Killing Me Softly
Ibrahim Ferrer & Omara Portuondo Lyrics

Strumming my pain with his fingers
He plays his guitar, and it feels like he's physically playing the pain that's inside me, pulling it out of me and putting it into the melody of the song.

Singing my life with his words
The lyrics of the song are so incredibly personal to me, it feels like he's telling my own story through his voice and words.

Killing me softly with his song
Even though the music is beautiful and poetic, it's also incredibly painful because it's bringing up such intense emotions inside me. It's like it's killing me softly, slowly suffocating me with every note and every word.

Telling my whole life with his words
The lyrics of the song are so intimate and revealing that it feels like he's telling the story of my entire life, leaving no detail or emotion unspoken.

I heard he sang a good song, I heard he had a style
I had heard that this singer was talented, and that he had a unique way of expressing himself through his music.

And so I came to see him to listen for a while
I was curious and wanted to hear his music for myself, so I went to one of his concerts to check it out.

And there he was this young boy, a stranger to my eyes
When I saw him in person, he was just a young, unknown musician to me, someone I had never met before.

I felt all flushed with fever, embarrassed by the crowd
As I listened to the music, I became overwhelmed with emotion, feeling hot and embarrassed as if everyone could see how much the song was affecting me.

I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud
The lyrics of the song were so personal and particular to my own experiences that it felt like he had read my private letters and was reading them aloud to the whole crowd.

I prayed that he would finish but he just kept right on
I was so overwhelmed and emotionally exhausted, I wanted the song to end, but he just continued playing without a break or pause.

He sang as if he knew me in all my dark despair
The singer was able to convey such powerful emotion and understanding of my own struggles, it felt as if he knew me and my deepest, darkest thoughts intimately.

And then he looked right through me as if I wasn't there
Even though he seemed to really connect to my pain through the music, in that moment he looked right past me as if I was invisible, making the experience all the more surreal.

And he just kept on singing, singing clear and strong
Despite my own emotional experiences, the singer kept performing with clarity and conviction, making the song all the more powerful and unforgettable.

He was strumming my pain, yeah, he was singing my life
He was playing the music that embodied my pain and struggles, and singing a song that felt like it was directly tied to my personal experiences.

With his song
The song was so moving and powerful that it felt like it was its own living, breathing entity, capable of creating a truly unforgettable experience.