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 142.
“It's hard work running between the studio”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 49.
“When you get your record on the radio”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Half a million start selling”
: Ibid.
“We've been pushed into corners”
: Foner,
The Black Panthers Speak
, 28.
“a movement that will smash”
: “Stokely Carmichael,”
Biography.com
.
“They aren't a national organization”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“They had a thing going on back then”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“A lot of Curtis's music reached way over there”
: Ibid.
“Here I am over [in Vietnam]”
: Ibid.
“I'll never forget it, I got off the boat”
: Ibid.
“Uncle Sam wants YOU”
: Bauerlein et al.,
Civil Rights Chronicle
.
“U.S. Negro armymen!”
: Ibid.
“My conscience won't let me”
: “Ali: A Living Legend,”
Like It Is
.
“My face during those years”
: Williams, “Everything Was a Song.”
“There was one guy in charge”
: Stuart, interview by Atria.
“As green as he was”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 160.
“The road wears a man down”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“They were coming down a big double highway”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“They was messed up”
: Ibid.
“He had the guy at the body shop to fix it”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.
“I think they just didn't think that Sam and I”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“Now that I have money I spend”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“That was a heavy blow”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“That was one of the hardest”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“He didn't read music”
: “The Impressions: Part 2,”
Beldon's Blues Point
.
“When we came out in 1958, Lucky and his brother”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”
8. Now You're Gone
“Baby, I'm not going to give you any money”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“The girls would all line up backstage”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Street clothes, no suits or ties”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“We don't have a choice of colors”
: Ibid.
“âChoice of Colors' isn't for Whitey”
: Ibid.
“People didn't like it too much”
: Bowman, booklet for
Movin' On Up
.
At eleven o'clock the following morning
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“I can't get into anything”
: Ibid.
“You try to present yourselves”
: Ibid.
“You wouldn't be-lieve that smoke”
: Ibid.
“I wasn't dropping acid”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
“Man, we can't stand this drummer”
: Fischer, interview by Atria.
“If you see me with a younger woman”
: Ibid.
While the Impressions rehearsed
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Sometimes we'd drive”
: Fischer, interview by Atria.
“Your services were welcome”
: Ibid.
“I shouldn't even be traveling”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
“We'd get up at eight or nine”
: Ibid.
“I still play semi-pro baseball”
: Ibid.
“I used to write all the time”
: Ibid.
“which means responsibilities, securities”
: Ibid.
“Being an entertainer, even though it's beautiful”
: Ibid.
“When Curtis Mayfield would sing”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
That last one was a favorite
: Fischer, interview by Atria.
“Curtis was not hard to work for”
: Ibid.
“Everyone makin' it [is] a singer-songwriter”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 155.
“I suggested to him that he just focus”
: Goins, “Soulful Conversation Thomas.”
“[Curtis] is writing the songs”
: Alexander, “The Impressions.”
9. Move On Up
“Over there you could get the purest stuff”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
A Time magazine poll in 1970
: Foner,
The Black Panthers Speak
, xxiv.
“Every one who gets in office promises”
: Ibid., 64.
“That was a tune that I didn't”
: Carmichael, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“Of course, the Impressions were just the perfect bunch”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Not being with the Impressions”
: Galloway, liner notes for
Roots
.
“I've been on the road for twelve”
: Abbey, “Curtis Mayfield: No Longer an Impression.”
“Fred, I'm going to try to go”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Leaving the Impressions was a lot like”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 62.
“I felt bad for a simple reason”
: Atria, “The Message.”
“You saw a good and evil”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“The Impressions are still the Impressions”
: “Impressions Lose Curtis Mayfield,”
Rolling Stone
.
Eddie recalled dozing off
: The History Makers.
“There were movements sometimes”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 159.
“He used to sit down with Lucky”
: “The Impressions: Part 2,”
Beldon's Blues Point
.
As Andrew Young said, “It's âjigger'”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“Songs like âWe People Who Are Darker Than Blue'”
: Galloway, liner notes for
Roots
.
“It was the '70s”
: Gonzales, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“I took it as a person that was very, very angry”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin'
On Up
.
“The latter part of the '60s”
: Galloway, liner notes for
Roots
.
“It just wasn't my plan”
: Valentine, “Curtis Mayfield in the Talk-In.”
“My thoughts were that if we were to”
: Abbey, “Curtis Mayfield: No Longer an
Impression.”
“What we did in the UK”
: Abbey, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“Him being there, in my opinion”
: Ibid.
“It was misleading sometimes”
: Ibid.
“He was a very genuinely kind man”
: Ibid.
“[Curtis] wanted me to move into an apartment”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“They were calling them the âJamaican Impressions'”
: “The Impressions: Part 3,”
Beldon's Blues Point
.
“Me and [Marv] were driving into Chicago”
: Galloway, Liner notes for
Super Fly
.
“Man, I don't even know the names”
: McMullen, interview by Atria, 2012.
“We were fortunate enough to find a studio”
: Valentine, “Curtis Mayfield in the Talk-In.”
“Lately my lyrics have been more conscious”
: Van Matre, “Mayfield's Message.”
“[Melvin] went out and made a movie”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.
“As I suffered through Sambo”
: Bauerlein et al.,
Civil Rights Chronicle
.
“When I first heard What's Going On”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 75.
“A year ago, I'd have been pleading”
: Williams, “Putting Something on Our Minds.”
“The all-too-brief, spur-of-the-moment”
: Nathan, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“Probably the most significant factor”
: Ibid.
“If you've ever walked into a large hall”
: Mayfield,
Curtis Mayfield “Rapping.”
“I don't think we should stop demanding it”
: Symes, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“If ever you could gather up a bunch of kids”
: Galloway, liner notes for
Roots
.
“Everyone knows we have a pollution problem”
: Symes, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“I was never crazy about my ability”
: Galloway, liner notes for
Roots
.
“I was in love with this particular lady”
: Ibid.
“I believe my vocal is stronger”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 70.
“I think my music is aimed at a general audience”
: Ibid., 72.
“Those concerns are not just black problems”
: Ibid., 72.
“With me running cross country we figured”
: Symes, “Curtis Mayfield.”
“It's sort of funny”
: Ibid.
“We're working on several new things”
: Ibid.
“I told Curtis, âIf we want Marv Stuart'”
: The History Makers.
“I want you to buy me out”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.
“I heard they liked threesomes”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“He didn't want to listen to me”
: Ibid.
“I had a huge bruise”
: Ibid.
“Another time when I wanted to do something”
: Ibid.
“We hope that you might be interested”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
10. Super Fly
“Wow, was I so excited”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 161.
“I didn't put Priest down”
: Ibid.
“Reading the script, I started feeling”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”
“I remember all this legal paper”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.
“I started writing [âLittle Child Runnin' Wild']”
: Berry, “Curtis Mayfield's âSuper Fly.'”
“Hey, we're going to go do this movie”
: McMullen, interview by Atria, 2012.
“I think we went in at night”
: Ibid.
“That's when we found out what movie making”
: Ibid.
“As for those who did turn out”
: St. Pierre, review of Mayfield at the Rainbow.
“My comments I guess are more for the States”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”
“Segregation will only end when people”
: Ibid.
“My grandmother was a preacher”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.
“What does he have to talk”
: Werbin, “Curtis Mayfield's Biggest Score.”
“Reading the script didn't tell you”
: Ibid.
“I did the music and lyrics”
: Light, “Lasting Impression.”
He got a call
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.