Traveling Soul (61 page)

“Most of [the songs had] very few chord changes”
: Ibid.

“We had the chance to cut”
: McMullen, interview by Atria, 2012.

“As a guitar player, I wanted to make sure”
: Ibid.

“This was the only time”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”

“It's the way a hustler really would”
: Mayfield,
Curtis Mayfield “Rapping.”

“I was able to put a few other jazz licks”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“I orchestrated and arranged the score”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”

“We aren't denying that Johnny Pate performed”
: Ibid.

“Curtis couldn't write music down”
: McMullen, interview by Atria, 2012.

“Most arrangers that I have used in the past”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.

“I knew Curtis needed to stand”
: Thomas, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I saw some changes”
: Diane Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.

“Marv Hyman, that was a Jewish name”
: Ibid.

“I had a good picture”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.

“Sig was ideal for this”
: Ibid.

“I can remember sitting in the shoe-shine parlor”
: Ibid.

“We said, ‘Let's put KC in the picture'”
: Ibid.

“When you shoot a picture like this”
: Ibid.

“We didn't have anything but raw bones and guts”
: Ibid.

“What the hell did you expect”
: Ibid.

“We decided we would go down”
: Ibid.

“In all the films at that time”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

“You could find more black power”
: Strick, “Congress Dances.”

“sickening and dangerous screen venture”
: Jarrett, “Cocaine Cinema Exploits Blacks.”

“The blaxploitation films are a phenomenon”
: Werbin, “Curtis Mayfield's Biggest Score.”

“When hip-hop became the thing”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“I remember in the theater in St. Louis, Missouri”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.

“The first time I saw Superfly”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”

Gonzales also credited the “neo-psychedelic”
: Ibid.

“The way you clean up the film”
: Werbin, “Curtis Mayfield's Biggest Score.”

“Forget the critics”
: Page, “Does Curtis Mayfield Sincerely Want to Be Rich?”

“This was another opportunity”
: McMullen, interview by Atria, 2010.

“These films were positive for us”
: Gonzales, “Curtis Mayfield.”

“Super Fly is about people who don't believe”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.

“Everything was done behind closed doors”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“That was a whole other voice”
: Ibid.

“We lost our bullet”
: Werbin, “Curtis Mayfield's Biggest Score.”

“Curtis, wait! We're gold, Curtis!”
: Ibid.

“You have to think of Curtis Mayfield as a prophetic visionary”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“personal congratulations on that great score”
: “Curtis Mayfield / The Main Ingredient / Hank Ballard,”
Soul Train
.

“I'm working 24 hours a day”
: Berry, “Curtis Mayfield's ‘Super Fly.'”

“You never want to reach the peak”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

11. Back to the World

“two of the juiciest psychedelic”
: Burgess, “Curtis Mayfield Keeps On Pushin'.”

“That was probably no good for me”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 205.

“The name of the game is longevity”
: Burgess, “Curtis Mayfield Keeps On Pushin'.”

“This is what makes me want to go higher”
: Ibid.

“You're going to be so caught up”
: Stuart, interview by Atria.

“I'm glad I was in a position”
: Berry, “Curtis Mayfield's ‘Super Fly.'”

“You learn the market”
: Werner, “Curtis Mayfield.”

“It didn't work”
: Stuart, interview by Atria.

“I know you dream about home”
: Foner,
The Black Panthers Speak
, 89.

“My day runs anywhere from fourteen to fifteen hours”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“Usually, when Curtis is ready to begin”
: Ibid.

“an intensely masculine falsetto”
: Davis, review of
Back to the World
.

“He mentored me”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“He invited us to the studio”
: Ibid.

“Curt's pretty busy right now”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 78.

“I had experienced all of that”
: Gonzales, “Gangster Boogie.”

one of his favorite things was “hearing someone else record”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“The album allowed me to say some things”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 207.

“We've shouted the message from the roof-tops”
: St. Pierre, “Curtis Mayfield.”

“Like many an overextended or depleted”
: Gersten, review of
Sweet Exorcist
.

“I can't come in [to Curtom] and write”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“a skeletal Hokusai sea”
: Clive Anderson, liner notes for
Sweet Exorcist & Got to Find a Way
.

“His behavior patterns changed”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“They would be feeding him information”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“they were in the room for so long”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I think he got a kick out of scaring us”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“He was always like the old wise man”
: Ibid.

He even doted on us
: Sharon and Tracy Mayfield, interviews by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“He did what any father would've done”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I didn't want to be identified”
: Sharon and Tracy Mayfield, interviews by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“I have an early memory of being aware”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“Here comes Curtis Mayfield”
: Ibid.

“I suppose I was somewhat arrogant”
: DVD special features for Parks,
Super Fly
.

“Curtis Mayfield hit a stride during the '70s”
: Wynn, review of
Sweet Exorcist
.

he “continued his run of excellent albums”
: Wynn, review of
Got to Find a Way
.

“I just had to work this depth out”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

“America Today takes a hard look”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 103.

“It's not meant as a racial connotation”
: Abbey, “Curtis Mayfield: Love to the People.”

“When he got back in the car”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I had two honorable discharges, twenty-three letters”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I basically dealt with the secondary radio stations”
: Ibid.

“I'd like to think that you could sing”
: “Soul of an R&B Genius,”
Guitar Player
.

the song “Jesus” was “the closest I've come”
: Abbey, “Curtis Mayfield: Love to the People.”

“It appears [Curtis] was seeking”
: Christgau, review of
America Today
.

The opportunity appealed to him
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“I could hear what was going to happen”
: Ibid.

“When we went into the studio”
: Vanhorn, “Best of '99.”

“I'm not really a radio man”
: Burgess, “Curtis Mayfield Keeps On Pushin'.”

“I was writing the songs not knowing”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“The next thing I knew, Curtis”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 211.

“I'd never gotten into Aretha until this”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“[Curtis] likes to work fast”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 212.

“They tell you, go across town”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“Curtis hasn't been out for three years”
: Ibid.

“I'm usually working on one situation”
: Ibid.

“He's thirty-four and has spent seventeen years”
: Ibid.

“We got great recognition”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 209.

“Curtis Mayfield, the singer and composer”
: Canby, review of
Short Eyes
.

“I remember when Curtis called me”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 209.

“I remember Dad giving her instructions”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“He would get upset”
: Ibid.

12. When Seasons Change

“It didn't have much to do with me”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 135–136.

Rolling Stone called it his “flimsiest”
: Tucker, review of
Do It All Night
.

“To show your own value”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 220.

“It wasn't so bad”
: Ibid., 221.

“Those were some strange times”
: Ibid., 219.

Craig Werner wrote, it “underscores”
: Ibid., 223.

Werner's assessment of the rest
: Ibid.

“I think people in general”
: Valentine, “Curtis Mayfield in the Talk-In.”

“Everything's changed and nothing's”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

“Stars are made to burn”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 268.

“I had the ambition to want to be rich”
: Salewicz, “Keep On Pushing.”

“That Chicago weather”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 232.

“I've always felt that the mass”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

“The music scene was kind of drying up”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 232.

“Life isn't just music”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“I saw the situation as an ideal opportunity”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 177–178.

“At that time, I wasn't so hot”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 268.

“I wanted it to be a lot funkier”
: Burns,
People Never Give Up
, 179.

“Curtis was there with his posse”
: Abbey, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I think he was kind of disillusioned”
: Ibid.

“I've been in this business”
: Witter, “Now More Than Ever.”

“The musicians gave me hell”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“I had to prove myself nightly”
: Ibid.

“He didn't go on stage one time”
: Ibid.

“I didn't tune to F-sharp”
: Ibid.

“Hey, cat—‘We People'”
: Ibid.

“There were no strings attached”
: Hoskyns, review of Mayfield, Butler, and the Impressions at the Greek Theatre.

“Curtis delivers sixty magical minutes”
: Salewicz, “Keep On Pushing.”

“After touring, Dad shut down”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“I felt like I couldn't rely on him”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“We've all been disappointed a lot”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.

“Helen was extremely nice”
: Ibid.

“You have to create the conditions”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I don't feel that I'm a great success”
: Nathan, “The Curtom Story.”

“These are not easy times”
: Werner,
Higher Ground
, 237.

“In going where you have to go”
: Bouchard,
Hemingway
, 119.

“He enjoyed people”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“I wouldn't go out there”
: Kenny Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“Me and Theida, we got in”
: Carolyn Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2013.

“No one was taking care”
: Sharon Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield.

“It was very frustrating”
: Tracy Mayfield, interview by Atria and Mayfield, 2014.