14 June 1996
Louis Walsh knows best: people will buy anything as long as it’s a cover of a schmaltzy ’70s ballad. Boyzone led the way, for their farewell single Take That inexplicably followed, and here crossing the Atlantic are an ostensible hip hop act with their breakthrough hit and contribution to the EU corn syrup lake. Yes, ‘Killing Me Softly With His Song’ (its original title) is superior ’70s acoustic cabaret-folk schmaltz, and its definitive version is by the sweet voice of Roberta Flack, but it’s still ’70s schmaltz. If you weren’t around in 1996 or have suppressed the memory, the Fugees’ ‘Killing Me Softly’ was number one in any country that had a record shop and a quorum of record-buying punters – except the US, oddly, and Canada.
The positive things about this record are Lauryn Hill’s strong, sparkling voice and the sparse arrangement that precludes any syrupy strings or other ballad cliches. The negative things are Wyclef’s “One time!” breaking the world record for how quickly something can become annoying, that same sparse arrangement eventually turning the beat into a bobble-headed nodding dog for your car, and the choice of song. Unfortunately, that last one is quite fundamental to the enterprise. Knowing it was inspired by a live performance from the abysmal Don McLean, with whom every day is The Day The Music Died, should guide you on the correct position to take with any version of ‘Killing Me Softly’.
