February 24, 1973 –
The song, Killing Me Softly with His Song by Roberta Flack topped the charts on this date.
Robert Flack heard Lori Lieberman original version of the song on an in-flight tape recorder while flying from Los Angeles to New York. She loved the title and lyrics and decided to record it herself.
The song was written by the songwriting team of Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, and recorded by Lori Lieberman in 1972. The story goes that the song was inspired by Don McLean, a singer/songwriter famous for his hit American Pie. After being mesmerized by one of his concerts at the Troubadour theater in Los Angeles – and in particular McLean’s song Empty Chairs – Lieberman described what she saw of McLean’s performance to Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox, who were writing songs for her new album, and they wrote the song for her.
The Fugees did a hip-hop version featuring the vocals of Lauryn Hill. It was a hit for the Fugees in the US and went to #1 in the UK in 1996. The Fugees wanted to change the lyrics and make it a song about poverty and drug abuse in the inner city with the title Killing Him Softly, but Gimbel and Fox refused.
The Haus of Dcaligari 