Traveling Soul (60 page)

“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 ‘Super 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.

“‘Choice 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 ‘jigger'”
: Peck, Galloway, and Gulotta,
Movin' On Up
.

“Songs like ‘We 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 ‘Jamaican 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, ‘If 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 [‘Little Child Runnin' Wild']”
: Berry, “Curtis Mayfield's ‘Super 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
.