So this has been.my favorite song of OTEP's since it came out in 2004, and I always thought it was a song about a child's narrative of suffering in an abusive Christian home. But now that I am revisiting the lyrics, I am seeing something totally new.
This song could be gospel of John but from the perspective of Jesus.
Jesus was NOT having a good time up to and during the crucifixion. Everyone in the known world at the time looked to him with fear, admiration or disgust and he was constantly being asked questions. He spoke in "verses, prophesies and curses". He had made an enemy of the state, and believed the world was increasingly wicked and fallen from grace, or that he was in the "mouth of madness".
The spine of atlas is the structure that allows the titan to hold the world up. Jesus challenged the state and in doing so became a celebrated resistance figure. It also made him public enemy #1.
All of this happened simply because he was doing his thing, not because of any agenda he had or strategy.
And then he gets scourged (storm of thorns)
There are some plot holes here but I think it's an interesting interpretation.
Strumming my pain with his fingers
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
(Ha) (yo) (yeah yeah)
This is Wyclef, Refugee Camp (L-Boogie up in here)
Praswell (Praswell up in here, haha)
Lil' Base sittin' up here on the bass (Refugees up in here)
While I'm on this, I got my girl L (ah, ah)
One time (one time), one time (one time)
Ayo, L, you know you got the lyrics
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, and listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time)
Singing my life with his words (two times, two times)
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time)
Singing my life with his words (two times, two times)
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Yo, L-Boog, take me to the bridge
Whoa
Woah-oah-ah-ah-ah uh, uh
La-la-la, la, la, la
Whoa, la
Whoa, la (ha, ha, ha, ha)
La-ah-ah-ah-ah
Strumming my pain with his fingers (yes, he was singing my life)
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words (whole life, with his words)
Killing me softly with his song
Yo, put your hands together for L-Boogie (strumming my pain)
From the Refugee Camp (yeah, yeah)
(Singing my life) up in here, you know how we do, L-Boogie up in here
Wyclef, Praswell, said L-Boogie up in here
Wyclef up in here
My man Lil' Base (Praswell up in here)
Jerry one time
T Rocks up in here, we got Warren up in here
This is how we (Warren up, up in here, Outsiders up here)
We got Fallon up in here, Mulaney, Mulaney's up in here
(Refugee Camp, Refugee Camp, yeah)
Everybody got a breakin' point kid
And they'll rat on you
The family niggas will rat on you
That's why we gotta be prepared to take whoever out we need to
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
(Ha) (yo) (yeah yeah)
This is Wyclef, Refugee Camp (L-Boogie up in here)
Praswell (Praswell up in here, haha)
Lil' Base sittin' up here on the bass (Refugees up in here)
While I'm on this, I got my girl L (ah, ah)
One time (one time), one time (one time)
Ayo, L, you know you got the lyrics
I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him, and listen for a while
And there he was, this young boy, stranger to my eyes
Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time)
Singing my life with his words (two times, two times)
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he'd found my letters and read each one out loud
I prayed that he would finish, but he just kept right on
Strumming my pain with his fingers (one time, one time)
Singing my life with his words (two times, two times)
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Yo, L-Boog, take me to the bridge
Whoa
Woah-oah-ah-ah-ah uh, uh
La-la-la, la, la, la
Whoa, la
Whoa, la (ha, ha, ha, ha)
La-ah-ah-ah-ah
Strumming my pain with his fingers (yes, he was singing my life)
Singing my life with his words
Killing me softly with his song
Killing me softly with his song
Telling my whole life with his words (whole life, with his words)
Killing me softly with his song
Yo, put your hands together for L-Boogie (strumming my pain)
From the Refugee Camp (yeah, yeah)
(Singing my life) up in here, you know how we do, L-Boogie up in here
Wyclef, Praswell, said L-Boogie up in here
Wyclef up in here
My man Lil' Base (Praswell up in here)
Jerry one time
T Rocks up in here, we got Warren up in here
This is how we (Warren up, up in here, Outsiders up here)
We got Fallon up in here, Mulaney, Mulaney's up in here
(Refugee Camp, Refugee Camp, yeah)
Everybody got a breakin' point kid
And they'll rat on you
The family niggas will rat on you
That's why we gotta be prepared to take whoever out we need to
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This song seemingly tackles the methods of deception those who manipulate others use to get victims to follow their demands, as well as diverting attention away from important issues. They'll also use it as a means to convince people to hate or kill others by pretending acts of terrorism were committed by the enemy when the acts themselves were done by the masters of control to promote discrimination and hate. It also reinforces the idea that these manipulative forces operate in various locations, infiltrating everyday life without detection, and propagate any and everywhere.
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I think this has got to be one of my favorite songs, not just because of what the lyrics are saying, but because of the emotion you can feel when she sings.
The story of the song is quite simple: She hears of this young performer and his talents, so she goes to see him perform to see if he is as talented as she has heard. When she gets there, his songs are describing all of her emotions and feelings, almost as if he had somehow read a journal or diary of hers (I felt he found my letters; And read each one out loud).
I think the last verse describes the song entirely: "He sang as if he knew me In all my dark despair And then he looked right through me As if I wasn't there But he was there, this stranger Singing clear and strong"
I think the song is very straight forward. She went to a concert of someone she had not heard much by. He sang and she related so well she became emotional, it hit home. Everyone at one point hears a song and it just really hits them, and this is what happened to Roberta Flack when she went to a Don McClain concert. When he sang a certain song (not sure on what song it was) she became very emotional and this is what she wrote about. And I think that the Fugees did a wonderful cover with much emotion and they owned the song.
@penny-lane False. The song was written by Norman Gimbel in collaboration with Lori Lieberman, who first recorded the song in '71. Roberta Flack didn't top the charts with her version of this son until '73.
penny-lane has almost gotten it. The song is indeed about a moving performace at a Don McLean concert. Although the tune was made popular by Roberta Flack, it was actually written and first performed by a woman named Lori Lieberman:
lorilieberman.com/music/killingmesoftly.wma
The "song" that she is referring to is Empty Chairs. Give it a listen; it is actually a very moving composition by one of the most under-appreciated American writer-performers of our time.
@ike nice!
No one has another view of this song?
How bout a more abstract, sinister interpretation of an abusive relationship, one who controls his partner, forcing her into situations and making choices for her. Someone who doesn't have the self esteem to live his own life with his own personality, instead taking a woman's over. "strumming my pain with his fingers, telling my life with his words."
how bout dat shit
@BigJerty Of course we all know the backstory of the song and how it was written about Don McClean, blah blah blah. But I agree, how about we think a little more deeply!!!
This song is my all time fav. It's deffinatly one of the best songs, next to Peaches'n'Creme.
this song was written about Don McClean
bigjerty, hav you even read the lyrics beside the chorus cus its pretty obviously about a song by don mclean that reflected her experiences or a situation she had been in in her life
My school jazz choir is doing this song... It's good to sing it, but the harmony...
Roberta Flack did the original version
@mulnix WRONG! Lori Lieberman.
I love this song.. I'm singing it in a competition in three weeks.. the words and pitches are awesome.. it's one of my favs.