I was ready to lead this post with a ‘hip-hop goes mainstream’ headline, twinning it with the success of ‘Gangsta’s Paradise’ a few months before…
Killing Me Softly, by The Fugees (their 1st of two #1s)
4 weeks, from 2nd – 30th June 1996/ 1 week, from 7th – 14th July 1996 (5 weeks total)
But listening to the Fugees’ cover of ‘Killing Me Softly’ now – even though it holds the title of the UK’s ‘best-selling hip-hop single of all time (by a group)’ – there isn’t all that much hip, or hop.
The intro is a beautifully sung a cappella version of the chorus – the whole song is similarly well sung by Lauryn Hill – and even though a simple hip-hop beat comes in soon after, and Hill’s bandmates Wyclef Jean and Pras Michel throw in some adlibs, this is not a gangsta rap revolution. Your mum could have quite happily heard this on the car radio without reaching for the dial in horror.
Which is presumably why this song went on to be the highest seller of 1996, to this day remaining in the all-time Top 50. It is also a cover of a much loved classic, Roberta Flack’s version having made #6 (and #1 on the Billboard chart) in 1973. Flack’s wasn’t the original though (something I just found out today) as Lori Liebermann had recorded a version the year before, with her two song-writing partners Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel. There have been lawsuits and recriminations over which of them dreamed up the song’s concept, and the lyrics, but it’s generally agreed that the subject of the song – the man killing the singer softly with his words – is Don McLean.
A record as great as this will have moments in particular that stand out, and I love the twangy sitars that chop up the verses, and the way Hill pronounces ‘boy’ as ‘bwoi’. But the beauty here is mainly in the song’s simplicity, in the way that they allow the raw and very personal lyrics to stand out, much as they do in the earlier versions. The way that the woman listening to the unnamed singer has an almost sexual reaction to hearing his music: I prayed that he would finish, But he just kept right on…
This may be hip-hop lite, but at the same time it is undeniable that this was the moment when the genre was going mainstream in Britain. More and more rap #1s are coming up, including one much less radio-friendly one from the Fugees themselves. Perhaps that’s the way it had to be – hip-hop in through the back door, covering easy-listening classics, persuading suburban mums to buy the album… I can imagine many shocked faces in the summer of 1996 when people realised that this pop classic was a bit of an outlier in the Fugees’ canon.
The Fugees were a trio from New Jersey (Jean and Michel were of Haitian origin) who had been together since 1990, and recording since 1993. Their first album hadn’t much troubled the charts, and so this record was their breakthrough smash. Interestingly, the strange Billboard rules of the time meant that neither this nor any of their subsequent hits actually charted in the US, as they were only released to airplay. In any case, it still made #1 in twenty-one countries around the world.
I won’t delve into the Fugees’ subsequent careers, and varying levels of fame and infamy, just yet, as they have that aforementioned second #1 to come very soon. But I will linger here a moment more, as this really is one of the great ‘90s chart-toppers. The fact that I cannot listen to either of the earlier versions without wanting to add the ad-libs from this one is testament to that. ‘Killing Me Softly’ did a dance with ‘Three Lions’ at #1, meaning that it is one of only two singles to knock the same song off top spot twice. Not ‘one time’, but ‘two times’… See what I did there?
The UK Number Ones Blog 
This was a good song but, I prefer Flack’s version. The Fugees kinda “over did it” with way too much of the melisma, that I detest. Vocal gymnastics are interesting if you are a yodeler or calling Tarzan (think Carol Burnett).
I have to say, tho…after listening to Lori’s version, she has a lovely voice. She reminds me of Joni Mitchell.
I’m not sure I hear that much melisma here… Certainly not Mariah or Whitney levels! But you’re right about the original version and Joni Mitchell. They’re very much the same style and time.
Well, no…not Mariah or Whitney levels but, too much for me. I have a low tolerance for melisma.
I’ll take the original…the intro is great! Then it goes into the electronic computer-casio beat and loses me. Why would it be so damn hard to use real drums? It’s like an ice pick tapping on my head.
I agree.
I’m not really a big Roberta Flack fan – she has some great songs and her version of this song is great but a lot of her songs are quite boring. This version is my favourite. I absolutely adore it. It’s a very faithful cover but still updated for the 90s. It touches on pop, R&B, hip hop and even a little easy listening too. Lauryn Hill crushes the vocal performance on this one. There’s rapping, but also quite tender crooning too. It’s such a shame she’s such a volatile and inconsistent artist because when she was on she was ON.
Such a massive hit it was all across the world, and even in the US where it didn’t chart on the Hot 100 due to a physical single not being released, it was omnipresent across various radio stations/formats.
Yes, and in fact none of the Fugees songs were big US hits, thanks to that strange Billboard rule. ‘Don’t Speak’ by No Doubt is the most famous ‘huge hit that never actually charted’, but there were plenty of others from the same time
I was glad the song was given to a new musical generation….but it’s Roberta all the way for me. I really got sick of hearing this on saturation airplay and those annoying adlibs really got on my tits! Bwoi has a certain charm to it, that, say, I Axe You instead of I Ask You, doesnt, and I bought Lauren’s key album after the band dissolved, sadly. Much preferred the next single, and the Abba sample was a great move, yay, much-under-rated Abba song Name Of The Game.
I like the adlibs, but if you don’t then I can see why they ruin the song… It’s impossible to listen to any version now without hearing them!