Curtis Mayfield was a very influential artist of the 1960’s and 70’s, associating himself with Martin Luther King and the civil rights movements of the 60s. This essay will evaluate the importance of Mayfield in popular culture, of how he contributed to the events happening at that time, who he associated with and why he is still relevant in today’s age. This essay will explain what made Curtis Mayfield such an influential artist of the 1960s and 70s, with the topics of Politics, Poverty, War, Abuse, Discrimination and Anti Drug use that he spoke about in his music. The album this essay will look into is ‘Curtis Live!’, which is a live album that has many important songs that defines his . various songs from his live album
Curtis Mayfield was a singer/guitarist from Chicago and grew up around music from an early age and started to play guitar at the age of 7, but had played piano beforehand. He started his career as a backing singer for an R&B group called the Impressions and would later become lead singer, producer and writer (Curtismayfield.com, 2019). He had an unstable upbringing, being his Father had abandoned him when he was FIVE years old, he saw his mother being abused and he would starve for long periods of time. He had self-doubt about his dark skin, big teeth and small size, also with his family suffering from poverty, he felt embarrassed around his school friends. “He knows as much about pimps and prostitutes as he does about the bible and jesus” (Mayfield and Atria, 2016), which this would look like he was going to grow up to be nothing. His Grandmother introduced him to Christianity and Spiritualism, which all of these experiences, good and bad would make him a musical icon in years to come (Mayfield and Atria, 2016).
’People Get Ready’ was a popular song that helped push the Civil Rights Movement in the mid sixties. Martin Luther King used the song at his marches and made it the unofficial anthem of the movement, because of the motivational spirit it had, which this is stated on Curtismayfield.com (2019). The song symbolises the struggle of black people in America, which his son and biographer Todd Mayfield (2016) states his father had used the history of black culture, such as slavery to reflect on what was happening to black people in the 60s in his lyrics.
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“So people get ready, for the train to Jordan
Picking up passengers coast to coast
Faith is the key, open the doors and board ’em
There’s hope for all, among those loved the most”
These lyrics relate to religious stories and places, especially Jordan as Travelujah (2019) states that the Jordan river is the third most holy site in the Holy Land, as it is the place where jesus was Baptised and was the place where he started his ministry. “Crossing the Jordan River was a key event in Israel’s history. Just as crossing the Red Sea changed Israel’s standing from slavery to freedom, passing through the Jordan into the Promised Land, transformed Israel from a wandering horde into an established nation. To the people, the river seemed like an insurmountable obstacle.
But to God, it represented a decisive turning point.” (Zavada, 2019). The similarities to the history of Jordan and Mayfield’s intentions, are that black people had suffered from the horrors of slavery in the past, which they still suffered because they didn’t have equality to white people and these lyrics present a sense of hope for the civil right protesters, which Jordan is there entrance to a better life. This shows gospel music was very important in the civil rights movement, because christianity had strong similarities to the history of black people and shows motivative chants for the people protesting to keep going because there is hope for their people. This song also links back to Curtis Mayfield’s religious upbringing.
Although ‘Keep on Pushing’ doesn’t appear on ‘Curtis Live!’ it was another big hit that had significance with the Civil Rights Movement in the mid sixties and also has its motivational gospel influence. Curtismayfield.com (2019) states, civil rights activists would sing ‘Keep on Pushing’ on the freedom rides travelling to protests, who were fighting for black people to eat in a white restaurant, use public toilets and have a free choice to where they sit on the bus. They sang ‘Keep on Pushing’ because the lyrics are very motivational and reference religious chants. Todd Mayfield (2016) Stated that his father Curtis Mayfield had said he made a song that could help motivate people. These songs show how Mayfield was helping the civil rights movement.
What makes these lyrics motivational and religious, is Mayfield’s message is to motivate the activists, by saying they have the strength to achieve and it wouldn’t make sense to stop. ’Hallelujah’ is referenced in the song, likely inspired by his religious and spiritual up bringing. “It used the same rhythms he learned in Annie Bell’s church, only now the terms had changed” (Mayfield, 2016). Curtis Mayfield was definitely a key R&B artist for helping civil rights activists with their protests, because the his gospel lyrics related black history with Christianity and that helped motivated protesters to keep believing and fighting. “The song was a call to arms, a salve to the fractures within the movement, and a message of hope.” Mayfield, (2016) This also gained him a lot of recognition. “After ‘Keep on Pushing,’ Dad became an Icon. People began recognising him when he went out to dinner or walked down the street.” Mayfield, (2016).
Another song that appeared on ‘Curtis Live!’ was ’We’re a Winner’, which was also an important song in the civil rights movement and the lyrics also have gospel influences and it shows significance to black pride, giving the protesters a sense to be proud of themselves, keep strong with their protests and to ignore negatives of what other people say to them.
“We’re a winner
And never let anybody say
Boy, you can’t make it
‘Cause a feeble mind is in your way
No more tears do we cry
And we have finally dried our eyes
And we’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up)
Lawd have mercy
We’re movin’ on up (movin’ on up)”
The song also links back to ‘Keep On Pushing’, which Mayfield tells the listener to ‘Keep on pushin’ like their leaders are telling them to, which sounds like the song is aimed at the civil rights protesters, to give them confidence. Mayfield uses the term ‘Leaders’, meaning Martin Luther King, Bayard Rustin, A. Philip Randolph and many more civil rights leaders. However Mayfield doesn’t mention civil rights, but it is clear that the song was popular with the civil rights movement. The song was number one on Billboards R&B chart and number fourteen on the pop chart and Scruggs (2018) states that the song was banned on a variety of radio stations, including Mayfields hometown station WLS in Chicago. This shows that the song was a threat to people who were against the civil rights movement, with the songs popularity to the black audience.
“We’ll just keep on pushin’
Like your leaders tell you to
At last that blessed day has come
And I don’t care where you come from
We’re all movin’ on up (movin’ on up)”
Curtis Mayfield’s approach to the civil rights movement was sending soft positive messages to the black people to not give up hope, but there was many other artists in the sixties
‘Keep on Pushing’ is still used decades later, it was being played at Barack Obama’s 2004 keynote speech, as he was walking on stage.
