The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

"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 and Song of the Year. '' Billboard'' ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for 1972.

History

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. 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.

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.

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."

Roberta Flack version

The song was popularised by Roberta Flack in 1969 in a version that became a breakout hit for the singer.

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. 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, Flack's take running more than twice the two and a half minute length of Seeger's. Flack would recall that when she made her studio recording of "The First Time

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 TimeAlexandria (Virginia) home: (Roberta Flack quote:)" astwood said:'I'd like to use your song in this movieith