Curtis Mayfield – Superfly (1972)
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[Album 418/1001]
I haven’t seen the 1995 movie Angus.
Though after listening to (& loving) Weezer’s initial soundtrack contribution, Wanda, I feel like I have.
The song ended up being rejected, in part because the lyrics essentially described the entire movie. So instead, the soundtrack featured another Weezer track, You Gave Your Love To Me Softly, a 2-minute beauty by any measurement system.
That was the first time I can remember a song being rejected for being TOO closely related to its parent film.
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I haven’t seen the 1972 movie Superfly.
Though thanks to Curtis Mayfield’s vivid lyrical descriptions…
Now I’m not sure if Mr. Mayfield had any tracks or lyrics rejected for explicitly referencing the film & characters; but even during the first listen, I felt transported to the Superfly world.
While the world of pushermen & poverty Mayfield described didn’t sound like my kind of place, the Superfly soundtrack is my kind of soundtrack.
People (myself included) go to the movies as an escape, to temporarily disconnect from a current situation & immerse in another setting for a while.
The best movies are able to draw me in for a couple of hours, as the Billy Joel Piano Man lyric says, “to forget about life for a while.” Life is good but it’s a nice feeling when a movie is able to attract & keep my undivided attention.
Which makes me think Superfly ought to be an interesting flick.
If its completely engaging soundtrack is any indication at least.
Trackbacks & Pingbacks
- So I Married an Axe Murderer Soundtrack – Various Artists (1993) | 1001albumsin10years
- The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night (1964) | 1001albumsin10years
- Back To The Future – Various Artists (1985) | 1001albumsin10years
- Isaac Hayes – Shaft (1971) | 1001albumsin10years
- “Weird Al” Yankovic – UHF Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff (1989) | 1001albumsin10years
- Pink Floyd – The Wall (1979) | 1001albumsin10years
- Fishbone – Truth and Soul (1988) | 1001albumsin10years
- Curtis Mayfield – There’s No Place Like America Today (1975) | 1001albumsin10years
- 1972 | 1001albumsin10years
Hurrah! Superfly! This is an outstanding piece of work, isn’t it? Really glad you liked this one. I don’t think it can fail to engage folks.
Agreed – it’s certainly not my go-to genre but Mayfield did such a great job setting up the characters that I’d imagine it would be tough to avoid being engaged. And I don’t typically pay a lot of attention to lyrics, so he did a fine job reeling me in & getting me to pay attention1
Yup – it’s quite the album. I noticed that I no longer have it (I went to listen), which is a bummer. But, I’m gonna get my hands on this one again! On vinyl, of course!
Good luck on the superfly search J – hopefully it can be part of a 2 for a Fiver special!
That would be delightful, Geoff! There’s a record fair nearby tomorrow, so I may just swing by and see if there’s a copy of Superfly in the boxes!
Nice, happy shopping!
I’m going to have to watch this movie now!
Me too!
Yessssss!!!!
Did you guess this was one of them?!
Nope. But this is definitely summer fun.
’tis!
Never seen the movie. However I know the soundtrack — an absolute classic. Great soundtrack for your summer for sure!
Hear hear!
Curtis Mayfield FTW!
Seconded!
He’s got another one on the list ‘there’s no place like america today’ that I’m now keen to explore
I LOVE the song so, yeah – I really should check out the film! 🙂
I’d certainly be interested in reading any future superfly film review – or seeing if it shows up in a top 10 list of some sort!
You know I’ll certainly review it if I see it! Hmm… Now you have me thinking about top tens… 🙂
Never a bad thing to be thinking about!