Killing Me Softly - Fugees

Fetta,

The Kiss-FM station in Dallas plays this version, although I've never heard it anywhere else. Based on the way it is edited (horribly), and the fact that both Kiss in Dallas and Lite FM in NY are Clear Channel stations, I would have to guess that it is a Clear Channel edit that both stations received from the "central library."

I have seen two US promo singles for this song, although I don't own either one. The promo CD we played when it was a hit was a one-track "Radio Edit" CD, which had the (4:04) edit. This edit removes the spoken part between the acapella intro and first verse (the part where they're just talking when the beat first kicks in), and it fades a little earlier than the LP.

The other promo I've seen had four tracks, with the lead track being the "LP Version w/out Intro" (I think) and the second track the "LP Version w/Intro." I believe it also had the instrumental, but I'm not sure what the fourth track was. Again, I'm just going from memory on this promo.

In any case, you're right about them taking the acapella intro and putting a beat behind it for the choruses. Personally, I think it sounds awful, because the acapella intro is not sung to the rhythm of the rest of the song. It just sounds "off" to me.

Edited by aaronk

It's beyond me, too. I suppose they were trying to cut out any part of the song that could be considered "rap," but they really butchered it. The other reason that leads me to believe this is NOT a record company edit is the fact that Columbia could have simply pulled up the master tape and removed Wyclef's vocal from the mix, which would have been far easier than mixing the acapella intro over the instrumental.

Thanks Aaronk for the info.

-Fetta

fratboy96 wrote: "Iris" Goo Goo Dolls and "To Love You More" Celine Dion both received wretched short edits of the album version when there were perfectly acceptable radio edits available.

It might be possible that they didn't have the official radio edits, and they figured they would just make their own instead of trying to track down the real ones.

I just picked up the CSK 7847 Promo single (5 track mentioned above) hoping it had the "radio edit" but am happy to report I love the "Sound Barrier Remix." Very cool mix I never heard before and to get the clean version of "Fu-Gee-La" was an added bonus. I just dropped $200 bucks on some promo singles and it was well worth my money. I feel like a kid in the candy store. I didn't mind dropping it because I would have spent it on gasoline a few months ago and I'm sure we're heading back so I treated myself for once!