Lori Lieberman tells how the song 'Killing me softly with his song' came to be. A short documentary by Top 2000 a gogo from 2009 (Dutch Public Television).
OMG this is a stunning backstory to the origins of the song, I had no idea, how amazing how literal it was, and that a Don McLean performance inspired it!
The fact that it's about Don McLean, one of the most underrated artist ever, makes this one of the greatest songs ever. My wife fell in love with me when I took her on a simple date to see McLean, and I'll be honest, I had no idea how good a performer he was. My future wife didn't stop holding my hand for three hours, and we've been together ever since. Now I need to listen to every version of this song.
Thanks for this because I've always had a misunderstood and conflated version of the genesis of this song: that Roberta Flack had heard McLean sing and wrote it. I didn't know Lori's poem wad the inspiration. And I like people shedding light on the despicable shenanigans of these other two writers.
I like Lori Lieberman and I actually really like her original version of Killing Me Softly, but if it wasn’t for that fateful flight when Roberta Flack heard the song, it probably would have been forgotten. I give Flack credit for her fantastically detailed arrangement, which made it a hit. The song will now have a strong place in history, and I’m glad for Lieberman because she really seems like a nice lady.
If you believe the Wikipedia version of the events around the writing and recording of this song, you missed a part of the story. Lori Lieberman was, at one point, left out of the songwriting credits, and she had to threaten to sue her co-writers, Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, to get her share of the royalties.
yeah, really nasty business - just read about it on wiki - (there is more nastiness, from Fox & Gimbel - but this is far too long already...) "In the 1970s both Gimbel and Fox were in agreement with Lieberman about the song's origin at a McLean concert. Sean Derek, who worked for Gimbel and Fox as an assistant in the 1970s, confirmed that the two men would tell the McLean origin story "all the time". However, Gimbel and Fox changed their stories around 1997, *to reduce or dismiss Lieberman's contribution* In 2008, Gimbel demanded that McLean remove text from his website, the text saying that McLean was the inspiration for "Killing Me Softly". McLean did not remove the text; instead, McLean's lawyer sent Gimbel a copy of a 1973 New York Daily News article in which Gimbel is quoted and seems to agree with Lieberman's account. In the article, Lieberman is asked how the song came about and what its inspiration was. Don McLean ... I saw him at the Troubadour in LA last year. I had heard about him from some friends but up to then all I knew about him really was what others had told me. But I was moved by his performance, by the way he developed his numbers, he got right through to me.[10] Gimbel's contribution supports Lieberman's stance: Lori is only 20 and she really is a very private person ... 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. Lieberman then adds: Norman had a phrase he liked, 'killing me softly with his blues' ... But I didn't feel the word "blues" was quite what the effect was. It wasn't contemporary enough, somehow. We talked about it a while and finally decided on the word "song" instead. It seemed right then when we did it. Fox published a memoir in 2010, Killing Me Softly, My Life in Music, which contained nothing about the McLean performance inspiring the song, and *downplayed Lieberman's role in the songwriting team* When Dan MacIntosh of Songfacts asked Fox in 2010 about the McLean origin story, Fox said, "I think it's called an urban legend. It really didn't happen that way." *He described Gimbel and himself writing the song, then playing it for Lieberman later, who was reminded of McLean's singing"* . Fox said that "somehow the words got changed around so that we wrote it based on Don McLean..." In 2020, Lieberman said she was not seeking money or official songwriting credit, she just wanted the world to know the correct origin of the song"
@@juliaconnell This interview is from 2009. She says very clearly that she wrote a poem about it and the text writers used that as a starting point.I think she brings it very civilized. Of course, this short report does not give the opportunity to go into detail about it, but she could have said something less nice, but she did not.
@@Lucyverre and your point is??? are you defending the two men who LIED about how song - song - _lyrics_ and music - came about? - completely, utterly totally *lied* - did not credit her AT ALL - and then blatantly LIED about the origins. " "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. *The lyrics were written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman* after she was inspired by a Don McLean performance in late 1971. *Denied writing credit by Fox and Gimbel, Lieberman released her version of the song in 1972* , but it did not chart. The song has been covered by many other artists. After decades of confirming Lieberman's contribution, *Fox and Gimbel changed their story about the song's origins to downplay her role*. Gimbel threatened McLean with a lawsuit in 2008, demanding he remove from his website an assertion that McLean was the inspiration for "Killing Me Softly," but McLean responded by showing Gimbel his own words confirming the inspiration, published in 1973. "
*thank you* - I'm always interested in the background / inspiration / meaning of songs, - and this song has such a lingering charm - as the Financial Times (of all places) described it. "A lovely song, with a great - and surprisingly tricky - tune, an arresting lyric and a stunning title". Glad the song wasn't lost to the world, thanks to Roberta Flack - however I actually think Lori's original version is utter perfection. (& there have been many many versions - by other artists: according to SecondHandSongs, "there are more than 160 versions of “Killing Me Softly.” There are versions in Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Italian, Swedish, and Finnish. That makes sense, because the song's message of feeling moved by a song is a universal one" Lori's _original_ version is still my preferred version.
I wonder what age Norman Gimbel (lyrics) and Charles Fox (music) were in 1970, when they were writing tracks for Lori's album ? Those words "Lori is only 20, she is shy", do show a definite power imbalance at play. /Similar stories repeated many, many times over the years. Reminds me a little of Taylor Swift and Scooter Braun.
So...true story...Life long attachment to this song thinking Roberta wrote it. I was 5 when it came out and I was fascinated by the story even as a child. I loved the song. MULTIPLE imaginary interviews given about why this story made Roberta a god of songwriting...and now I'm at the library with 40 years of my own songwriting behind me and yah...uh...this lady wrote it....lol...no really...I'm cool...don't feel stupid. Not at all. I'll just be over here thanking fake gods (another thing I got duped on) that I never got asked in a real interview about this song. ....wow...lol Life is funny.
Can someone tell me if Lori did the Ad Council commercial for high blood pressure in the 70s "Do it for Him, Do it for Her"? The Woman has an Amazing Voice!👍🏾
What I find amazing - and sad of course - is that Lori loves Roberta's cover and gives credit to her while Roberta - being interviewed about Killing me softly - refuses to say Lori's name, Lori wasn't mentioned at all, not even once.
She was robbed by Gimbel and Fox. She was introduced to Gimbel at age 19, he was 43 married, started sleeping with her anyway, and then introduced her to Fox. They got her to sign a contract she went and watched McLean at some point. Wrote notes on a napkin her friend saw her, she rang, Gimbel told him her notes, he already had a lyric he want to use, killing me with the blues (or something like that), and he started adding her notes working them into a song. They had her tell the story every time she sang it, and they even told the story themselves. Gimbel became abusive emotionally, was also sleeping with other women, routing through her diaries, and nicking song ideas. They were a songwriting treo gimbel, lieberman, and Fox. She wanted out because of Gimbel. Gimbel & Fox then demanded money to leave and $250,000 of any future earnings. They ruined her, she got no songwriting credits or anything, they both told the McLean story until 97 when they suddenly said oh it's an urban legend and lieberman had nothing hardly do with writing any of her songs. It's like, Hmm, guys, you just spent over 30 years telling everyone she did. No one's going to believe you.
I love knowing that Don McLean is the man who "sang a good song". Also, the Fugees version is definitely the best version. They stayed true to the original melody but made it so much better with the blues and regae components. Plus, Lauren Hill's voice....just beautiful!
Roberta Flack didn't steal the song--she never claimed she wrote it. The male co-writers stole a share of credit from Lori. Lori's singing style was like folk music and Roberta warmed it up and made it contemporary. A lot of songs are remade and the songwriters listed make boatloads of money. If Lori was credited I'm sure she would not be sad Roberta had a hit with it. If not for Roberta, we would never have heard of the song.
