“Killing Me Softly with His Song“ (7) is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The lyrics were written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman. In November 1971, Lieberman, went out with her friend Michele Willens to see Don McLean perform at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles. McLean’s hit song “American Pie” was rising in the charts, but Lieberman was strongly affected by McLean singing another song: “Empty Chairs”. This song spurred her to write poetic notes on a paper napkin while he was performing the song. Willens confirms that Lieberman was “scribbling notes” on a napkin as soon as McLean began singing the song. Lieberman’s words reminded Gimbel of a song title that was already in his idea notebook, the title “killing us softly with some blues”. Gimbel expanded on Lieberman’s notes, fleshing them out into song lyrics. Gimbel said in 1973 that “Her conversation fed me, inspired me, gave me some language and a choice of words.” Gimbel passed these lyrics to Fox, who set them to music. Denied writing credit by Fox and Gimbel, Lieberman released her version of the song in 1972, but it did not chart.
Roberta Flack first heard the song on an airplane, when the Lieberman original was featured on the in-flight audio program. After scanning the listing of available audio selections, Flack would recall: “The title, of course, smacked me in the face. I immediately pulled out some scratch paper, made musical staves [then] play[ed] the song at least eight to ten times jotting down the melody that I heard. When I landed, I immediately called Quincy Jones at his house and asked him how to meet Charles Fox. Two days later I had the music.” Shortly afterwards Flack rehearsed the song with her band in the Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, but did not then record it. In September 1972, Flack was opening for Marvin Gaye at the Greek Theatre; after performing her prepared encore song, Flack was advised by Gaye to sing an additional song. Flack later said, “I said well, I got this song I’ve been working on called ‘Killing Me Softly…’ and he said ‘Do it, baby.’ And I did it and the audience went crazy, and he walked over to me and put his arm around me and said, ‘Baby, don’t ever do that song again live until you record it.'” Released in January 1973, Flack’s version spent a total of five non-consecutive weeks at number one in February and March, more weeks than any other record in 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1973.
Hip-hop group Fugees released their version of the song (titled “Killing Me Softly“) on their album, The Score (1996), with Lauryn Hill singing the lead vocals. Fugees’ version became an international hit, reaching number one in the U.S. The song topped the charts in over twenty countries, including the United Kingdom, where it is the best-selling hip hop single by a group, additionally it became the country’s best-selling single of 1996, and remains one of the best-selling singles of all time in the U.K. It was also the best-selling single of 1996 in Belgium, Germany, Iceland, and the Netherlands. It has since sold 1.36 million copies in United Kingdom, and has been certified 3× Platinum by the BPI. In the United States, the song has been certified 3× Platinum by the RIAA, for selling approximately three million units in the U.S. The Fugees recording won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.
Tihs song has been covered by many famous artistes through the years, from Frank Sinatra to Michael Jackson, but I have chosen to feature a British artiste and a cover band from Australia both of whom’s versions bring a little something to the mix. So here is is Jessie J. live @ Star 2108.
Finally, we go down under to Australia, where we find the Hindley Street Country Club, who excel in cover versions of other people’s song. The vocals are by Kat Jade.