Songs You Might Not Know Were Covers (Round 8): Killing Me Softly With His Song (#9)

Tweet

All patched up today, meaning the bed won that round in the battle of my back versus changing the sheets. I would say “I’ll get it next time,” but my back will be hurting next time I change the sheets, too! Never mind that, it’s time for music...to be precise, a song that you might not know was a cover. Here’s today’s tune. #9: Killing Me Softly With His Song It’s a generational thing. There are some people reading this who are thinking, “There was someone who did this song before the Fugees????” As for me, I had to look up what a Fugees was. I had never heard their version, so I went to You Tube...and I didn’t get too far into it. Nice start, then.... You who are older are nodding, “Yeah, what is a Fugee? This is Roberta Flack’s tune!” Yep, we OFs (Old Farts) remember that incredible version from Roberta Flack in the early 70s. It was a #1 hit in 1972, and even us poor honkies wanted Roberta’s Afro. Hold the phone. Roberta Flack wasn’t first. In 1971 an aspiring 19-year-old singer/songwriter named Lori Lieberman went to see Don McLean, who was riding high with the success of the American Pie album. One of the songs, “Empty Chairs,” more than struck a chord with the young woman: it blew her away. So much so that she wrote the lyrics to this song to describe the concert. Now, here’s a kicker for you: according to Picky Wedia, the two men listed as co-writers on the song, after decades of confirming Lieberman’s story, suddenly did a 180 and denied she had much of anything to do with the song, that they wrote it, and that Don McLean was not the inspiration. In fact, they sued McLean to get him to remove the statement that “Empty Chairs” inspired this song from his website. McLean (the guy with a fabulous sense of humor: when asked what the song “American Pie” means, he typically replies, “It means I don’t ever have to work again if I don’t want to.” ) simply produced a mass of newspaper articles where the two men had verified Lieberman’s statement about the origins of the song. Sheesh, guys, shut up and spend your money. You’ve made a pretty penny off this tune. Killing Me Softly With His Song Written by Lori Lieberman, Charles Fox, and Norman Gimbel Originally recorded by Lori Lieberman, 1972 Famously covered by Roberta Flack, 1972 Also famously covered by the Fugees, 1997 Strumming my pain with his fingers, from the writer and original recording: