Roberta Flack

But back in the 80s and 70s, we had M2 May Lucas.

And they did Donny Hathaway, Roberta Flack, all these people, Stephanie Mills, all these groups of spinners.

They were the cats in New York.

They were the New York cats, the East Coast guy, producers, top cats.

So this, The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face, is the track that you picked for your selections today.

And I was familiar somewhat with the history of it and that it was written by Ewan McColl, but I was much more familiar with the version by Roberta Flack, which is very well known.

I'd love to hear beyond what you just mentioned about the young woman who introduced you to the song why you actually picked it to discuss today.

I picked it because I think it's a beautiful song.

I think that the story behind it really captivates me too.

I love the fact that three singers that I really adore sing the exact same song very differently.

Roberta Flack sings it and she draws it out and sings it in a soul ballad way.

And Peggy Seagram sings it and she sings it as a folk song.

Get this list of people.

Leslie Gore, Michael Jackson, Bobby Darin, Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson, Patti LaBelle, Barry Manilow, among many others.

Wow.

We gotta go, folks.

I got my girl L one time.

Okay, we can't play all of that, okay? But why'd you choose Killing Me Softly and not the Roberta Flack Killing Me Softly?

Oh, man, I love the way Wyclef, you know, just flipped it and made it a little bit more, you know, up-tempo.

They made it hip-hop.

They were sitting in the car and it came on the radio and Prowse was like, yo, L, you sound crazy singing that.

We flipped it like on some hip hop shit.

And she had so much respect for Roberta Flack.

She didn't

[laughs]

[laughs] No, Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack.

That's right, yes, yes, yes.

Where are the love you said you'd give to me?

Lots of really famous hip hop samples on there.

In 1974, he writes the song Feel Like Making Love for Roberta Flack that we covered.

And that song gets covered many, many times over the years.

And then it seems like after that, he continued writing and producing, but mostly kind of lived as a hermit in Maine, possibly upstate New York, and only released a couple albums after that and then passed away in 2011.

Most people who know me would know the answer to this.

It's First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Roberta Flack, who we sadly lost last year.

I do sing it regularly.

The last time I sang it, I was at the Monterey Car Festival in Monterey.