"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. At the time, the couple were lovers, although MacColl was still married to his second wife, Jean Newlove. Seeger sang the song when the duo performed in folk clubs around Britain. During the 1960s, it was recorded by various folk singers and became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year[1] and Song of the Year. Billboard ranked it as the number-one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.[2]
There are two differing accounts of the origin of the song. MacColl said that he wrote the song for Seeger after she asked him to pen a song for a play she was in. He wrote the song and taught it to Seeger over the telephone.[3] Seeger said that MacColl, with whom she had begun an affair in 1957, used to send her tapes to listen to while they were apart and that the song was on one of them.[4]
Peggy Seeger has said that MacColl had been challenged to write a love song (given that his repertoire was largely political) and this song was his response.[citation needed]
MacColl made no secret of the fact that he disliked all of the cover versions of the song. His daughter-in-law wrote: "He hated all of them. He had a special section in his record collection for them, entitled 'The Chamber of Horrors'. He said that the Elvis version was like Romeo at the bottom of the Post Office Tower singing up to Juliet. And the other versions, he thought, were travesties: bludgeoning, histrionic, and lacking in grace."[5]
Roberta Flack versionedit
Roberta Flack on "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
It's a perfect song. Second only to "Amazing Grace, I think...[6] "It's the kind of song that has two unique & distinct qualities: it tells a story, & it has lyrics that mean something....Because of [its meaningful lyrics] the [song] can be interpreted by a lot of people in a lot of different ways: the love of a mother for a child, for example, or [that of] two lovers."[7]"I wish more songs I had chosen had moved me the way that one did. I've loved [most] every song I've recorded, but that one was pretty special."[6]
The song was popularised by Roberta Flack in a version that became a breakout hit for the singer in 1971/1972, albeit as a sleeper hit more than three years after its original 1969 release on her album First Take, due to being included in Clint Eastwood's 1971 directorial film debut Play Misty for Me, ultimately topping the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles of 1972 more than three years after it was recorded. It is possibly the only sleeper hit to accomplish this feat.
Flack knew the song from the Joe & Eddie version which appeared on that folk duo's 1963 album Coast to Coast (as "The First Time"), Flack's friend singer Donal Leace having brought the track to Flack's attention.[8] Having taught the song to the young girls in the glee club at Banneker High School (Washington D.C.), Flack would regularly perform "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" in her set-list at the Pennsylvania Avenue club ("Mr Henry's") where Flack was hired as resident singer in 1968. In February 1969, Flack would record the song for her debut album First Take. Flack's rendition was much slower-paced than Seeger's original, with Flack's take running more than twice the two-and-a-half minute length of Seeger's.[citation needed] Flack would recall that when she made her studio recording of "The First Time...", she felt the loss of her pet cat, which had been run over by a car.[7][9]
Flack's slow and sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial film debut Play Misty for Me to score a love scene featuring Eastwood and actress Donna Mills. Flack would recall how Eastwood, who had heard her version of "The First Time..." on his car radio while driving down the LA Freeway,[10] phoned out of the blue to her Alexandria (Virginia) home: (Roberta Flack quote:)"[Eastwood said:] 'I'd like to use your song in this movie...about a disc jockey [with] a lot of music in it. I'd use it in the only part of the movie where there's absolute love.' I said okay. We discussed the money. [Eastwood would pay $2000 to use Flack's "The First Time..."] He said: 'Anything else?' And I said: 'I want to do it over again. It's too slow.' He said: "No, it's not.'"[11]
Flack also recalled that during the First Take sessions, her producer Joel Dorn had suggested re-recording "The First Time..." with a slightly faster tempo and lyric edit to trim its running time, but Flack did not agree: (Roberta Flack quote:)"Joel said: 'Okay you don't care if it's a hit or not?' I said: 'No sir.' Of course he was right for three years, until [after] Clint got it." Flack's version of "The First Time..." exploded in popularity following the November 1971 release of Play Misty For Me. This persuaded Atlantic Records to issue the track as a single—trimmed by a minute—in February 1972: the track became a smash hit single in the United States, reaching No. 1 for six weeks on both the Billboard Hot 100 and easy listening charts in the spring of 1972, with a No. 4 R&B chart peak.[12] Reaching No. 14 on the UK Singles Chart,[13] Flack's "The First Time..." was No. 1 for three weeks on the singles chart in Canada's RPM magazine.[14]
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" was played as the wake-up music on flight day 9 to the astronauts aboard Apollo 17 on their last day in Lunar orbit (Friday, December 15, 1972) before returning to Earth, thus ending the last human explorations of the Moon. The use of the song was most likely a reference to the "face" of the Moon below the spacecraft.[15]
^"Record of the Year - The 15th Annual Grammy Awards (1972)". The Recording Academy. 1972. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
^ ab"Top 100 Hits of 1972/Top 100 Songs of 1972". Musicoutfitters.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^Quarrington, Paul; Doyle, Roddy (2010). Cigar Box Banjo. Greystone Books. p. 89. ISBN9781553656296. Retrieved August 21, 2011. peggy seeger the first time ever i saw your face.
^Picardie, Justine (1995). "The first time ever I saw your face". In De Lisle, Tim (ed.). Lives of the great songs. London: Penguin. pp. 122–26. ISBN978-0-14024957-6.
^Brocken, Michael (2003), The British Folk Revival, 1944–2002, Ashgate, p. 38, ISBN978-0-7546-3282-5: quoting MacColl's daughter-in-law, Justine Picardie.
^ abCarson, Sarah (July 16, 2015). "Roberta Flack: 'Now's a good time to love music'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
^ abThe Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) 11 November 1983 "Blues pops singer Roberta Flack should be right at home in Arts Center's classical environs" by Elinor J. Precher p.7-8
^""The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" - Roberta Flack". Superseventies.com. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
^Shapiro, Gregg. "Roberta Flack takes on the Beatles' canon". Wisconsin Gazette. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
^Daly, Sean (January 27, 2012). "Feel the love with Roberta Flack". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
^ abWhitburn, Joel (2002). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001. Record Research. p. 93.
^ ab"Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. May 27, 1972. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
^ ab"Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. June 3, 1972. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
^Fries, Colin (March 15, 2015). "Chronology of Wake-Up Calls" (PDF). Nasa.gov. NASA. pp. 6, 7. (PDF) from the original on January 4, 2006. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
^"Go-Set National Top 40, July 15, 1972". Poparchives.com.au. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^"Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. May 13, 1972. Retrieved September 22, 2019.
^"Nederlandse Top 40 – Roberta Flack" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
^"Roberta Flack – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
^. Flavourofnz.co.nz. Archived from the original on April 27, 2021. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^"SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved September 5, 2018.
^"Cash Box Top 100 5/13/72". Cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^"Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s (ARIA Charts: Special Occasion Charts)". Australian-charts.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^"Top 100-Jaaroverzicht van 1972". Dutch Top 40. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
^"Jaaroverzichten – Single 1972". Single Top 100. Retrieved September 5, 2020.
^"Top 20 Hit Singles of 1972". Retrieved December 26, 2018.
^"Cash Box YE Pop Singles - 1972". Tropicalglen.com. Retrieved April 27, 2021.
^"Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart". Billboard. Retrieved December 10, 2018.
^"Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. April 8, 2000. Retrieved February 8, 2021.
^"Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. April 8, 2000. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
^"Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. November 24, 2007. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
^"Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. October 11, 2012. Retrieved September 19, 2019.
External linksedit
Superseventies.com - with quotes from Roberta Flack and information on the song's background
"Céline Dion - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Official Audio)" on YouTube
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (from the 1998 "These are Special Times" TV special)" on YouTube
April 26, 2024
first, time, ever, your, face, other, uses, disambiguation, 1957, folk, song, written, british, political, singer, songwriter, ewan, maccoll, peggy, seeger, later, became, wife, time, couple, were, lovers, although, maccoll, still, married, second, wife, jean,. For other uses see The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face disambiguation The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger who later became his wife At the time the couple were lovers although MacColl was still married to his second wife Jean Newlove Seeger sang the song when the duo performed in folk clubs around Britain During the 1960s it was recorded by various folk singers and became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972 winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year 1 and Song of the Year Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972 2 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Side A of the US singleSingle by Roberta Flackfrom the album First TakeB side Trade Winds ReleasedMarch 7 1972 1972 03 07 RecordedFebruary 1969GenreSoul vocal jazzLength5 22 4 20 1972 radio edit LabelAtlantic 2864Songwriter s Ewan MacCollProducer s Joel DornRoberta Flack singles chronology Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow 1972 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face 1972 Where Is the Love 1972 Audio Roberta Flack The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face on YouTube The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face source source Roberta Flack s The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face from First Take Problems playing this file See media help Contents 1 History 2 Roberta Flack version 3 Chart history 3 1 Weekly charts 3 2 Year end charts 3 3 All time charts 4 See also 5 References 6 External linksHistory editThere are two differing accounts of the origin of the song MacColl said that he wrote the song for Seeger after she asked him to pen a song for a play she was in He wrote the song and taught it to Seeger over the telephone 3 Seeger said that MacColl with whom she had begun an affair in 1957 used to send her tapes to listen to while they were apart and that the song was on one of them 4 Peggy Seeger has said that MacColl had been challenged to write a love song given that his repertoire was largely political and this song was his response citation needed The earliest recording of the song was in 1960 by Bonnie Dobson released in 1961 on her debut album She s Like a Swallow and Other Folk Songs The song entered the pop mainstream the following year when it was released by the Kingston Trio on their 1962 hit album New Frontier and in subsequent years by other pop folk groups such as Peter Paul and Mary the Brothers Four Joe and Eddie the Chad Mitchell Trio and by Gordon Lightfoot on his debut album Lightfoot 1966 MacColl made no secret of the fact that he disliked all of the cover versions of the song His daughter in law wrote He hated all of them He had a special section in his record collection for them entitled The Chamber of Horrors He said that the Elvis version was like Romeo at the bottom of the Post Office Tower singing up to Juliet And the other versions he thought were travesties bludgeoning histrionic and lacking in grace 5 Roberta Flack version editRoberta Flack on The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face It s a perfect song Second only to Amazing Grace I think 6 It s the kind of song that has two unique amp distinct qualities it tells a story amp it has lyrics that mean something Because of its meaningful lyrics the song can be interpreted by a lot of people in a lot of different ways the love of a mother for a child for example or that of two lovers 7 I wish more songs I had chosen had moved me the way that one did I ve loved most every song I ve recorded but that one was pretty special 6 The song was popularised by Roberta Flack in a version that became a breakout hit for the singer in 1971 1972 albeit as a sleeper hit more than three years after its original 1969 release on her album First Take due to being included in Clint Eastwood s 1971 directorial film debut Play Misty for Me ultimately topping the Billboard Year End Hot 100 singles of 1972 more than three years after it was recorded It is possibly the only sleeper hit to accomplish this feat Flack knew the song from the Joe amp Eddie version which appeared on that folk duo s 1963 album Coast to Coast as The First Time Flack s friend singer Donal Leace having brought the track to Flack s attention 8 Having taught the song to the young girls in the glee club at Banneker High School Washington D C Flack would regularly perform The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in her set list at the Pennsylvania Avenue club Mr Henry s where Flack was hired as resident singer in 1968 In February 1969 Flack would record the song for her debut album First Take Flack s rendition was much slower paced than Seeger s original with Flack s take running more than twice the two and a half minute length of Seeger s citation needed Flack would recall that when she made her studio recording of The First Time she felt the loss of her pet cat which had been run over by a car 7 9 Flack s slow and sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial film debut Play Misty for Me to score a love scene featuring Eastwood and actress Donna Mills Flack would recall how Eastwood who had heard her version of The First Time on his car radio while driving down the LA Freeway 10 phoned out of the blue to her Alexandria Virginia home Roberta Flack quote Eastwood said I d like to use your song in this movie about a disc jockey with a lot of music in it I d use it in the only part of the movie where there s absolute love I said okay We discussed the money Eastwood would pay 2000 to use Flack s The First Time He said Anything else And I said I want to do it over again It s too slow He said No it s not 11 Flack also recalled that during the First Take sessions her producer Joel Dorn had suggested re recording The First Time with a slightly faster tempo and lyric edit to trim its running time but Flack did not agree Roberta Flack quote Joel said Okay you don t care if it s a hit or not I said No sir Of course he was right for three years until after Clint got it Flack s version of The First Time exploded in popularity following the November 1971 release of Play Misty For Me This persuaded Atlantic Records to issue the track as a single trimmed by a minute in February 1972 the track became a smash hit single in the United States reaching No 1 for six weeks on both the Billboard Hot 100 and easy listening charts in the spring of 1972 with a No 4 R amp B chart peak 12 Reaching No 14 on the UK Singles Chart 13 Flack s The First Time was No 1 for three weeks on the singles chart in Canada s RPM magazine 14 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was played as the wake up music on flight day 9 to the astronauts aboard Apollo 17 on their last day in Lunar orbit Friday December 15 1972 before returning to Earth thus ending the last human explorations of the Moon The use of the song was most likely a reference to the face of the Moon below the spacecraft 15 Chart history editWeekly charts edit Roberta Flack Chart 1972 Peakposition Australia Go Set 16 1 Canada RPM Top Singles 14 1 Canada RPM Adult Contemporary 17 1 Netherlands Dutch Top 40 18 9 Netherlands Single Top 100 19 6 New Zealand Listener 20 17 South Africa Springbok 21 2 UK Singles Chart 13 14 US Billboard Hot 100 22 1 US Billboard Adult Contemporary 1 US Billboard R amp B 12 4 US Cash Box Top 100 23 1 Year end charts edit Chart 1972 Rank Australia 24 17 Canada 2 Netherlands Dutch Top 40 25 96 Netherlands Single Top 100 26 75 South Africa 27 17 US Billboard Hot 100 2 1 US Cash Box 28 19 All time charts edit Chart 1958 2018 Position US Billboard Hot 100 29 140 Celine Dion Chart 2000 Peakposition Scotland 30 19 UK 31 19 Leona Lewis Chart 2007 Peakposition UK 32 73 Matt Cardle Chart 2012 Peakposition UK 33 92See also editLove at first sight List of Billboard Hot 100 number one singles of 1972 List of number one adult contemporary singles of 1972 U S List of number one singles in Australia during the 1970s List of number one singles of 1972 Canada References edit Record of the Year The 15th Annual Grammy Awards 1972 The Recording Academy 1972 Retrieved May 15 2018 a b Top 100 Hits of 1972 Top 100 Songs of 1972 Musicoutfitters com Retrieved April 27 2021 Quarrington Paul Doyle Roddy 2010 Cigar Box Banjo Greystone Books p 89 ISBN 9781553656296 Retrieved August 21 2011 peggy seeger the first time ever i saw your face Picardie Justine 1995 The first time ever I saw your face In De Lisle Tim ed Lives of the great songs London Penguin pp 122 26 ISBN 978 0 14024957 6 Brocken Michael 2003 The British Folk Revival 1944 2002 Ashgate p 38 ISBN 978 0 7546 3282 5 quoting MacColl s daughter in law Justine Picardie a b Carson Sarah July 16 2015 Roberta Flack Now s a good time to love music The Daily Telegraph Retrieved January 8 2019 a b The Courier Journal Louisville Kentucky 11 November 1983 Blues pops singer Roberta Flack should be right at home in Arts Center s classical environs by Elinor J Precher p 7 8 The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Roberta Flack Superseventies com Retrieved January 8 2019 Shapiro Gregg Roberta Flack takes on the Beatles canon Wisconsin Gazette Retrieved January 8 2019 Daly Sean January 27 2012 Feel the love with Roberta Flack Tampa Bay Times Retrieved January 8 2019 de Yampert Rick January 20 2012 Roberta Flack serenades Daytona The Daytona Beach News Journal GateHouse Media Retrieved September 10 2018 a b Whitburn Joel 2002 Top Adult Contemporary 1961 2001 Record Research p 93 a b Official Charts Company Officialcharts com May 27 1972 Retrieved September 19 2019 a b Item Display RPM Library and Archives Canada Collectionscanada gc ca June 3 1972 Retrieved September 22 2019 Fries Colin March 15 2015 Chronology of Wake Up Calls PDF Nasa gov NASA pp 6 7 Archived PDF from the original on January 4 2006 Retrieved September 27 2018 Go Set National Top 40 July 15 1972 Poparchives com au Retrieved April 27 2021 Item Display RPM Library and Archives Canada Collectionscanada gc ca May 13 1972 Retrieved September 22 2019 Nederlandse Top 40 Roberta Flack in Dutch Dutch Top 40 Roberta Flack The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face in Dutch Single Top 100 flavour of new zealand search listener Flavourofnz co nz Archived from the original on April 27 2021 Retrieved April 27 2021 SA Charts 1965 March 1989 Retrieved September 5 2018 Joel Whitburn s Top Pop Singles 1955 1990 ISBN 0 89820 089 X Cash Box Top 100 5 13 72 Cashboxmagazine com Retrieved April 27 2021 Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts 1980s ARIA Charts Special Occasion Charts Australian charts com Retrieved April 27 2021 Top 100 Jaaroverzicht van 1972 Dutch Top 40 Retrieved September 5 2020 Jaaroverzichten Single 1972 Single Top 100 Retrieved September 5 2020 Top 20 Hit Singles of 1972 Retrieved December 26 2018 Cash Box YE Pop Singles 1972 Tropicalglen com Retrieved April 27 2021 Billboard Hot 100 60th Anniversary Interactive Chart Billboard Retrieved December 10 2018 Official Charts Company Officialcharts com April 8 2000 Retrieved February 8 2021 Official Charts Company Officialcharts com April 8 2000 Retrieved September 19 2019 Official Charts Company Officialcharts com November 24 2007 Retrieved September 19 2019 Official Charts Company Officialcharts com October 11 2012 Retrieved September 19 2019 External links editSuperseventies com with quotes from Roberta Flack and information on the song s background Celine Dion The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face Official Audio on YouTube The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face from the 1998 These are Special Times TV special on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face amp oldid 1217226726, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
