Showing posts with label Lauryn Hill. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lauryn Hill. Show all posts

Friday, 14 July 2023

Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You

Cover version of the month #88

Lauryn Hill covers Frankie Valli

My cover version of the month blog regularly leads to me discovering new facts about the origins of the song. I thought I knew this one. I was convinced that Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You was first recorded by Andy Williams, but in actual fact it was Frankie Valli. 

Bob Gaudi, Valli's former bandmate in the Four Seasons, wrote the song with his friend Bob Crewe. Valli released the Can't Take My Eyes Off You in April 1967, just ahead of the Summer of Love. Coming in at 3-minutes 24 seconds, this really is a perfect song. 

Easing in gently with strings and melancholic horns, the first two verses are feelings that people all over the world can relate to - that wonderful feeling of being head over heels in love when you can't take your eyes off someone and you can't believe it is really true.

At 1-minute 19 seconds there is a glorious jaunty horn led bridge to the chorus which absolutely explodes into life with Valli stretching his vocals in a joyful declaration of love.

I love you baby

And if it's quite alright I need you baby

To warm the lonely night, I love you baby

Trust in me when I say

Oh pretty baby

Don't bring me own I pray

Oh pretty baby

Now that I've found you stay

And let me love you baby

Let me love you

With no pause, we're back into the first verse, Valli's voice is absolutely gorgeous, as are the strings that swirl around him. Then it's back to the uplifting horn bridge that gets so many people up to dance at weddings and into that huge soulful and euphoric chorus. And it's over! With such a recognisable bridge and chorus it is almost difficult to believe that you only hear them twice!

Andy Williams covered the song in 1968 and took it to number 5 in the UK singles charts. So it's possible that his version is the version that is more widely known in the UK. Valli's version reached number 2 in the USA but doesn't appear to have been released over here.

Williams is a little more of a crooner than Valli. That said, I love the bass and the little scratch guitar riff in the intro and through the verses. That soulful undercurrent is lost a little for the bridge and chorus. It does become a little more 'loungey'.

I definitely prefer the Frankie Valli version to the Williams version that I thought was the original.

30-years on from Williams version, Lauryn Hill released her one and only solo album - The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Coming on the back of Fugees 1996 album The Score, it's hard to believe that Hill hasn't released anything since! Hill was in an exceptionally rich vein of form, looking incredibly cool and singing heavenly.

Reading up on where she was at, it sounds like Hill was tired/exhausted of life in Fugees - the pressures resulting from the success of The Score and the conflict resulting from her relationship with Wyclef Jean. Jean married someone while still involved with Hill.

Hill found love with Rohan Marley (son of Bob) and it sounds like Lauryn was in a very happy place while recording her debut album, from June 96 - June 97. Hill and Marley became parents to young Zion in August 97.

Lauryn originally recorded the song to feature on the 1997 film Conspiracy Theory, however it wasn't actually included on the film soundtrack. That didn't stop a DJ in San Francisco from burning the song on to a CD and playing it on his show. It took off and other stations followed suit, eventually resulting in the song being a hidden track on The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. In 1999, Hill's version became the first 'hidden song' to be nominated for a Grammy.

At the age of only 23, Hill was beautiful, cool, in love, a Mum and on top of the world musically in 1998. Her version is all kinds of cool, oozing confidence and soul. Hill takes out the bridge (beloved by all wedding attendees in Scotland) and goes straight to the chorus. 

I can't find anything online about why Lauryn recorded this, but I like to think that it's because she was indeed head over heels in love. And it comes across in the song, her voice is simply sublime.

My friends Phil and Mary played this for their first dance when they got married. So, perhaps for sentimental reasons, this is my favourite version of the song. I do dig the Frankie Valli version more than the Andy Williams version that I thought was the original.

Frankie Valli version

Andy Williams version

Lauryn Hill version

All of the above versions are added to my Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist on Spotify which also features all of the songs below. Search for the title or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
82. Drop
87. Indian Rope Man + bonus Strawberry Fields Forever + This Wheels On Fire








Lauryn Hill recorded


All previous cover version of the month blogs are listed below. To listen on Spotify, search for Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist, featuring all of the songs below, or CLICK HERE

Previous covers of the month

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
82. Drop


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Monday, 17 October 2022

Killing Me Softly

Cover version of the month #80
Fugees cover Roberta Flack

The opening 35 seconds of Fugees Killing Me Softly is 35 seconds of Laryn Hill singing. Her pure, sweet and beautiful voice is utterly captivating. Her band then drop a hip hop beat and there is the sound of conversation as they encourage Lauryn to continue singing hey yo L, you know you got the lyrics.

Hill certainly has the lyrics, she certainly has the voice. The beat is joined by a bass and her bandmate Wyclef ad libbing one time. Something that everyone would do when singing along back when the song was released in 1996. It was massive, it was absolutely everywhere, topping the charts in over 20 countries. Killing Me Softly was the biggest selling single in the UK that year.

Fugees didn't just cover Killing Me Softly. In classic old skool hip hop block party style, they were sampling as well. Bonita Applebum by A Tribe Called Quest, which actually samples Memory Band by Rotary Collection is where Fugees got the distinctive riff that introduces the beats at the start and subsequent verses.

The song is stretched to almosty 5-minutes, Fugees are in no rush. Their cover version is warm, full of love and appreciation for the original, they just add a beautiful little bit of hip hop soul to put their own stamp on it. And they do it in style.

Now ... here we have another example of me finding out that what i thought was the original version ... wasn't the original version! Get ready for the story behind this involving Don McLean & Marvin Gaye!

I always thought that Killing Me Softly was a Roberta Flack song and I'm positive that all the press around Fugees version indicated that too.


However, the original was released in 1972 by Lori Lieberman who co-wrote (uncredited) the song with Charles Fox (music) and Norman Gimbel (lyrics). 

Lieberman was inspired to write the song while watching Don McLean in concert, in particular when he sang his song Empty Chairs. She scribbled notes and Fox & Gimbel worked them into a song (although there is a degree of dispute around who did what).

Lieberman released the song as a single, but it didn't chart. However the song did find its way on to the in flight entertainment system on a plane that Roberta Flack was on! She then played the song live in an encore while supporting Marvin Gaye who put his arm around her and said; Baby, don't ever do that song live again until you record it!

Flack did record the song, it went to number 1 and in 1973 she won a couple of Grammy awards.

The original version has a quaint folk-like quality to it. Lieberman sings beautifully, but there just isn't enough to it. Flack changes the intro, straight into the chorus. The layered harmonies create a new depth, the kick drum coming in all slow is beautiful. Flack's voice is stronger and more soulful.

Flack just lifts the song in all the right ways. The change to the intro, the pace, the use of keyboards/piano rather than the folky guitar in Lieberman's version. And ... the voice! What a voice! It's interesting that Flack's version is also a full 60-seconds longer than the original. She makes the most of that time, with the chorus intro from the very first second through to the end where she just keeps it going, keeps it flowing.

So there you have it. Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly is a cover. The Fugees version is a cover of a cover! I love Roberta Flack's version, but the Fugees version just takes me back to 1996 when it really was everywhere. I love the video, Lauryn Hill is super cool and check the live version from Later. Fugees version has that whole block party vibe going on - it's a cracker.

All previous cover version of the month blogs are listed below. To listen, search for Everything Flows Cool Cover Versions playlist, featuring all of the songs below, on Spotify or CLICK HERE

Lori Lieberman version

Roberta Flack version

Fugees original video

Fugees live on Later

Previous covers of the month

13. Hurt
39. ABBA-esque
40. Jumpin' Jack Flash
64. Lola
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