Strumming my pain with his fingers

Strumming my pain with his fingers

Strumming my pain with his fingers.

In a restaurant
Holdin' hands by candlelight.

Killing me softly with his song.

The lady featured in this number sounds totally spaced out.I've tried to get to the meaning of the apparently crazy lyrics,but think I've only just about half managed it.Research on this unearthed that Roberta Flack had once been totally blown away by some concert given by Don Mclean,and that this number is partly based on that experience.However,in setting out to write the number,something seems to have gotten totally lost somewhere.We have,as far as sanity prevails,a woman who has gone to listen to a cute young guy sing.It appears she's wrote to him beforehand,or at least,to a certain singer.It's just about here that sanity takes a back seat.She starts prattling about said cute young guy seeming to be a complete stranger or something,and that he's making some hideous mockery of her letters in his song,hence the title.She wades into a neurotic tirade,talking about feeling feverish and paranoid.She thinks he knows her,she thinks he doesn't.Here is a lady who scares me silly.The way she is talking sounds like the prattlings of a dangerously unstable,fantasy befogged woman,who'd be very dicey to get involved with,or even be around.All this mad talk of him telling her life history and killing her softly-Guys,I ask you.She concludes with yet another piece of twaddle-He sang out clear and strong-Like,if he'd been singing unclearly and weakly he wouldn't be up there long.In conclusion,in her crazed brain it's that dude on the stage who's at fault.If I had the vote on who's crazy around here lady,it's you.

This is just about the dumbest lyric I ever heard in my life! How the heck can you A) Kill somebody 'softly'? and B) Kill somebody with a song? I've always thought this song was absolutely ridiculous...maybe there's some hidden meaning here but it's still a stupid lyric!

Good 70s MOR song.

The rest of the opening line is: "...whole life with his words, Killing me softly with his song ..." Flack's second #1 was able to move up the charts a lot quicker then her first. It was a #1 song in 1973 and the #1 song of the year. "Killing Me Softly With His Song" was written by Flack in response to Don McLean's "American Pie" that was the #1 song in 1972. The Fugees would have a successful remake of the song in the 1990's.