We’re leaving an oceanfront lanai on Kauai (my deepest apologies for that) and heading to a darkened Los Angeles nightclub for a song I’ve always liked. Folk singer Lori Lieberman was the first to record Killing Me Softly With His Song, which was released in 1972 as a simple singer-guitar accompaniment. There is a dispute over the origin of the song. The songwriters, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox say one thing. Lieberman says another. Read the short version of the controversy here. (My money is on Lieberman having a much bigger role than Gimbel and Fox are willing to admit.)
What there is no arguing over is that Roberta Flack made the song an iconic hit in 1973, for which she earned three Grammy Awards. Her version added more instruments and a backbeat. It’s also the record that is best remembered.
I’ve worked on Killing Me Softly With His Song for a few weeks. I always take the sheet music melody as a base and then work up a song from there. Trevor made some suggestions, including how to make up an intro, and I stumbled across ways to make the song more interesting just by practicing. It’s an emotional piece:
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him to listen for a while
And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I wasn’t there
But he was there, this stranger, singing clear and strong
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
In last week’s lesson Trevor grabbed his guitar and accompanied me. It was the first time I played with anyone, and it was so much fun that I brought my video camera this week so we could record ourselves doing it again. It’s only two verses, but after minimal rehearsal time, I think it turned out well:
One of Trevor’s goals going forward is to have us do more of these songs together, as it requires a different skillset than playing solo. But I did that, too, going with the darkened nightclub vibe:
Coming up next, a number one hit from 1975…