Killing Me Softly: Transcribed for Cello

This beautiful song, composed in 1972, was a collaboration between three contributors, all Americans of Eastern European Jewish origins: Charles Fox (the composer), Norman Gimbel (lyrics), and Lori Liebermann (lyrics and performer). In a beautiful act of multicultural enrichment – very typical of the USA – it became famous in a jazz/pop version by the afro-american singer Roberta Flack. We include this song in both the jazz and pop categories.

For the cello transcription, the key of A minor has been chosen, as that key is the most comfortable one in which we can play the song in both a lower and higher octave, as though it was being sung alternately by a male and a female voice. For an “Easier Version” just play it always in the lower octave.

1. Edited Performance Version
2.     Clean Performance Version

Here below is a play-along accompaniment in which we will play the song three times, alternating the registers as we wish. In the sheet music offered here, we start and finish with the lower register, but we could also do the opposite (start and finish with the high register).