Chronicling trends in entertainment, pop culture, politics, the arts, and the uncategorized et cetera.

Shallow Nation

April 21st, 2009 at 12:19 am

Susan Boyle Killing Me Softly (Video)

Here is the Susan Boyle Killing Me Softly Video. This is another early Susan Boyle recording, the latest to surface and hit the Internet. Listen to the now internationally famous Scottish singer’s poignant rendition of the 1973 Robert Flack signature song, which was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel and later covered by The Fugees, and see the Killing Me Softly lyrics after the jump.

The recording is a demo tape from 1999 and The Telegraph in London obtained a copy from an unnamed friend of the now globally known Britain’s Got Talent Susan Boyle who is from Blackburn, West Lothian, Scotland. The demo tape includes two recordings; an earlier recording the blues standard ‘Cry Me a River’ made prior to the 1999 CD recording for charity which The Scottish newspaper, The Daily Record unearthed a few days ago.

Here is the Susan Boyle Killing Me Softly Video YouTube link if you can’t see or play the video above.

According to the newspaper which quotes the friend, Boyle had made the demo tape recording ten years ago and sent it around to record companies, talent shows and had given a few copies to friends. She reportedly told friends she ’spent all her savings’ on it.

Nothing came of her efforts, however, surprisingly in retrospect of the international recognition of her talent. The Telegraph quotes the unnamed friend:

“I had heard lots of stories of what a great singer Susan was but I had never heard her sing.

“So she came past one day and told me she had made this tape of a couple of songs – she said to take care of it as it had cost her all her savings to get it made.

“She said she hadn’t had many made and had only given a few out to her closest friends in the village.

“I forgot about it then when I watched Britain’s Got Talent I suddenly remembered I had it. I listened to it again and thought it was incredible that she had not been discovered until now.

“Now millions of people all over the world have fallen in love with her voice and I hope they get to hear this tape. It’s an incredible story.”

Source: Early recording of Britain’s Got Talent’s Susan Boyle unearthed

It is inevitable that the Susan Boyle Killing Me Softly video will go viral as has her initial Britain’s Got Talent I Dreamed a Dream video, seen by tens of millions on YouTube who have watched both the amazing and brilliant performance and the stunned reaction of judges Simon Cowell, Piers Morgan and Amanda Holden and a cynical and hostile audience brought to their feet in cheering. (See: Susan Boyle Video (Britain’s Got Talent))

The speed and swiftness of her global fame already surpasses that of the 38-year-old Paul Potts, the operatic tenor and former mobile phone salesman who similarly stunned the world with his Britain’s Got Talent audition, which led to his subsequent debut album, One Chance, which has topped the charts in 15 countries and his second album, Passione, releasing on May 5, 2009. (The Paul Potts viral video is here on YouTube. )

Here is a new Susan Boyle photo taken on April 21, 2009 showing the singer in a new, updated look, as she had said in a recent interview that upon seeing herself on television she believed she looked ‘frumpy.’ (See: Susan Boyle: Bring on the Makeover!)

Recently, Mary Jordan, a Washington Post foreign correspondent, traveled to Blackburn, Scotland, to report on Susan Boyle and the aftermath of her sudden fame. She answered numerous questions from readers about the singer, her background and how she and her town are reacting to her international fame. You can see the transcript here: Susan Boyle: Famous In An Instant

Additionally the singer’s idol, Elaine Paige has come forward to praise her outstanding performance: Reality TV star Susan Boyle set for duet with idol Elaine Paige

Below are the Killing Me Softly Lyrics.

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…

ooooo….

I heard he sang a good song
I heard he had a style
And so I came to see him and listen for awhile
And there he was this young boy
A stranger to my eyes…

I felt all flushed with fever
Embarrassed by the crowd
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
I pray that he would finish
But he just kept right on…

He sang as if he knew me
In all my dark despair
And then he looked right through me as if I was not there
And he just kept on singing,
Singing clear and strong…

oooooo….la la la la la la…..ooooooooooo…la la laaaaa.la la la laaaaa

He was strumming my pain
Yeah he was singing my life
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…