There was very little that Curtis Mayfield couldn’t musically do or wasn’t brave enough to attempt. A great singer, fantastic guitarist, and daring songwriter, Mayfield is one of the greatest musical artists of the last century. 

Yet, sure, much of his work remains a niche concern. In my opinion, however, his catalogue immediately rewards those willing to give it a chance. 

Here are, in my estimation, Curtis Mayfield’s 10 greatest songs. 

The 10 Greatest Songs by Curtis Mayfield

10. “For Your Precious Love”

Some people just comprehend music more easily than others. Curtis Mayfield was a natural. Brought in by his friend Jerry Butler to play guitar in The Impressions, Mayfield soon became the group’s leading force, although it is Butler’s resonant singing that is the highlight on this song.

Schooled by playing in the Church choir, but also familiar with late 1950s Rhythm & Blues, “For Your Precious Love” was the band’s first hit and remains a gorgeous ballad. One of the principal proponents of early Chicago soul, The Impressions scored no less than 14 hit singles across the group’s career.

9. ”Make Me Believe in You” 

Mayfield was one of the first soul performers to truly embrace the LP format. His 1970s albums, typically, contained protest numbers and love tunes, soul, pop, and funk. And they had a beginning, a middle, and an end. 

“Make Me Believe in You” finds Mayfield working with the soul-funk sound with which he is most often associated. The orchestration, focused on the wah-wah-powered guitar, the strings, and Myafield’s tenor vocals, is great. 

As time progressed, most R&B singers opted to adapt to new trends in a bid to earn more success. It’s interesting to note that while Mayfield was a great innovator himself, he essentially stuck to the sound and format of his 1970s records throughout the rest of his career. That’s why, I think, songs like “Make Me Believe in You” are the distillation of his life’s work. 

8. “Gypsy Woman”

Mayfield wasn’t just a talented, up-and-coming musician at the start of 1961. He was also an enterprising young man who’d by this time taken reins of his business matters. 

By the time that “Gypsy Woman” was a hit he was leading The Impressions, singing lead, writing the tunes and setting up his own publishing company. I’m confident that this wasn’t a common approach in the otherwise predatory music business. 

“Gypsy Woman” has a soft Latin groove to it, along with beautiful harmonies and lyrics that already show that Mayfield’s interests lie beyond pop cliches. It’s little wonder that Santana chose to cover this three decades later. 

7. ”Freddie’s Dead”

There are a million ways in which “Freddie’s Dead” could’ve been a rather ridiculous and dated R&B number. However, in Mayfield’s competent hands, the death of one of the characters in “Super Fly” is given the gravitas of a Greek tragedy. Freddie is one more kid led astray by drugs, while those around him remain wholly indifferent to his fate. 

6. ”The Makings of You”

For all intents and purposes, 1970’s “Curtis” is Mayfield’s essential release, a record bursting with grand ideas and classy execution. 

“The Makings of You” is a smooth soul number featuring the singer’s recognisable falsetto and a warm, romantic mood that Mayfield explored in many of his songs, yet for which he’s not often as well remembered as some of his more famous contemporaries. 

5. ”Right on for Darkness”

It’s fair to remember, perhaps, that considering Mayfield’s immense talent, he could’ve made an easier life for himself in terms of pop chart success during the 1970s.

Instead, on the funk-soul blend of “Right on for Darkness,” a protest tune, essentially, Mayfield decries the suffering of many in the world’s most favoured nation. It’s a beautiful performance, and an underrated gem.   

4. ”Move On Up”

Mayfeld was from an early age a prodigious songwriter. His influence on classic American soul is comparable to Smokey Robinson’s, albeit perhaps not as famous. 

Yet, it’s not unfair to say that Curtis Mayfield’s songs tend to be of three things. There are the early pop numbers, there are socially conscious R&B numbers that flirt with early funk grooves, and then there are modern spirituals. 

“Move On Up” is one of the key songs in Mayfield’s repertoire. The falsetto-sung hook is, rightfully, I think, immensely famous. This song from the 1970s “Curtis” been featured in film soundtracks, sampled by Kanye West and is, arguably, Mayfield’s most famous track. 

3. ”Superfly”

For the most part, Shane MacGowan wrote songs about Ireland, and Bruce Springsteen wrote about working-class Americans. 

Curtis Mayfield, at his most confident, wrote compositions about the good, bad, and generally hidden from common knowledge parts of the urban African-American community. 

Sure, “Superfly” is part fiction, a kind of mini soul-rock opera. Yes, it was recorded as the soundtrack to a “blaxploitation” film that, without the music, would remain just a period piece. 

However, “Superfly” also captures Mayfield at his most creative and most vocally capable. 

2. ”Pusherman”

It’s probably not an overestimation to say that Mayfield was the first artist of his calibre to not just write about the African-American community, but catalogue the ills plaguing this part of society. He’d written socially-conscious songs as early as the early 1960s. 

However, “Pusherman” is something else. For one, it’s meant as an entertaining soundtrack to a blaxploitation movie, a kind of ghetto cop film. 

Secondly, and more importantly, Mayfield plays a really difficult balancing act, switching tones, making heroes and villains of the same characters, often in the same song. 

“Pusherman” is a fantastically catchy song, and an excellently performed one. But, if Steppenwolf’s song of a similar song curses the drug dealer, Mayfield’s tune is written from the perspective of the narcotics peddler.

1. ”People Get Ready”

If anything, Curtis Mayfield was a church musician first and a music biz entrepreneur second. I think that “People Get Ready” is simply one of the most beautiful pop songs ever written. 

The melody is simply fantastic, and endlessly quotable. It’s no wonder that Jeff Beck, with Rod Stewart’s help, chose to cover this. 

“People Get Ready” is also, essentially, a religious hymn, a gospel number crafted for pop success for The Impressions. In my opinion, “People Get Ready” is Curtis Mayfield’s greatest artistic triumph.