1973Released
4:46

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Interesting facts and trivia about Killing Me Softly With His Song. By Songfacts®.

"Killing Me Softly With His Song" was written by the songwriting team of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, and first recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1972. According to Lieberman, the song was inspired by Don McLean, a singer/songwriter famous for his hit "American Pie." After being mesmerized by one of his concerts at the Troubadour theater in Los Angeles - and in particular McLean's song "Empty Chairs" - Lieberman wrote a poem on a napkin describing how she felt about McLean's performance and brought it to Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, who were writing songs for her new album. In a 1973 interview with the NY Daily News, Gimbel said: "She told us about this strong experience she had listening to McLean. I had a notion this might make a good song so the three of us discussed it. We talked it over several times, just as we did with the rest of the numbers we wrote for the album and we all felt it had possibilities." When Songfacts spoke with Charles Fox in 2010, he refuted this story: "I think it's called an urban legend. It really didn't happen that way. Norman Gimbel and I wrote that song for a young artist whose name was Lori Lieberman. Norman had a book that he would put titles of songs, song ideas and lyrics or something that struck him at different times. And he pulled out the book and he was looking through it, and he says, 'Hey, what about a song title, 'Killing Me Softly With His Blues'?' Well, the 'killing me softly' part sounded very interesting, 'with his blues' sounded old fashioned in 1972 when we wrote it. So he thought for a while and he said, 'What about 'killing me softly with his song'? That has a unique twist to it.' So we discussed what it could be, and obviously it's about a song - listening to the song and being moved by the words. It's like the words are speaking to what that person's life is. Anyway, Norman went home and wrote an extraordinary lyric and called me later in the afternoon. I jotted it down over the phone. I sat down and the music just flowed right along with the words. And we got together the next morning and made a couple of adjustments with it and we played it for Lori, and she loved it, she said it reminds her of being at a Don McLean concert. So in her act, when she would appear, she would say that. And somehow the words got changed around so that we wrote it based on Don McLean, and even Don McLean I think has it on his Web site. But he doesn't know. You know, he only knows what the legend is."

Gimbel and Fox also wrote the theme songs to the TV series Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley. They are the only credited songwriters on "Killing Me Softly With His Song," but Lori Leiberman has claimed authorship. Gimbel and Fox signed Lieberman to a management contract, then wrote and produced most of the songs on her 1972 debut album, including "Killing Me Softly." She released three more albums with songs written and produced by the duo (the last in 1975), but none of them sold well. Along the way, she and Gimbel became romantically involved. According to Lieberman, they ended up suing her to prevent her from recording, and later downplayed her contribution to "Killing Me Softly." A press release put out on Lieberman's behalf states: "Lieberman to this day is never given credit for lyrics and her version. McLean said he had no idea the song was about him. 'Someone called me and said a song had been written about me and it was #1,' McLean recalled. 'It was an honor and a delight, and I give Lieberman the credit. My songs have always come from my personal thoughts and experiences, so it's overwhelming when someone is moved and touched by them like Lori was.'"

Flack heard Lieberman's version on an in-flight tape recorder while flying from Los Angeles to New York. She loved the title and lyrics and decided to record it herself. In an interview with The New Musical Express, Flack said: "I was flicking through the in-flight magazine to see if they'd done an article on me. After realizing they hadn't, I saw this picture of a little girl called Lori Lieberman. I'd never heard of her before so I read it with interest to see what she had that I didn't." Flack decided to record the song but felt it wasn't complete, so on arriving in New York she went into the studio and started experimenting. She changed the chord structure and ended the song with a major rather than minor chord. Flack worked on the song in the studio for 3 months, playing around with various chord structures until she got it just right.

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Song Analysis

Key, BPM (tempo) and time signature of Killing Me Softly With His Song.
FKey
MinorMode
4/4Time Signature
122BPM

Album

The album Killing Me Softly With His Song is released on.

Released By

The record label that has released Killing Me Softly With His Song.
Atlantic Records
© 1973 Atlantic Record Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States
℗ 1973 Atlantic Recording Corporation for the United States and WEA International Inc. for the world outside of the United States.

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