November 7, 2018 - Curtis Mayfield - We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue (1970)

I included a couple tunes from the great Curtis Mayfield on the 2016 blog, and here's another for you, the beautiful and poignant We the People Who Are Darker Than Blue.

It features some of his most insightful lyrics, addressing the blue feelings faced by people of color and encouraging them to find common ground and support and respect each other. Check it out:

We people who are darker than blue
Are we gonna stand around this town
And let what others say come true?
We're just good for nothing, they all figure
A boyish, grown-up, shiftless jigger
Now we can't hardly stand for that
Or is that really where it's at?

The music is equally melancholic, with slow, resigned strings and horns. There is a tempo increase at 1:52 into a percussion section of tambourines and drums, joined by bass as the drums fill up the space, and then by guitar with wah effect, finally into

Get yourself together, learn to know your sign
Shall we commit our own genocide
Before you check out your mind?
I know we've all got problems
That's why I'm here to say
Keep peace with me and I with you
Let me love in my own way 

A lovely harp solo comes in at 3:57, as if to ask, is this all a dream or can we really figure out how to overcome the odds and the bummer people who put roadblocks in our way? What a beautiful song, so full of hope.