Back to the World

Annotation — Civil Rights Songs

Curtis Mayfield's concept album (Curtom Records # CRS 8015) dealing with American GIs returning back from Vietnam to America ("The World"), and a social commentary on early 70s America, including Civil Rights. It's one of the first, and most important, albums to deal with soldiers coming home from the war, released in 1973. It is a particularly bleak perspective. The title song "Back to the World" is dealt with immediately below, which specifically referred to a Vietnam veteran returning home. In the song "Future Shock", a black man is faced with poverty: "We got to stop all men from messing up the land. Everybody, it's a future shock". While the track "If I Were Only a Child Again", Mayfield reflected on the realisation of war that as a child he did not comprehend.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

Curtis Mayfield's concept album (Curtom Records # CRS 8015) dealing with American GIs returning back from Vietnam to America ("The World"), and a social commentary on early 70s America. It's one of the first, and most important, albums to deal with soldiers coming home from the war, released in 1973. It is a particularly bleak perspective. The title song "Back to the World" is dealt with immediately below, which specifically referred to a Vietnam veteran returning home. In the song "Future Shock", a black man is faced with poverty: "We got to stop all men from messing up the land. Everybody, it's a future shock". While the track "If I Were Only a Child Again", Mayfield reflected on the realisation of war that as a child he did not comprehend.

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs

So the track "Back to the World" (Buddah Records # 2011 187), taken from the album above, opens with cockpit conversations in a helicopter, and telling the story of an American GI returning to the US after six years in Vietnam. It actually started with the soldier over there: "stuck in the mud, fightin' this damn war", and wondering "what it's for". On returning home, the "soldier boy ain’t got no job" and has lost his woman, because the "war just lasted too long". The soldier concluded that "people don’t give a damn".

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: Crawlin’ through the trees, stuck in mud up to the knees / Fightin’ this damn war, wonderin’ if the Lord knows what it’s for / Six long years stretch an’ we boys was in a hell of a mess / I gotta keep my mind; take it slow fightin’ hard (for) what I don’t know / I wanna get back home, I gotta get back home, back to the world... / I’ve been beaten up and robbed, soldier boy ain’t got no job... Had a long old stretch of sacrifice... / I had a talk with little mom... / Let me tell ya son, the war was never won, your woman has long been gone / The doggone war just lasted too long, people don’t give a damn

Notes

Buddah 2011 187, purple label, A side, 45, "Made in England"; "Back to the World" (Mayfield), Ivan Mogull Music, produced by Curtis Mayfield, "From the LP 'Back to the World' 2318 085", ℗ 1973 Curtom Records Inc. [From the record sleeve and labels]

About the artist

American soul singer-songwriter, born 3 June 1942 in Chicago, Illinois; died 26 December 1999 in Roswell, Georgia. [Source: Wikipedia] Curtis Mayfield, a hugely influential soul and funk artist, who helped revolutionise R&B through his band The Impressions. He sits amongst the first African-American to introduce social commentary into his music, dealing with civil rights, Vietnam, and drugs, becoming an inspiration to later generations of hip-hop artists. Born on 3 June 1942, in the Cabrini-Green housing project on the north side of Chicago, Illinois, he started out singing gospel as a child…

Themes

Soldier's Perspective · Civil Rights

In collections

Civil Rights Songs · Soul, Gospel, & Funk Songs