''Killing Me Softly with Her Song'' is an

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on May 25, 1973 by Columbia Records and leaned heavily on covers of the latest radio favorites. The album made its first appearance on '' Billboard'' magazine's Top LP's & Tapes chart in the issue dated June 30, 1973, and remained there for seven weeks, peaking at number 120.. One of the two original songs on the album, "

Show and Tell Show and tell (sometimes called show and share or sharing time) is the practice of showing something to an audience and describing it to them, usually a toy or other children's-oriented item. In the United Kingdom, North America, New Zealand and ...

", began a three-week run on '' Billboards

Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...

chart in that year's May 12 issue and peaked at number 36.. The other, "Arianne", music and lyrics by Martin Charnin. reached number 24 on that same chart in 1977 during a nine-week stay that began in the July 23 issue.

Reception

William Ruhlmann of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

described the place of this album within the Easy Listening genre in his review. "The early 1970s was a tough time for established ballad singers, but Johnny Mathis, who was younger than his peers and Columbia Records labelmates like

Tony Bennett Anthony Dominick Benedetto (born August 3, 1926), known professionally as Tony Bennett, is an American retired singer of traditional pop standards, big band, show tunes, and jazz. Bennett is also a painter, having created works under his birt ...

and Andy Williams, weathered the lean times better than most. Some of the reasons why are suggested in this 1973 album. It wasn't a big seller by any means, but this enjoyable, contemporary-sounding set made the charts." He also points out that "unlike Bennett, who had eftColumbia the year before, Mathis had no resistance to contemporary material; he sounded fine singing it. And though he had never had much of an impact in the R&B market, he was an African-American who could handle the Stylistics and

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys K ...

songs credibly, substituting his trademark tremulousness for their more soulful approach. At the same time, he could match both Perry Como and newer soft-rock stars like Bread and

the Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...

." At the time of the album's release, ''Billboard'' also had good things to say. "If you believe in masterpieces, then this LP qualifies." Already aware of the plans for his subsequent album, '' I'm Coming Home'', which focused on new material, the magazine prematurely declared this as the end of his cover album phase. "Although Mathis is now on a path to record original songs, this last in his series of covering tunes is a totally rewarding listening experience." (Mathis would continue to record albums that included a varying number of current hit songs by other artists until the late 1970s.) The magazine was quite impressed with this project. "Mathis may have been recording for 17 years, but this newest work is magical. His clean, sweetly flowing voice is married perfectly to so many fine and outstanding songs that one wonders why they weren't presented to him in the first place. He makes them all come alive." They also appreciated the arrangements here. "There is a fine, gossamer feeling to D'Arneill Pershing's charts which makes the music more than merely commercially romantic."

Track listing

Side one

# "

Killing Me Softly with Her Song "Killing Me Softly with His Song" is a song composed by Charles Fox with lyrics by Norman Gimbel. The lyrics were written in collaboration with Lori Lieberman after she was inspired by a Don McLean performance in late 1971. Denied writing credit ...

" ( Charles Fox,

Norman Gimbel Norman Gimbel (November 16, 1927 – December 19, 2018) was an American lyricist of popular songs, television and movie themes. He wrote the lyrics for songs including " Killing Me Softly with His Song", " Ready to Take a Chance Again" (both wit ...

) – 5:18 # " Aubrey" (

David Gates David Ashworth Gates (December 11, 1940 – January 5, 2023) was a American singer-songwriter, guitarist, musician and producer, frontman and co-lead singer (with Jimmy Griffin) of the group Bread, which reached the top of the musical charts ...

) – 3:37 # " And I Love You So" (

Don McLean Donald McLean III (born October 2, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his 1971 hit song " American Pie", an eight-and-a-half-minute folk rock "cultural touchstone" about the loss of innocence of the early ...

) – 3:26 # " Break Up to Make Up" (

Thom Bell Thomas Randolph Bell (January 27th, 1943 – December 22, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, pianist, and composer known as one of the creators of Philadelphia soul in the 1970s. He found success as a producer ...

Linda Creed Linda Diane Creed (December 6, 1948 – April 10, 1986), also known by her married name Linda Epstein, was an American songwriter and lyricist who teamed up with Thom Bell to produce some of the most successful Philadelphia soul groups of the 1 ...

Kenneth Gamble Kenneth Gamble (born August 11, 1943, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) and Leon A. Huff (born April 8, 1942, Camden, New Jersey) are an American songwriting and production team credited for developing the Philadelphia soul music genre (also known as ...

) – 3:50 # "Arianne" (

Martin Charnin Martin Charnin (November 24, 1934 – July 6, 2019) was an American lyricist, writer, and theatre director. Charnin's best-known work is as conceiver, director, and lyricist of the musical '' Annie.'' Life and career Charnin was born in New York ...

, Christian Roudey) – 3:29

Side two

# "

Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye) "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" is a song recorded by Gladys Knight & the Pips. Released on December 26, 1972 on Motown's Soul Records imprint as S 35098, it became one of their biggest hit singles to date, and was also ...

" (

Jim Weatherly James Dexter Weatherly (March 17, 1943 – February 3, 2021) was an American singer-songwriter who wrote mostly pop and country music. He played quarterback at the University of Mississippi while also writing music with his own bands. He subseq ...

) – 4:26 # "

Wildflower A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...

" (Doug Edwards, David Richardson) – 4:21 # "

You Are the Sunshine of My Life "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" is a 1973 single released by Stevie Wonder. The song became Wonder's third number-one single on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and his first number-one on the Easy Listening chart. It won Wonder a Grammy Award f ...

" ( Stevie Wonder) – 2:41 # "

Sing Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

" from ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) ...

'' (

Joe Raposo Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 – February 5, 1989) was an American composer, songwriter, pianist, singer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series ''Sesame Street'', for which he wrote the theme ...

) – 3:04 # "

Good Morning Heartache "Good Morning Heartache" is a song written by Irene Higginbotham, Ervin Drake, and Dan Fisher. It was recorded by jazz singer Billie Holiday on January 22, 1946. Bill Stegmeyer and his Orchestra (Decca Session No. 54) New York City, January 22, ...

" (

Ervin Drake Ervin Drake (born Ervin Maurice Druckman; April 3, 1919 – January 15, 2015) was an American songwriter whose works include such American Songbook standards as " I Believe" and "It Was a Very Good Year". He wrote in a variety of styles and his w ...

, Dan Fisher,

Irene Higginbotham Irene Higginbotham (June 11, 1918 – August 27, 1988) was an American songwriter and concert pianist. She is best known for co-writing the Billie Holiday song " Good Morning Heartache" (1946). Biography Higginbotham was born on June 11, 1918, in ...

) – 2:25 # "

" ( Jerry Fuller) – 3:12

Recording dates

From the liner notes for '' The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection'': *March 1, 1973 – "Killing Me Softly with Her Song", "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)", "Show and Tell" *March 29, 1973 – "Break Up to Make Up", "Sing" *April 2, 1973 – "Aubrey", "Good Morning Heartache", "You Are the Sunshine of My Life" *April 25, 1973 – "Arianne" *April 25–26, 1973 – "And I Love You So", "Wildflower"

Personnel

From the liner notes for the original album: * Johnny Mathis - vocals * Jerry Fuller - producer *D'Arneill Pershing - arranger *Barry Rudolph - recording engineer *

Richard Avedon Richard Avedon (May 15, 1923 – October 1, 2004) was an American fashion and portrait photographer. He worked for ''Harper's Bazaar'', ''Vogue'' and ''Elle'' specializing in capturing movement in still pictures of fashion, theater and danc ...

- photographer *Beverly Parker - design

References

Bibliography

* * {{Authority control 1973 albums Johnny Mathis albums Columbia Records albums