Freddie's Dead

"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.

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 walking bass line, wah wah guitars, and a melancholy string orchestration.

Cover versions

"Freddie's Dead" has been covered by performers including E.U., MFSB and The Derek Trucks Band. The band Fishbone covered "Freddie's Dead" for the lead track on their 1988 album Truth and Soul.

The Brazilian rap group Racionais MC's sampled "Freddie's Dead" to "Mano na porta do bar" ("Man at the Bar Door").

References and parodies

• 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.^[1]
• Lorne sings the song in the episode "The Magic Bullet" of the TV series Angel, as a reference to the possible death of Fred.

• In the Sanford and Son episode "Libra Rising All Over Lamont", Fred Sanford is lying in bed very ill from eating 8-day old collard greens and after checking his temperature he turns on the radio, and the song "Freddie's Dead" is playing. Fred then promptly turns the radio off thinking the song was an omen.

References