Killing Me Softly with His Song

"Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a 1972 ballad by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, best known from Roberta Flack's number-one record of 1973. This page has the Killing Me Softly with His Song chords and a backing track you can slow down, speed up and transpose for a singer.

Who wrote "Killing Me Softly with His Song"

Charles Fox wrote the music and Norman Gimbel the words. The idea came from the singer Lori Lieberman, who told the writers how moved she had been hearing Don McLean in concert; she recorded the song first, in 1972. It is a song with a lyric, and it is almost always sung.

Recordings that made it a standard

• Lori Lieberman (1972) — the first recording, a quiet folk-pop reading.
• Roberta Flack (1973) — the hit: number one in the United States and the Grammy for Record of the Year, with a slower, soul arrangement that most versions since have followed.
• Fugees, The Score (1996) — Lauryn Hill's vocal over a hip-hop beat, which brought the song to a new generation.