This Week's "Oldie But Goodie": "Killing Me Softly with His Song"
Strumming my pain with his fingers, Singing my life with his words 🎶
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" was a number one hit in 1973 for Roberta Flack. However, it was first recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1972. The song was composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel, in collaboration with Lieberman. In 1971, a then 20 year old Lieberman attended a performance by Don McLean at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles. She says that she was strongly affected by McLean singing the song "Empty Chairs".
Lieberman said:
I just felt like the whole room disappeared and it was just just me, feeling as vulnerable as I possibly could and I wrote a poem on a napkin. And it was a poem about being in an audience and seeing a singer who was singing about me and my life and how could he know me so well when we hadn't met and that I felt like he was reading my letters my Diaries.
The video below is the original recording by Lori Lieberman.
Lieberman’s version didn’t do very well on the charts. However, Roberta Flack heard the song on an airplane on the in-flight audio program and later recorded it. Roberta Flack’s version was released in January 1973, and spent a total of five non-consecutive weeks at number one in February and March, more weeks than any other record in 1973. Roberta Flack’s version is currently number 273 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song won three Grammy awards in 1973. It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.
The video below is the Roberta Flack version of the song.
In 1996, the Fugees recorded the song with Lauryn Hill on lead vocals. This version became a number-one hit in twenty countries. The Fugees version of the song is currently number 359 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The video below is the Fugees version of the song.