Episode 72: Lyrics Born on Curtis Mayfield’s “Back to the World” (1973)

Episode notes

The Album: Curtis Mayfield’s Back to the World (1973) In 1973, Curtis Mayfield had already become one of the biggest soul stars in the world thanks to the success of his Superfly soundtrack. He could have doubled-down with another album of lurid and cautionary street tales but instead, he wrote an album that many think of as a soundtrack to a movie never made, chronicling a returning Vietnam War veteran who finds America to be a different kind of war zone. Back to the World showcased Mayfield at his best — as a musician, composer, arranger, singer, producer, guitarist and songwriter — and decades later, we can still hear some of its influence reverberating in the dozens of artists who sampled from this album’s lush music.
The Bay Area’s Lyrics Born brought this album to us to talk about. As part of the Solesides/Quannum crew that dates back to the mid-90s, LB has represented a much admired indie hip-hop ethos and he’s been embraced by fans around the world. In our conversation, we talked about Mayfield’s commitment to social issues, his gifts as a songwriter and whether or not “Right On For the Darkness” is, in fact, about a blind person.
More on Lyrics Born

• “Lyrics Born Opens Up About His 10th Solo Album, ‘Quite a Life’” (Prelude Press)
• “Lyrics Born Gets Personal” (East Bay Express)
• Website | Twitter

More on Back to the World

• Original 1973 Rolling Stone review by Stephen Davis.
• “SONG OF THE DAY Curtis Mayfield – Right On for the Darkness” (The Listening Post)
• Mayfield on Soul Train performing “Back to the World”

Show Tracklisting (all songs from Back to the World unless indicated otherwise):

• Back to the World
• Future Shock
• Mac Mill: Straight Dangler
• The Impressions: Keep On Pushing
• Curtis Mayfield: Eddie You Should Know Better
• The Impressions: I’ve Been Trying
• Back to the World
• Keep on Trippin’
• Right On For The Darkness
• Wiz Khalifa: Glass House
• Right On For The Darkness
• Gang Starr: Take A Rest
• Mase: What You Want
• Filthy Phil: The Payback
• Willie Wright: Right On For The Darkness
• Future Shock
• Can’t Say Nothin’
• If I Were A Child Again
• Curtis Mayfield: So In Love
• Cissy Houston: Warning-Danger
• Aretha Franklin: Something He Can Feel

Here is the Spotify playlist of as many songs as we can find on there
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