"Freddie's Dead" is a song by Curtis Mayfield. It was the first single from his 1972 soundtrack album for the film Super Fly. The single was released before the Super Fly album, and in fact before the film itself was in theaters. The song peaked at #4 on the U.S. Pop Chart and #2 on the R&B chart.
The song laments the death of Fat Freddie, a character in the film who is run over by a car.
"Superfly" is a song by Curtis Mayfield, the title track from his 1972 soundtrack album for the film of the same name. It was the second single released from the album, following "Freddie's Dead (Theme From Superfly)", and reached #8 on the Billboard Pop chart. The lyrics celebrate the craftiness and determination of the film's main character. The song plays over the film's closing credits.
Curtis Mayfield used each song on the album, Super Fly, to demonstrate a different aspect of the problems he noticed were plaguing inner-city America. "Pusherman," the second track, uses the metaphor of drug dealing. We see the Pusherman (the drug dealer) as a businessman, trying to make a living and a better life for himself in the tough situation. The Pusherman is both good and evil. Mayfield sings, "Ain't I clean, bad machine, super cool, super mean," to show the man's tough exterior, but he implies that the Pusherman is just as much a victim as he is a villain with, "A man of odd circumstance, a victim of ghetto demands."
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999)
was an American soul, R&B, and funk singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He achieved success and recognition with the Impressions during the Civil Rights Movement of the late 50's and 1960s. Mayfield is also known for his efforts in writing the soundtrack to the blaxploitation film Super Fly which was considered unusual as a soundtrack for a blaxploitation film, as its songs contained themes focusing more on the social problems of impoverished African American urban areas during the time. Mayfield is regarded as a pioneer of funk and of politically conscious African-American music. Being one of the most celebrated figures in the genre of soul and 20th century music, Mayfield is a winner of both the Grammy Legend Award (in 1994) and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award (in 1995), and he was a double inductee into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted as a member of the Impressions into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He is also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee.
