Freddie's Dead
| "Freddie's Dead (Theme From Superfly)" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Curtis Mayfield | ||||
| from the album Super Fly | ||||
| B-side | "Underground" | |||
| Released | July 1972 | |||
| Format | 7" | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Genre | Funk, soul | |||
| Length |
3:17 (single edit) 5:27 (album version) | |||
| Label |
Curtom/Buddah CR-1975 | |||
| Writer(s) | Curtis Mayfield | |||
| Producer(s) | Curtis Mayfield | |||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA) | |||
| Curtis Mayfield singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"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. Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the R&B chart. Billboard ranked it as the No. 82 song for 1972.[1]
The song laments the death of Fat Freddie, a character in the film who is run over by a car.
Like most of the music from the Super Fly album, "Freddie's Dead" appears in the film only in an instrumental arrangement, without any lyrics. The song's music is featured prominently in the film's opening sequence and also recurs at several other points. Because of this usage the song was subtitled "Theme from Superfly" on its single release (but not on the album). It is not to be confused with "Superfly", a different song and the second single released from the Super Fly album. The arrangement is driven by a strong bass line, wah wah guitars, and a melancholy string orchestration.
The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category Best Rhythm & Blues Song but lost to "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone".[2] "Freddie's Dead" was ruled ineligible for the Academy Award for Best Original Song because its lyrics are not sung in the film Super Fly.[3]
Covers and parodies
- Fishbone covered "Freddie's Dead" on their 1988 album Truth and Soul.
- MFSB released an instrumental cover of "Freddie's Dead" on their debut album in 1973.
- Master P recorded "Kenny's Dead", a parody of Mayfield's song for the television show South Park, featuring the character Kenny McCormick, for Chef Aid: The South Park Album.[4]
- In the Who's The Boss? episode Tony Kills, an exchange between Tony and Angela, in which he informs her a character named Fred died, is reminiscent of the song's hook: (Angela) "Fred is dead?" (Tony) "That's what I said."
Covers and parodies
The song appears in the movie Friday in the scene where Smokey (Chris Tucker) explains to Craig (Ice Cube) how Hector got him to ingest angel dust while smoking marijuana and how he hadn't been "right ever since," prompting him to say "fuck you" every time he sees him.
References
- ↑ Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972
- ↑ "Grammy Awards 1973". Awards & Shows. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
- ↑ "'Godfather,' 'Super Fly' Music Not Nominated For Oscar". The Toledo Blade. AP. 1973-03-07. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
- ↑ Behymer, Josh (20 March 2005). "Kennys Dead Song???". Film Tracks. Retrieved 4 June 2009.