Killing Me Softly with His Song#Lori Lieberman version

Aspiring musician Lori Lieberman was 19 years old in 1971 when she was introduced to veteran songwriter Norman Gimbel and composer Charles Fox; the two men signed her to a management contract in which they would write her songs and manage her career, and take 20% of her income. The three shared a common Jewish heritage and Scorpio astrological signs, and they began to pool songwriting ideas. Gimbel also began an affair with the 19-year-old Lieberman, even though he was 43 years old and married. The affair was kept secret for years.

In November 1971, Lieberman, then 20, and her friend Michele Willens (daughter of millionaire Harold Willens) attended a Don McLean performance at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles.{{cite news |url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/she-sang-killing-me-softly-before-roberta-flack-now-she-just-wants-you-to-hear-her-side-of-the-story/2020/01/23/9d9dcc7e-3b9d-11ea-8872-5df698785a4e_story.html |newspaper = The Washington Post |date = January 24, 2020 |last = Edgers |first = Geoff |title = She sang 'Killing Me Softly' before Roberta Flack. Now she just wants you to hear her side of the story. }} McLean's hit song "American Pie" was rising in the charts, but Lieberman was strongly affected by McLean singing another song: "Empty Chairs".{{cite web |date = January 21, 2009 |url = http://www.don-mclean.com/?p=310 |title = The "Killing Me Softly" Story |website = Don-mclean.com |access-date = October 8, 2016 |archive-date = October 16, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161016222745/http://www.don-mclean.com/?p=310 |url-status = dead }}{{YouTube|J6W6RKlmhq4|Lori Lieberman – Killing Me Softly (The Story Behind)}} This song spurred her to write poetic notes on a paper napkin while he was performing the song.{{cite web |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hqpzz |work = BBC iPlayer |title = Classic Albums – Don McLean: American Pie |access-date = December 10, 2017 }} Willens has confirmed that Lieberman was "scribbling notes" on a napkin as soon as McLean began singing the song. After the concert, Lieberman phoned Gimbel to read him her napkin notes and share her experience of a singer reaching deep inside her world with his song. Lieberman's description reminded Gimbel of a song title that was already in his idea notebook: "killing us softly with some blues". The phrase had appeared five years earlier in the novel Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar; "and Ronald was left alone at the piano, with all the time in the world to woodshed some of his bop ideas or to kill us softly with some blues." Gimbel expanded on Lieberman's notes, fleshing them out into song lyrics. Gimbel said in 1973: "Her conversation fed me, inspired me, gave me some language and a choice of words." Gimbel passed these lyrics to Fox, who set them to music.

Lieberman recorded the song in late 1971 and released it as a single in 1972, produced by Gimbel and Fox. This version did not chart. Lieberman promoted the album by touring, and she always introduced the song "Killing Me Softly" by describing its origin in the McLean performance. Gimbel and Fox even wrote out for her this introduction of the song so that she could deliver it consistently at each performance. In 1973, in her first appearance on national television, Lieberman described this same origin story on The Mike Douglas Show after performing the song. When Lieberman toured through Canada in 1974 to promote her second album, Billboard magazine carried a public relations piece from Capitol Records about the three-way "song-producing team" of Lieberman/Gimbel/Fox, including a description of the Don McLean performance inspiring the song "Killing Me Softly". Gimbel was quoted saying that he relied on Lieberman to inspire his songwriting creativity since he had passed the most creative days of his youth: "Now I need a reason to write, and Lori is one of the best reasons a lyricwriter could have."{{cite magazine |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YgkEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA53 |page = 53 |title = The Lori Lieberman Team |date = June 22, 1974 |magazine = Billboard }}

Don McLean said in 1973 that he was surprised to find out that the song described his singing:

{{quote|I'm absolutely amazed. I've heard both Lori's and Roberta's version and I must say I'm very humbled about the whole thing. You can't help but feel that way about a song written and performed as well as this one is.{{cite news |last = O'Haire |first = Patricia |date=1973-04-05 |title=A Killer of a Song |page=6 |newspaper=Daily News |url = https://don-mclean.com/2009/01/21/the-killing-me-softly-story/ |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130514165758/http://www.don-mclean.com/i/kill.jpg |archive-date=2013-05-14 |location = New York }}}}

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 1976, the Lieberman/Gimbel/Fox songwriting team turned sour. Gimbel had divorced his wife three years earlier, but Lieberman eventually stopped the sexual relationship she had with Gimbel because he "had become emotionally abusive, controlling and unfaithful". She asked to be freed of her contract. Gimbel and Fox directed their lawyers to demand US$27,000 from Lieberman to pay expenses ({{Inflation|US|27000|1976|fmt=eq|r=-3}}), and to demand another US$250,000 of her future income ({{Inflation|US|250000|1976|fmt=eq|r=-3}}), effectively killing her career. Lieberman's lawyer, Frederic Ansis, recalled later that Gimbel and Fox could have been "nice guys" like other managers in the industry who released their unsuccessful artists without onerous payments, but they chose the other route.

By 1997, Lieberman had long severed her ties to Gimbel, but she reconnected with Fox, who attended a concert of hers. Lieberman was interviewed by The New York Times about her recent songwriting work. In this interview she said that when she was young, Gimbel and Fox had been "very, very controlling. I felt like I was pushed on stage, and I was singing other people's material, although that material was based on my private diaries. I felt victimized for most of my early career."{{cite news |url = https://www.nytimes.com/1997/06/08/arts/living-in-the-shadow-of-a-famous-song.html |date = June 8, 1997 |title = Living in the Shadow of a Famous Song |last = Pond |first = Steve |page = 34 |newspaper = The New York Times }} Fox never spoke to her again after this revelation.

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.{{cite web |url=http://www.don-mclean.com/i/kill.jpg |title=Archived copy |website=www.don-mclean.com |access-date=January 11, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130514165758/http://www.don-mclean.com/i/kill.jpg |archive-date=May 14, 2013 |url-status=dead}} In the article, Lieberman is asked how the song came about and what its inspiration was:

{{blockquote|Don McLean{{nbsp}}[...] 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.}}

Gimbel's contribution supports Lieberman's stance:

{{blockquote|Lori is only 20 and she really is a very private person{{nbsp}}[...] She told us about this strong experience she had listening to McLean{{nbsp}}[...] 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:

{{blockquote|Norman had a phrase he liked, 'killing me softly with his blues'{{nbsp}}[...] 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..."{{cite web |url = https://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/charles-fox |title = Charles Fox : Songwriter Interviews |last = Songfacts |website = www.songfacts.com |access-date = December 19, 2018 }}

Gimbel described in 2010 how he had been introduced to the Argentinian-born composer Lalo Schifrin (then of Mission: Impossible fame) and began writing songs to a number of Schifrin's films. Both Gimbel and Schifrin made a suggestion to write a Broadway musical together, and Schifrin gave Gimbel an Argentinean novel—Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar—to read as a possible idea. In chapter two, the narrator describes himself as sitting in a bar listening to an American pianist friend "kill us softly with some blues".{{cite book |last1 = Davis |first1 = Sheila |title = The Craft of Lyric Writing |publisher = Writers Digest Books |year = 1984 |page = 13 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=uVePZ1Qwtb0C&pg=PA13 |access-date = September 22, 2010 |isbn = 0-89879-149-9 }}{{Dead link|date=December 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}{{cite book |last1 = Cortázar |first1 = Julio |title = Hopscotch |url = https://archive.org/details/hopscotch0000cort |url-access = registration |publisher = Pantheon Books |year = 1966 |page = [https://archive.org/details/hopscotch0000cort/page/15 15] |isbn = 0-394-75284-8 }} Gimbel put the phrase in his notebook of song ideas for use at a future time.{{cite web |url = http://www.don-mclean.com/killingmesoftly.asp |title = The "Killing Me Softly" Story |publisher = Don-mclean.com |date = January 21, 2009 |access-date = March 31, 2014 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130519202841/http://www.don-mclean.com/killingmesoftly.asp |archive-date = May 19, 2013 }}

Lieberman released a song in 2011 called "Cup of Girl" with lyrics about being used by someone who would "rifle through her diary" to write songs about her, who was dishonest, promiscuous, and took advantage of her. Lieberman says that Gimbel contacted her after the song was published, sending angry emails, but Lieberman deleted the emails instead of responding to them. Gimbel died in 2018.

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.

{{Infobox song

| name = Killing Me Softly with His Song

| cover = Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack US vinyl.png

| alt =

| caption = One of A-side labels of U.S. vinyl single

| type = single

| artist = Roberta Flack

| album = Killing Me Softly

| B-side = Just Like a Woman

| released = January 22, 1973

| recorded = 1972

| studio = Atlantic, New York City{{cite web |url = http://www.pfunkportal.com/recordings/6345 |title = Killing Me Softly With His Song – Roberta Flack – Recording |website = www.pfunkportal.com |access-date = December 19, 2018 }}

| venue =

| genre =

• R&B{{Cite podcast|url=https://slate.com/podcasts/hit-parade/2022/03/soul-queens-charts|title= Killing Me Softly Edition|website=Hit Parade {{!}} Music History and Music Trivia|publisher=Slate|last=Molanphy|first=Chris|date= March 25, 2022|access-date= March 23, 2024}}
• soul jazz{{cite web|first= Tom |last= Breihan |title= The Number Ones: Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly With His Song"|website= Stereogum |date= March 22, 2019 |url= https://www.stereogum.com/2036683/the-number-ones-roberta-flacks-killing-me-softly-with-his-song/columns/the-number-ones/|quote= She changed up the whole arrangement, and turned it into soft, lilting soul-jazz.|access-date= June 18, 2023}}

| length = 4:46

| label = Atlantic

| writer =

• Charles Fox
• Norman Gimbel
• Lori Lieberman (uncredited)

| producer = Joel Dorn

| prev_title = Where Is the Love

| prev_year = 1972

| next_title = Jesse

| next_year = 1973

| misc = {{Extra album cover

| header = Alternative release

| type = single

| cover = Roberta Flack - Killing Me Softly with His Song.jpg

| border =

| alt =

| caption = West German single picture sleeve

}}{{External music video|{{youTube|l2n167F0eBc|"Killing Me Softly with His Song"}}

| type = single

| header = Audio

}}

}}

Lieberman was the first to record the song in late 1971, releasing it in early 1972.{{cite web |last = Cad |first = Saint |title = Top 10 Famous Songs With Unknown Originals |url = http://listverse.com/2012/07/31/top-10-famous-songs-with-unknown-originals/ |work = listverse.com |date = July 31, 2012 |access-date = June 21, 2013 }} Helen Reddy has said she was sent the song, but "the demo... sat on my turntable for months without being played because I didn't like the title".{{cite book |last = Reddy |first = Helen |title = The Woman I Am |url = https://archive.org/details/womaniammemoir00redd |url-access = registration |year = 2006 |publisher = Penguin |location = New York |isbn = 1-58542-489-7 |page = [https://archive.org/details/womaniammemoir00redd/page/158 158] }}

Roberta Flack first heard the song on an airplane, when the Lieberman original was featured on the in-flight audio program. After scanning the listing of available audio selections, Flack would recall: "The title, of course, smacked me in the face. I immediately pulled out some scratch paper, made musical staves [then] play[ed] the song at least eight to ten times jotting down the melody that I heard. When I landed, I immediately called Quincy [Jones] at his house and asked him how to meet Charles Fox. Two days later I had the music." Shortly afterwards Flack rehearsed the song with her band in the Tuff Gong Studios in Kingston, Jamaica, but did not release it.{{cite book |last = Fox |first = Charles |title = Killing Me Softly: My Life In Music |publisher = Scarecrow Press |location = Lanham, Maryland |isbn = 978-0-8108-6991-2 |year = 2010 |page = X }} She was unhappy with the background vocals on the various mixes she auditioned. Atlantic executive Tunc Erim assured her it would be a hit song no matter which mix was released. She refused, recalling later that she "wanted to be satisfied with that record more than anything else."{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rocksbackpages.com/Library/Article/roberta-flack-and-all-that-jazz |last=Holloway |first=Danny |date=April 28, 1973 |title=Roberta Flack And All That Jazz |magazine=New Musical Express |url-access=registration |access-date=January 28, 2023 }} Hosted by Rock's Back Pages.

In September 1972, Flack was opening for Quincy Jones at the Los Angeles Greek Theater; after performing her prepared encore song, Flack was advised by Quincy Jones to sing an additional song. Flack recalled, "I said 'Well, I have this new song I've been working on'... After I finished, the audience would not stop screaming. And Quincy said, 'Ro, don't sing that daggone song no more until you record it.{{'"}}{{cite web |title=The Origin of Roberta Flack's Hit "Killing Me Softly With His Song |url =https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/origin-flacks-hit-killing-me-softly-his-song-hjcvy6/25167/#|website=pbs.org|date =December 19, 2022|access-date=January 28, 2023}}

Released in January 1973, Flack's version spent a total of five non-consecutive weeks at number one in February and March, more weeks than any other record in 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1973.Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1973

Charles Fox suggested that Flack's version was more successful than Lieberman's because Flack's "version was faster and she gave it a strong backbeat that wasn't in the original".Daeida February 2012. p. 11 According to Flack: "My classical background made it possible for me to try a number of things with [the song's arrangement]. I changed parts of the chord structure and chose to end on a major chord. [The song] wasn't written that way."{{cite book |last = Cresswell |first = Toby |title = 1001 Songs |publisher = Hardie Grant Books |location = Pahran, Aus. |isbn = 978-1-74066-458-5 |year = 2005 |page = 388 }} The single appeared as the opening track of her Killing Me Softly album, issued in August 1973.

Flack won the 1973 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, for the single, with Gimbel and Fox earning the Song of the Year Grammy.

In 1996, a house remix of Flack's version went to number one on the US dance chart.{{cite book |title = Hot Dance/Disco: 1974–2003 |last = Whitburn |first = Joel |author-link = Joel Whitburn |year = 2004 |publisher = Record Research |page = 100 }}

In 1999, Flack's version was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.{{cite web |url = http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame#k |title = GRAMMY Hall Of Fame |publisher = GRAMMY.org |access-date = March 31, 2014 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150707235113/http://www.grammy.org/recording-academy/awards/hall-of-fame |archive-date = July 7, 2015 }} It ranked number 360 on Rolling Stone{{'}}s list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and number 82 on Billboard{{'}}s greatest songs of all time.[http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-90.shtml] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121229121653/http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/specials/hot100/charts/top100-titles-90.shtml|date=December 29, 2012}}

Credits are adapted from AllMusic.{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/killing-me-softly-mw0000650146/credits|title=Killing Me Softly – Roberta Flack : Credits|publisher=AllMusic. Rovi Corporation|access-date=November 30, 2012}}

• Roberta Flack – vocals, pianos, rhythm track arrangement
• Donny Hathaway – harmony vocals
• Eric Gale – guitars
• Ron Carter – bass
• Grady Tate – drums
• Ralph MacDonald – congas, percussion, tambourine

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry |region=New Zealand|type=single|award=Gold|certyear=2020|artist=Roberta Flack|title=Killing Me Softly|source=radioscope|access-date=March 4, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry |region=Spain|type=single|award=Platinum|certyear=2024|artist=Roberta Flack|title=Killing Me Softly with His Song|access-date=March 4, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Roberta Flack|title=Killing Me Softly with His Song|award=Gold|relyear=1973|certyear=1973|id=1300-1312-1|access-date=May 22, 2020}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true|nosales=true}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Killing Me Softly

| cover = kmsoftlyfugees.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Fugees

| album = The Score

| released = {{start date|1996|4|23}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = * R&B

• hip-hop soul

| length = * 4:58 (album version)

• 4:16 (radio edit)
• 4:00 (radio edit without intro)

| label = * Ruffhouse

• Columbia

| writer = * Charles Fox

• Norman Gimbel
• Lori Lieberman (uncredited)

| producer = Fugees

| prev_title = Fu-Gee-La

| prev_year = 1996

| next_title = Ready or Not

| next_year = 1996

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|oKOtzIo-uYw|"Killing Me Softly"}}

| type = single

| header = Music video

}}

}}

American hip hop group Fugees released their version of the song (titled "Killing Me Softly") on their second album, The Score (1996), with Lauryn Hill singing the lead vocals. Fugees' version, released to US radio on April 23, 1996, by Ruffhouse and Columbia Records, became an international hit. In the United States, it did not appear on the Billboard Hot 100 because it was not released as a commercial single there, which was a rule at the time. It instead reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and number one on the Hot R&B Airplay chart. The song has been certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales and streaming figures of approximately three million units in the US.

In the United Kingdom, "Killing Me Softly" broke the record at the time for the most radio plays in a single week.{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pAkEAAAAMBAJ&dq=fugees&pg=PA109 |title=Billboard |date=July 6, 1996}} Additionally, it was the United Kingdom's best-selling single of 1996, and remains the country's biggest hip hop song by a group,{{Cite web|title=The Official Top 100 biggest Hip-Hop Songs of all time|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/the-official-top-100-biggest-hip-hop-songs-of-all-time__18789/|access-date=April 3, 2021|website=www.officialcharts.com}} and one of the best-selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom. In Germany, it became the first single to debut at number one,{{Cite book |last=Warner |first=Jay |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dcvM0rFOR_cC&dq=fugees&pg=PA362 |title=Notable Moments of Women in Music |date=2008 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-4234-2951-7}} was the best-selling single of the year, and remains one of the best selling singles of all time. It was also the best-selling single of 1996 in Belgium, Iceland, and the Netherlands. "Killing Me Softly" was also among the best-selling songs in France, during the 1990s.

This version sampled the 1990 song "Bonita Applebum" by A Tribe Called Quest, which itself samples the riff from the song "Memory Band" by Rotary Connection. The Fugees' single was so successful that the track was pulled from retailers while it was still in the top 20, in an effort to draw attention to the Fugees' next single "Ready or Not". The Fugees' version won the 1997 Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal,{{cite web |title=39th Annual GRAMMY Awards (1996) |url=https://www.grammy.com/grammys/artists/fugees |access-date=May 1, 2018 |publisher=The Recording Academy}} and their music video, directed by Aswad Ayinde, won the MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.{{cite magazine |date=January 1997 |title=The Year in Music – Band of the Year |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xGB0iIRXtJEC&q=fugees&pg=PA54 |magazine=Spin |publisher=Camouflage Associates |page=54}}

"Killing Me Softly" was the last song Fugees recorded for The Score, after member Pras made the suggestion to cover it. They wanted to "see how we can create break beats. And of course, we all love A Tribe Called Quest and we went in like 'Okay, let's cut that sample.'" They then added a bass reggae drop.{{cite web |title = Fugees Producer Jerry Wonder Talks About The 16th Anniversary of "The Score" |url = http://www.complex.com/music/2012/02/fugees-jerry-wonder-16th-anniversary-the-score |website = Complex |access-date = August 9, 2016 |date = February 14, 2012 }} Initially, Fugees wanted to change the lyrics of the song to make it anti-drugs and anti-poverty but the songwriters, Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, refused.{{cite web |last1 = Iandoli |first1 = Kathy |title = Inside Fugees' The Score, 20 Years Later, With Its Collaborators |url = http://pitchfork.com/thepitch/1027-inside-fugees-the-score-20-years-later-with-its-collaborators/ |website = Pitchfork |access-date = August 9, 2016 |date = February 22, 2016 }}

Fugees' version features "percussive rhythms" with "a synth sitar sound, Wyclef's blurted chants, Hill's vocal melisma on the scatted bridge, and a bombastic drum-loop track".{{cite book |last1 = Weisbard |first1 = Eric |title = Listen Again: A Momentary History of Pop Music |date = 2007 |page = 194 |publisher = Duke University Press |isbn = 978-0822390558 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=zXUVKoUDh0wC&q=fugees+killing+me+softly&pg=PA194 |access-date = August 9, 2016 }}

J.D. Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt that Lauryn Hill's rendition of "Killing Me Softly" "is so convincing, you'd think it was a sample."{{cite news|first=J.D.|last=Considine|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1UdWAAAAIBAJ|title=Music: Reviews|work=The Baltimore Sun|via=Eugene Register-Guard|date=March 22, 1996|page=8|access-date=January 8, 2023|author-link=J.D. Considine}} Celebrating the album's 20th anniversary in February 2016, Kenneth Partridge from Billboard said, "It's a lovely cover that maintains the spirit of the original while taking the material in new directions."{{cite magazine |last1 = Partridge |first1 = Kenneth |title = Fugees' 'The Score' at 20: Classic Track-by-Track Album Review |url = http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6875097/fugees-the-score-at-track-by-track-album-review-20th-anniversary |magazine = Billboard |access-date = August 9, 2016 |date = February 13, 2016 }} Upon the release, the magazine's Larry Flick viewed it as a "crafty cover".{{cite magazine|first=Larry|last=Flick|title=Dance Trax: That Kid Chris: More Than Another Fresh Face|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1996/BB-1996-06-15.pdf|magazine=Billboard|date=June 15, 1996|page=40|access-date=November 28, 2022|author-link=Larry Flick}} Peter Miro from Cash Box stated that the trio's reworking of the Roberta Flack standard "succeeds wildly." He explained, "Basically they dropped a new rasta engine in the ballad for the diddly-bopping, head-nodding masses. Bet this will be the only version they think exists."{{cite magazine|first=Peter|last=Miro|title=Urban: Rap Single Reviews|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/90s/1996/CB-1996-05-11.pdf|magazine=Cash Box|date=May 11, 1996|page=13|access-date=November 12, 2022}} Another Cash Box editor, Gil L. Robertson IV, named it a "standout track" of The Score album.{{cite magazine|first=Gil L.|last=Robertson IV|title=Urban|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/90s/1996/CB-1996-03-30.pdf|magazine=Cash Box|date=March 30, 1996|page=11|access-date=November 12, 2022|author-link=Gil L. Robertson IV}} Simon Price from Melody Maker felt that Hill is "sweet like Candi Staton", "singing a gorgeous a cappella version".{{cite magazine|first=Simon|last=Price|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53639813462/|title=Albums|magazine=Melody Maker|date=March 2, 1996|page=36|access-date=May 9, 2024|author-link=Simon Price}}

Alan Jones from Music Week deemed it "a sensational update", adding that it "touches myriad musical bases, appealing equally to pop, R&B, easy listening and dance fans. Stripped to its bare bones, it is beautifully sung, with just enough rapping to set it apart from the original. The whole thing is superbly underlined by a bumping bass and percussion. Simple, refreshing and a huge hit."{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1996/Music-Week-1996-06-01.pdf|first=Alan|last=Jones|title=Talking Music|magazine=Music Week|date=June 1, 1996|page=10|access-date=August 18, 2021}} James Hamilton from the Record Mirror Dance Update noted it as a "plaintive girl and muttering chaps' sparse bass bumped and sitar plinked but still tenderly crooned remake".{{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1996/Music-Week-1996-06-01.pdf|first=James|last=Hamilton|title=DJ Directory|magazine=Music Week|date=June 1, 1996|page=11|access-date=August 18, 2021|author-link=James Hamilton (DJ and journalist)}} Jordan Paramor from Smash Hits gave it five out of five and named it Best New Single, writing, "This is one hell of a track with the ability to blow your pants off and into space with the velocity of a rocket. Smoother than David Wicks' chat-up lines, and a million times more endearing, this soulful hip hop number can have the entire Smash Hits office sighing and swaying their heads in euphoric pleasure within the first three beats. Originally performed by Roberta Flack (who?) in 1973, when it reached No.3, it deserves to go all the way to No.1 this time round. Bloody brilliant."{{cite magazine|first=Jordan|last=Paramor|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/smashhits90s/34889065065/in/album-72157681158950604/|title=Singles|magazine=Smash Hits|date=June 4, 1996|page=60|access-date=December 1, 2024}} In January 1997, Spin described the song as "an instant classic, pumped out of every passing car from coast to coast, with Lauryn Hill's timeless voice never losing its poignant kick".{{cite magazine |title = The Year in Music – Band of the Year |magazine = Spin |date = January 1997 |page = 54 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=xGB0iIRXtJEC&q=fugees&pg=PA54 |access-date = August 9, 2016 }}

The accompanying music video for "Killing Me Softly", directed by Aswad Ayinde{{cite web |last1 = Tardio |first1 = Andres |title = The Fugees' "Killing Me Softly" Video Director Sentenced To 50 Years In Prison For Sexual Assault |url = http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.24845/title.the-fugees-killing-me-softly-video-director-sentenced-to-50-years-in-prison-for-sexual-assault |website = HipHopDX |access-date = August 9, 2016 |date = July 29, 2013 }} and based on Lauryn Hill's ideas, won an MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video.{{cite book |last1 = Coleman |first1 = Brian |title = Check the Technique: Liner Notes for Hip-Hop Junkies |date = March 12, 2009 |publisher = Random House Publishing Group |location = New York |page = 218 |isbn = 9780307494429 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QuOBbFeg0JIC&q=fugees+killing+me+softly |access-date = August 9, 2016 }} The video depicts the trio watching a movie in a cinema. It also features a cameo of Roberta Flack.{{cite book |last1 = Fox |first1 = Charles |title = Killing Me Softly: My Life in Music |date = 2010 |publisher = Scarecrow Press |page = x |isbn = 9780810869912 |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=qmVQUVHee0YC&q=killing%20me%20softly%20fugees&pg=PR10 |access-date = August 10, 2016 }}

"Killing Me Softly" was hailed as one of the most essential hip hop songs in history by XXL.{{Cite web |author=Staff|title=XXL Lists The Best Hip-Hop Songs And Albums Of The Last 40 Years – XXL Issue 152 – XXL |url=https://www.xxlmag.com/xxl-lists-best-hip-hop-songs-albums-last-40-years-xxl-issue-152/ |access-date=June 17, 2022 |website=XXL Mag |date=January 9, 2014 |language=en}} In autumn 2008, VH1 placed it at No. 25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs". In 2021, Rolling Stone included it in their revised list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/the-supremes-baby-love-3-1224838/|title=500 Best Songs of All Time|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=September 15, 2021|access-date=February 18, 2022}} The song experienced a resurgence in popularity on the social networking app TikTok, during the early 2020s.{{Cite news |title=Fleetwood Mac TikTok |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/10/08/fleetwood-mac-nathan-apodaca-tiktok-ocean-spray/}}{{Cite web |title=How to do the Sofia Richie walk trend |url=https://nomysh.com/education-tips/212/How-to-do-the-Sofia-Richie-walk-trend-%7C-Recreate-Sofia-Richie%27s-Iconic-Style-on-a-Budget |access-date=July 13, 2023 |website=nomysh.com |language=en}} Their version has been sampled by French Montana,{{Cite web |title=French Montana Samples The Fugees On "Whipp'n It Slowly" |url=https://www.hotnewhiphop.com/440754-french-montana-samples-the-fugees-on-whippn-it-softly |access-date=July 13, 2023 |website=www.hotnewhiphop.com |date=October 14, 2022 |language=en}} Baby Keem,{{Cite web |date=October 28, 2022 |title=Baby Keem Thanks Lauryn Hill For Clearing Fugees Sample |url=https://hiphopdx.com/news/baby-keem-thanks-lauryn-hill-fugees-sample |access-date=July 13, 2023 |website=HipHopDX |language=en}} and Mariah Carey.{{Cite web |title=Mariah Carey Flips Lauryn Hill's Vocals From A Fugees Classic On "Save The Day" |url=https://genius.com/a/mariah-carey-s-save-the-day-samples-lauryn-hill-s-vocals-from-fugees-killing-me-softly |access-date=July 13, 2023 |website=genius.com}} In October 2023, Billboard ranked "Killing Me Softly" among the "500 Best Pop Songs of All Time".{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/lists/best-pop-songs-all-time-hits/136-fugees-killing-me-softly/|title=The 500 Best Pop Songs: Staff List|magazine=Billboard|date=October 19, 2023|access-date=October 20, 2023}}

Fugees recorded a dancehall version with Bounty Killer rapping, and Hill singing a rewritten chorus. However, they did not receive permission to release it on The Score.

• UK CD1

1. "Killing Me Softly" {{small|(Album Version W/Out Intro)}} – 4:03
2. "Killing Me Softly" {{small|(Album Instrumental)}} – 4:03
3. "Cowboys" {{small|(Album Version)}} – 3:35
4. "Nappy Heads" {{small|(Remix)}} – 3:49

• UK CD2

1. "Killing Me Softly" {{small|(Album Version With Intro)}} – 4:16
2. "Fu-Gee-La" {{small|(Refugee Camp Global Mix)}} – 4:15
3. "Vocab" {{small|(Refugees Hip Hop Mix)}} – 4:07
4. "Vocab" {{small|(Salaam's Acoustic Remix)}} – 5:54

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-2}}

{{col-end}}

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=single|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1996|certyear=1996|certref=}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Austria|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|certyear=1996}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Belgium|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|certyear=1996}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|type=single|artist=The Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly with His Song|award=Gold|id=10948relyear=1996|certyear=2021|access-date=August 18, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|certyear=1996|salesamount=650,000|salesref={{cite magazine |url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ugkEAAAAMBAJ&q=fugees&pg=PA83 |title = Scoring in France |magazine = Billboard |date = November 23, 1996 |access-date = January 8, 2019 }}}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1996}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|certyear=2024|access-date=September 9, 2024|id=13170}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Netherlands|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|number=2|relyear=1996|certyear=1996|access-date=December 15, 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|id=1996-05-31|source=newchart|access-date=November 20, 2024|certyear=1996}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Norway|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|certyear=1996|nosales=true|access-date=December 15, 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Spain|type=single|award=Platinum|certyear=2025|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|access-date=April 14, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Sweden|type=single|award=Platinum|relyear=1996|relmonth=7|certyear=1996|access-date=December 15, 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Switzerland|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Gold|relyear=1996|certyear=1996|access-date=December 15, 2018}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1996|certyear=2021|id=3627-1158-1|access-date=February 12, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=single|artist=Fugees|title=Killing Me Softly with His Song|award=Platinum|number=3|relyear=1996|certyear=2021|access-date=February 17, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|streaming=true}}

• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1970s
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1973
• List of number-one singles in 1973 (New Zealand)
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1973 (U.S.)
• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1990s
• List of number-one hits of 1996 (Austria)
• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1996
• List of European number-one hits of 1996
• List of number-one hits of 1996 (France)
• List of number-one singles of 1996 (Ireland)
• List of number-one singles in 1996 (New Zealand)
• List of number-one singles from the 1990s (UK)
• List of number-one dance singles of 1996 (U.S.)
• List of Mainstream Top 40 number-one hits of 1996 (U.S.)
• List of Billboard Rhythmic number-one songs of the 1990s

{{Reflist}}

{{Don McLean}}

{{Roberta Flack}}

{{Fugees}}

{{Navboxes

|title = Awards for "Killing Me Softly with His Song"

|titlestyle = background: lightblue

|list1 =

{{Grammy Award for Record of the Year 1970s}}

{{Grammy Award for Song of the Year 1970s}}

{{Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Song}}

{{MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video}}

}}

{{UK best-selling singles (by year) 1990–2009}}

{{Authority control}}

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