Songfacts®:

• Mayfield was leader of the R&B group The Impressions before releasing the album Curtis, his first as a solo artist. Many of his songs are rooted in gospel music, which is apparent on this track. Here, Mayfield encourages listeners to get the most out of life and try to be the best regardless of any obstacles in the way. Mayfield's songs were often targeted to the Black community and addressed their specific problems, but this song is more universal in message.
• Mayfield was a rare soul singer who had nearly complete creative control of his music. He was a highly regarded guitarist, and like Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, he wrote and produced most of his songs, including this one.
• "Move on Up" was a tribute of sorts to Mayfield's Chicago neighbors, The Staple Singers. "Curtis lived around the corner from us," Mavis Staples told Mojo magazine. "He was like my baby brother. He'd drop by and we'd eat together and he'd talk politics with Pops. One day he came to Pops and said 'I want to write songs like The Staple Singers do, and Pops said 'Curtis man, you're a writer, a poet! Write some of those songs!' The first one Curtis wrote was 'Move On Up' and he came round and played it to us and Pops said, 'That's my boy!'"
• Mayfield wrote this song and produced it with 21 different musicians, four of whom are credited vaguely as playing "instruments." Here's the lineup:
  
  Baritone Saxophone: Ron Kolber
  Drums: Donald Simmons, Robert Sims
  Guitar: Patrick Ferreri, Phil Upchurch
  Horn: Robert Lewis
  Instruments: Gary Slabo, Harold Lepp, Richard Single, Sam Heiman
  Keyboards: John Ross
  Percussion: Master Henry Gibson, Robert Sims
  Saxophone: Clifford Davis, Leonard Druss
  Trombone: Lorin Binford
  Trumpet: John Howell, Rudolph Stauber
  Viola: Harold Klatz
  Violin: Elloit Golub, Sol Bobrob
  Woodwinds: Harold Dessent
• Popular covers of this song were recorded by Destination, Trickster and The Jam.
• Movies that have used this song include Bend It Like Beckham (2002), Comedian (2002), Semi-Pro (2008), Accidental Love (2015) and Barbershop: The Next Cut (2016).
• This song was used in 2005 commercials for Toyota vehicles.
• Kanye West based his 2007 track "Touch The Sky" on this song, utilizing the distinctive horn section and keeping the same lyrical theme.