Music Blog, Seventies

The Story of Youngblood Priest

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

Written for Jim Adams’ Song Lyric Sunday
post ‘Get Over It Day’. This is my song.

© Alamy

Youngblood Priest, a suave top-rung New York City drug dealer, decides that he wants to get out of his dangerous trade. Working with his reluctant friend, Eddie, Priest devises a scheme that will allow him to make a big deal and then retire. When a desperate street dealer informs the police of Priest’s activities, Priest is forced into an uncomfortable arrangement with corrupt narcotics officers. Setting his plan in motion, he aims to both leave the business and stick it to the man.

This week at Song Lyric Sunday Jim has challenged us to write about a song that includes the words get or over. The song I’ve chosen today includes both words which appear in the frequently repeated phrase, “Tryin’ ta get over”. My song is “Superfly” by Curtis Mayfield.

If you saw the 1972 crime drama film Super Fly, you recognized the first paragraph as a brief plot description of the movie about a Harlem cocaine dealer trying to quit the drug business. The film is well-known for its soundtrack, written and produced by soul musician Curtis Mayfield, who played himself in the movie.

With a distinctive, highly recognizable tenor voice, an unparalleled catalog of enduring pop and soul classics and an honored place in the pantheon of American music, Curtis Mayfield is without question one of the most influential artists of his time.

Born in Chicago in 1942, Mayfield absorbed the city’s rich heritage of blues and gospel music. With childhood friend Jerry Butler, he formed a group with three others …. Sam Gooden and brothers Arthur & Richard Brooks. The group was called The Impressions. In 1958 they recorded their breakthrough “For Your Precious Love”, one of what was to become an endless string of Mayfield hit songs to reach the top of the record charts.

Fast-forward to 1967 when Curtis Mayfield co-founded Curtom Records. It was there that he wrote, produced and recorded Super Fly, one of the outstanding albums of the 1970s. Decrying violence and drug use depicted in the film, Super Fly combined Mayfield’s music skills with a powerful social consciousness in such hits as the title track for the film and “Freddie’s Dead,” both certified million-sellers. The album itself spent four weeks at the #1 position on the charts.

The song “Superfly” reached #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #5 on the Best Selling Soul Singles chart. The lyrics celebrate the craftiness and determination of the film’s main character. The song plays over the film’s closing credits.

This is “Superfly” by Curtis Mayfield

LYRICS

Darkest of night
With the moon shining bright
There’s a set goin’ strong
Lotta things goin’ on
The man of the hour
Has an air of great power
The dudes have envied him for so long

Oh, superfly
You’re gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don’t ask no questions why
The only game you know is do or die
Ah-ha-ha

Hard to understand
What a hell of a man
This cat of the slum
Had a mind, wasn’t dumb
But a weakness was shown
‘Cause his hustle was wrong
His mind was his own
But the man lived alone

Oh, superfly
You’re gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don’t ask no questions why
The only game you know is do or die
Ah-ha-ha

The game he plays he plays for keeps
Hustlin’ times and ghetto streets
Tryin’ ta get over
(That’s what he tryin’ to do, y’all)
Taking all that he can take
Gambling with the odds of fate
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Woo, superfly

The aim of his role
Was to move a lot of blow
Ask him his dream
What does it mean?
He woudn’t know
“Can’t be like the rest”
Is the most he’ll confess
But the time’s running out
And there’s no happiness

Oh, superfly
You’re gonna make your fortune by and by
But if you lose, don’t ask no questions why
The only game you know is do or die
Ah-ha-ha
Superfly
Superfly
Superfly
Superfly

Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over
Tryin’ ta get over

Source: LyricFind
Songwriters: Curtis Mayfield
Superfly lyrics © Downtown Music Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Songtrust Ave, Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc

Get Over It Day

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week and every week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by today for a look and a listen.

That’s all she wrote. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2025

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42 thoughts on “The Story of Youngblood Priest”

  3. I never saw the movie, and I don’t think it ever made it to Italy (I was still living there then). I had heard about it but never watched it. I had never heard of the song or Curtis Mayfield. The song is nice. Thank you for sharing it.

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  7. Mayfield examines how he’s really doing what we all are trying to get over, the drug dealing underworld.  Youngblood Priest thinks he can make one last big score to retire from his life of crime and escape the harsh realities of the ghetto, essentially trying to leave behind his criminal lifestyle for good.  Mayfield was perfect for this as he knew the ghetto, being born in Chicago.  Great choice, Nancy.

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    1. Curtis Mayfield had high ideals, Jim. He was an artist, a social activist and a humanitarian … a first class individual. He sustained a horrific accident on stage which left him paralyzed from the neck down. He overcame great obstacles and fought his way back into the studio to record again. Diabetes took his leg and, ultimately, his life. A great one gone too soon. Thanks so much, Jim. I always appreciate your insightful and informative comments.

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