Goosebumps. That’s the sensation I had when I first heard this song on Forces Request. Forty years later, it’s still goosebumps. Roberta Flack’s version of this song is about as perfect as a song could ever be. The sparse jazzy arrangement magnifies the impact of her sublime voice. And that voice – wow! She plumbs the depths of pathos and so beautifully captures that period of despair and melancholy that follows heartbreak.

The song’s origin story is quite a muddle. Apparently a singer called Lori Lieberman went to see Don Maclean, who she hadn’t seen before (‘And there he was this young boy; A stranger to my eyes) play at a club in LA in 1971. When he sang ‘Empty Chairs’ it struck a deep chord in Lori (‘ strumming my pain with his fingers, killing me softly with his song”). She immediately made notes on a napkin about how Don Maclean’s voice and lyrics had touched her. Her song writing partners, Gimbel & Fox converted these to lyrics and set them to music for Lori to release in ’72, but it went nowhere. Roberta Flack heard it on an airline inflight program and fell in love with it. Classically trained Roberta – she is a piano and vocal prodigy – set about rewriting the arrangement on the flight itself and in few days had her version ready. A few months later, Roberta was opening for Marvin Gaye and sang this to the audience, who of course went nuts. Gaye rushed over to her and told her to go and record her version straight away before someone else did. The rest, as they say, is history

The song was a humongous hit, and actually became Roberta Flack’s second #1 hit, winning her two Grammys that year. It also made her the first female artist in history to win back to back Grammys for Record of the Year. It’s one for the ages and I never get tired of listening to it! There are two more versions that are great – Perry Como’s male version come close, but not close enough. And then there is the modern cover of this from 1996 – the Fugees, with Lauren Hill’s transcendent voice coming pretty close to the level of Roberta’s version. However, Roberta Flack’s version is the only one that is perfection.

Perry Como

The Fugees