What’s goin’ down,
Dialophiles? Glad you all could make it to our humble little blog, this fine evening!
Tonight, the Dial beams you a smooth, soulful groove … a forgotten cover tune, recorded by one of the preeminent soul crooners of the latter half of the ‘80s. Turn the lights down low for Al B. Sure and his take on “Killing Me Softly”.
“I heard she sang a good song… I heard she had a style… and so I came to see her to listen for a while…”
Extracted from the 1988 debut LP “In Effect Mode”, which contained the monster US# 7 and R&B #1 hit “Nite and Day”, and the follow up single “Off On Your Own (Girl)”, (R&B #1, US #45), “Killing…” was released as the third single from the album. The remake peaked respectably on the R&B charts at #14, but barely dented the Hot 100, stalling at a lowly #80. I always felt this track deserved at least a top 30 position, but perhaps the lyrics were too mature, and the groove too sophisticated and mellow, to gain major success among the teeny-bopper record and tape buying masses at the time of its release.
“And there she was, this young girl, a stranger to my eyes…”
Originally written and recorded by folk artist Lori Lieberman in 1971 as “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”, and co-written by composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimble, (Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”, Barry Manilow’s “Ready to Take a Chance Again”), the lyrics tell of a concert attendee who experiences humiliation when the performer she is watching seems to be singing about intimate details of her own life.
“I felt all flushed with fever… embarrassed by the crowd… I felt she found my letters and read each one out loud.”
Best known through Roberta Flack’s bluesy soul rendition, which topped the US charts in 1973, and quickly established the track as a pop standard, Al switches the gender pronouns (“his song” to “her song”), and truncates the title to the simpler “Killing Me Softly”. Sure’s take is soulful and jazzy, and wouldn’t sound out of place on a “quiet storm” radio station of today.
Even though Al’s cover didn’t light up the charts, we didn’t have to wait too long for the song to resurface. Eight years later, Haitian/American hip-hop trio The Fugees released an incredible take that hit #1 in most international markets, but stopped short in the U.S., settling for #2 in 1996.
“She sang as if she knew me, yeah… In all my dark despair… and then she looked right through me, as if I wasn’t there…”
Al’s second LP, 1990’s “Private Times… and the Whole 9!”, saw him tackling another classic ‘70s track, the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. I recall an interview with Sure in either Spin or Billboard, in which he was complimented on his cover choices. He replied that he always looked for cover songs that would challenge him as a singer and producer, and both “Killing” and “Hotel” fit the bill quite nicely.
Like Kenny Loggins’ “Nobody’s Fool” (a Radio Dial entry from mid-March)… “Killing…” was a track that I enjoyed repeatedly on the bus on the way to and from school, courtesy of my beloved Sony Walkman. I particularly appreciated the slow ascension in intensity throughout the track, which brings to mind a smoky jazz filled club. Also of note is the second chorus repetition near the end when Sure sings only with sparse drum accompaniment, and Al expertly switches to full A capella mode by the third chorus. Very smooth, very classy.
We recommend listening to this one with the lights down low. You’re welcome.
“Strumming my pain with her fingers… she was singing my life with her words… killing me softly with her song… killing me softly with her song… telling my whole life with her words… killing me softly with her song.”
Tonight, the Dial beams you a smooth, soulful groove … a forgotten cover tune, recorded by one of the preeminent soul crooners of the latter half of the ‘80s. Turn the lights down low for Al B. Sure and his take on “Killing Me Softly”.
“I heard she sang a good song… I heard she had a style… and so I came to see her to listen for a while…”
Extracted from the 1988 debut LP “In Effect Mode”, which contained the monster US# 7 and R&B #1 hit “Nite and Day”, and the follow up single “Off On Your Own (Girl)”, (R&B #1, US #45), “Killing…” was released as the third single from the album. The remake peaked respectably on the R&B charts at #14, but barely dented the Hot 100, stalling at a lowly #80. I always felt this track deserved at least a top 30 position, but perhaps the lyrics were too mature, and the groove too sophisticated and mellow, to gain major success among the teeny-bopper record and tape buying masses at the time of its release.
“And there she was, this young girl, a stranger to my eyes…”
Originally written and recorded by folk artist Lori Lieberman in 1971 as “Killing Me Softly (With His Song)”, and co-written by composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimble, (Jim Croce’s “I Got A Name”, Barry Manilow’s “Ready to Take a Chance Again”), the lyrics tell of a concert attendee who experiences humiliation when the performer she is watching seems to be singing about intimate details of her own life.
“I felt all flushed with fever… embarrassed by the crowd… I felt she found my letters and read each one out loud.”
Best known through Roberta Flack’s bluesy soul rendition, which topped the US charts in 1973, and quickly established the track as a pop standard, Al switches the gender pronouns (“his song” to “her song”), and truncates the title to the simpler “Killing Me Softly”. Sure’s take is soulful and jazzy, and wouldn’t sound out of place on a “quiet storm” radio station of today.
Even though Al’s cover didn’t light up the charts, we didn’t have to wait too long for the song to resurface. Eight years later, Haitian/American hip-hop trio The Fugees released an incredible take that hit #1 in most international markets, but stopped short in the U.S., settling for #2 in 1996.
“She sang as if she knew me, yeah… In all my dark despair… and then she looked right through me, as if I wasn’t there…”
Al’s second LP, 1990’s “Private Times… and the Whole 9!”, saw him tackling another classic ‘70s track, the Eagles’ “Hotel California”. I recall an interview with Sure in either Spin or Billboard, in which he was complimented on his cover choices. He replied that he always looked for cover songs that would challenge him as a singer and producer, and both “Killing” and “Hotel” fit the bill quite nicely.
Like Kenny Loggins’ “Nobody’s Fool” (a Radio Dial entry from mid-March)… “Killing…” was a track that I enjoyed repeatedly on the bus on the way to and from school, courtesy of my beloved Sony Walkman. I particularly appreciated the slow ascension in intensity throughout the track, which brings to mind a smoky jazz filled club. Also of note is the second chorus repetition near the end when Sure sings only with sparse drum accompaniment, and Al expertly switches to full A capella mode by the third chorus. Very smooth, very classy.
We recommend listening to this one with the lights down low. You’re welcome.
“Strumming my pain with her fingers… she was singing my life with her words… killing me softly with her song… killing me softly with her song… telling my whole life with her words… killing me softly with her song.”
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