Don McLean - Empty Chairs (for Lori Lieberman / August 2011) 

This song, like many others Don has written and performed, is a lyrical and melodic masterpiece. I cannot get "enough" of it. Thank you Don McLean.

This song forever breaks my heart. I played and sang it regularly after my wife and mother of my only son left me. Then she passed away from cancer. Lost her forever. Miss you Allison.

his voice is just the same as it was 35 years ago. i close my eyes and we are both young again

What a beautiful video, with Lori receiving an accolade from Don. Love it from start to finish. XXX

Don McLean is at the very topmost of American lyricists. So many great, small, under-appreciated songs. I met him with tears in my eyes and thanked him; it was very important to me, and he seemed to have been touched by it, and he thanked me. Perfect.

AT 83 I was an instant fan of Don's in 1972/73...Saw him live in Myrtle Beach. I remain a fan of his lyrics, melodies & messages...I just wish I had mastered the guitar....siigghh....

it was 1972 when I first arrived to this country & Don Mclean was singing 'crying on he taxicab radio. I fell in love with Don and his music ever since, he has such a wonderful voice I am so grateful to youtube 'cause I can listening to his hits, as many times as I want to.

guitar perfection with a voice to match yet another man who has changed all of our lives for the better for which we owe him much thanks

Don is a gifted person who make your soul to live again

Don is a gifted poet, singer and philosopher...his songs are gems, treasures that make you feel and think...a true artist who has touched many around the world with his beautiful melodies and songs...

I have been following Don McLean since 1973 an I love his songs!!!

Don Mclean is hands down the greatest song writer ever. His songs are pure poetry. Absolutely Magical. PS: 'Castles in the air' is my favorite. :)

Thoughts of beauty in dulcet tomes, give wondrous truths everlasting homes .

One of the most beautiful singer songwriter songs ever ... Don McLean was and is a master of communicating beauty through poetic lyrics and delicate and beautiful melody

i've nearly forgotten this beautiful song and the song titled "killing me with his song" really reflect what i felt if i was lucky enough to have the chance to see him live performed this song

Was lucky enough to see Don live last year, he played this and you could hear a pin drop in the auditorium. This song still has the power to make me cry, so beautifully poignant and a timeless classic

A beautiful video of two legends coming together. How awesome.

This is like watching history in the making. Histories characters actually performing as significant junctures are relived discussed and explained. This present world is honored that someone something has granted the present world a gimps of history unfolding.

A beautiful song and you can understand every word he sings,

Beautiful, simply beautiful.

Another masterpiece from Don maclean

A beautiful song. Congratulations

he's blessed with almost a very slight change, but almost just the same. God bless you always Sir.

I love your music Don... You are my musical HERO...

My 2thumbs up is for this man!

im just 22 and the 1st time i listened to your songs i just felt inlove with it... now this songs are my favorite, i even downloaded it and listens to them every time i wake up and befor going to sleep :)

still killing me softly with your songs, and i wonder if you know that you're the best...

Don is a talented musician and songwriter living the dream.

This song is my love story. I cried for hours when I heard it.

I always love Don Mclean songs...i bought the LP i still listen to this day....

Still amazing voice, since then en now,my fav.Singer

I've always loved Don McLean since the 70's.

This song...this performance...it's beyond beautiful. Thank you so much for posting.

Don Maclean looks great! He looks like one of the Founding Fathers. He's as great as he ever was and that should give hope to everyone.

Every time I hear a Don Mclean song reminds me of my Uncle Julian's great voice way back home in Nagbukel, Ilocos Sur.

Poetic thoughts, in prose or rhyme, weave their lines through space & time

It shows the strength of his songwriting that this was on the same album ( American Pie) alongside both Vincent and the title track and yet none of then are the equal of Crossroads ( if you haven't heard it, remedy that immediately!) ...and then there's also Winter wood.....the guy's a genius

Don mclean é como vinho quanto mais o tempo passa melhor ele é com um microfone em sua mão com sua voz de ouro

As good as if not better than Vincent, Empty Chairs does not get the credit it fully deserves.

I watched Don's concert @ The Living Arts Centre in the 90's here in our place...fabulous!

He has such a great catalog of music outside of American Pie and Vincent. If those are songs that got your attention, I'd suggest going through his early albums i.e. Tapestry, (self titled) Don McLean,

The song Killing Me Softly is about Don McClean. Don't believe all you read on Wikipedia.

still remember Lori & Don & Killing Them Softly by Roberta's song (her own version is quite good) & both versions were popular in the early 70's during my high school days...wow

I was here, too ! I enjoyed a lot!

I knew it! "Killing me softly" was composed for him by Lieberman.

The chords / chord changes are the same as in 'Vincent'... "McLean tells me when listeners play [American Pie]'s love ballad Empty Chairs he means them to see Van Gogh's painting of a chair." www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandpopfeatures/7264618/Don-McLean-interview-Why-I-had-to-write-Vincent.html

so amazing :)

Correct, but Gimbel and Fox didn't always say that. In the 70's they agreed with Lieberman's account exactly. The wikipedia article on Lori Lieberman has a link to an April 5,1973 Daily News article by Patricia O'Haire who quotes both Lieberman and Gimbel. And of course, the lyrics fit exactly to the experience Lori had listening to a singer/songwriter/guitarist. Coincidence? It's hard to believe they were, instead, inspired by a guy in a novel listening to a jazz pianist.

Suprememaster ! and Don Mclean I attended this, it was amazing !!

Reminiscing my younger years... Don's magical voice brings me back to my youth❤❤❤

Beautiful

dear homelessbrother, thank you so much for sending this to me!!!!!

Still the best.

Lovely

Don Mclean is a fucking genius

May God Bless you always and strengthen you.

This is my Hero

I love this song.

"...written by Gimble and Fox..." is bullshit. Killing Me Softly was inspired by McLean, created by Lori Lieberman, finished by Gimble, set to music by Fox, and popularized by Roberta Flack.

This song always puts me in mind of John Denver's song, "I'm Sorry".

❤

Now I'm curious as to why this song has such a big impact in her...

"I feel the trembling tingle of a sleepless night..." *oooft*

Plays the guitar pianitically.

Recently read he was also no push over... Gimble tried to legally strong arm him over "killing me softley" references, with legal threats and instead he used Gimble's own words against him and refused to cave in. Sounds honorable to me.

Love this song but can't help myself when it comes to the line "never knew how much I needed you " I always think the next line should be "until I had to pay the rent ", doesn't help that it rhymes.

Who is the woman I. The corner of the frame who appears and disappears throughout the song?

Who the Hell is the woman polluting the video in the upper left corner? Is there not a video of this performance without her>?

@grpvn8 This was from August 27th 2011 in LA. Don performed after a new musical called 'The Real Love'. For further info, just Google ' the real love musical' (as you can't post links here).. The full evening was broadcast live on Supreme Master TV and I recorded the webcast and posted an excerpt here. Apparently the whole show will be be rebradcast soon worldwide. I warn you that Don only appears fror 50 minutes and that is after a long and tedious 4 hour musical.

Tingles!!

John Lennon the Einstein of music

This is great. Where was this?? This year??

Bears more than a passing resemblance to “Vincent”.

This performance was part of a charity concert and a musical called "The Real Love" - which was inspired by the life and poetry of Supreme Master Ching Hai, the person in the inset. She is a spiritual teacher, humanitarian, and poet. He was invited to perform, and expressed that he was honored to know she adores him and his music.

No it said norman gimbel was inspired by lori lieberman's poem about this song

希望~ 只是希望 :) 每晚都夢到您

" Fat, drunk and citing wikipedia is no way to go through life, son.- genius i cant help but smile as i re read it fat and drunk as i am!!

That "inserted woman" in the upper left video is just IRRITATING!

So what was the book?

needed to appreciate i guess

Who is the lady in the inset?

He sounds the same but older

I wonder why Don McLean never made an effort to meet Lori Lieberman. Not that she made him famous or he owed her anything but that a poem was written as a result of her being inspired by a song of his. The poem was put to music - the result "Killing me softly".

The tune reminds me of Bye Bye Miss American Pie.

Actually her role in the song has been well known since the 1980s. She was a kid trying to make it, Fox and Gimble told her what to say and her inspiration for the final version of the song was the subject of at least one story in a national newspaper in the 1970s. The McLean inspiration was well-known long before the Fugees covered the song. This "controversy" is long-since dead and buried, despite the likes ofe Naren Talese, to add their uninformed prattle.

Who do you mean? Who is “they?”

hi

Lori Lieberman got cheated out of a writer's credit for Killing Me Softly.

Starry Starry night ? ;)

it was actually written by Lori Liberman, Not gimble and fox. They were taken to court and admitted it

Just love this version of his song. Hit my heart so deeply. I wish a woman on the top corner of the screen disappears, please! Can't stand the distraction. From South Korea.

In the composers memoir "Killing Me Softly", Charles Fox says he & Norman Gimbel wrote the song specifically for Lori. She liked it as it reminded her of an experience at a Don McLean concert. For the Mike Douglas Show, they told her to connect the concert to the song, but it was a fabricated press release. The prolific Fox & Gimbel were at the top of the field then (Their Jim Croce hit "I Got A Name" was a month later). They didn't need any help finding inspiration. Not a poem, not Don McLean.

Wow Don, thank you for enlightening us about Lori, I never knew that was her song "killing me softly" and I guess Roberta Flack ripped her song off somehow so many years ago but Lori was the original but now I know.

Also, the Troubadour is a GREAT PLACE. Again, McLean bends the truth

Touch of grey the gratefull dead. RU-vid it and listen to the words

Bye, bye, Miss American Pie..... There's a story behind that too.

Beautiful Beautiful song. But please tune that very expensive guitar 😐

Sounds like it's trying not to be Starry Starry Night.

m,iss yo :)

What could Fred Bronson know? Go to the source. In this interview, the song's composer Charlie Fox explains the song's origin: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6PrmFTsG3x.html­­U Charlie is as respected as anyone in Hollywood, 50 yrs of memorable music, head of the Academy's music branch, Lori named a son after him. And Norman, an Oscar & Grammy winner, wrote hits before & after Lori (Girl from Ipanema, Sway, Canadian Sunset). What's in it for them to lie? KMS is one song of a hundred. But for Lori 1 of... 1.