Freddie's Dead

Freddie's Dead was the first single from the album, released before the album and before the film reached theaters. It peaked at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the R&B chart, and Billboard ranked it 82nd among the songs of 1972. It grieves Fat Freddie, a character in the film who is run over by a car. In the film it appears only as an instrumental arrangement, so the single was subtitled Theme from Superfly. The arrangement is driven by a strong bass line, wah-wah guitars and melancholy strings.

Pitchfork's Mychal Denzel Smith called it the soundtrack's biggest hit and heard in the couplet about rockets and dreams an echo of Gil Scott-Heron's Whitey on the Moon. Alexis Petridis of the Guardian pointed to the line telling listeners to think of Fred, and read Freddie rather than the film's hero as the key character. It was nominated for the Grammy for best rhythm and blues song at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards, losing to Papa Was a Rollin' Stone by the Temptations, and Mayfield performed it at the ceremony. It was ruled ineligible for the Academy Award for best original song because its lyrics are not sung in the film.