The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||
| Single by Roberta Flack from the album First Take |
|||||
| Released | March 7, 1972 | ||||
| Recorded | 1969 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 5:22 4:15 (1972 radio edit) |
||||
| Label | Atlantic Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | Ewan MacColl | ||||
| Producer | Joel Dorn | ||||
| Roberta Flack singles chronology | |||||
|
|||||
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by Ewan MacColl for his wife Peggy Seeger. It was popularized by Roberta Flack and became a breakout hit for the singer after it appeared in the film Play Misty for Me. Though the song first appeared on Flack's 1969 album First Take, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 and won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year three years later.
MacColl wrote the song for Seeger, a folk singer, after she asked him to pen a song for a play she was in. The alternative version of the creation of this song is that Ewan, a political singer/songwriter was challenged by a friend to write a love song. This song was the result. The song, as performed by Seeger, featured a faster tempo than the Flack version and clocked in at two and a half minutes long.
Flack's slower, more sensual version was used by Clint Eastwood in his 1971 directorial debut Play Misty for Me during a lovemaking scene. With the new exposure, Atlantic Records cut the song down to four minutes and released it to radio. It stayed at number one in the United States for six weeks and reached number fourteen in the United Kingdom.
As a folk song, "First Time" has been covered by artists such as Marianne Faithfull, the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio-Mike Kobluk solo, Gordon Lightfoot, Shirley Bassey, Bert Jansch, Maria Taylor, Peter, Paul and Mary, and We Five. Since Flack's version, it has been covered by numerous artists, including Johnny Cash, Sophie Fendel, the Chi-Lites, Jeffrey Gaines, Marcia Griffiths, Isaac Hayes, Bradley Joseph, Joanna Law, Alison Moyet, George Michael, Elvis Presley, the Stereophonics, Mel Tormé, Vanessa L. Williams, Cindytalk, Amanda Palmer, Christy Moore, Journey South, Leona Lewis, Kate Cebrano, Lauryn Hill, Regine Velasquez and Marcia Griffiths (member of the I-Threes). Céline Dion had a minor hit in the United Kingdom with her 2000 rendition. There is also a jazz rendition of the song by the Rachel Z trio, on their album of the same name. It has also been used as a sample in the Drum & Bass song Dimensional Entity, released by Teebee and the Future Prophecies. An abbreviated version of the song was also covered by 7th season American Idol winner David Cook. Ryan Seacrest mistakenly announced during the results show on May 14, 2008, that the song was performed by Chaka Khan.
[edit] References
Also featured in the movie The Bachelor with Chris O'Donnell and Renee Zellweger.
[edit] External links
- Superseventies.com - with quotes from Roberta Flack and information on the song's background
| Preceded by "A Horse With No Name" by America |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single (Roberta Flack version) April 15-May 20, 1972 |
Succeeded by "Oh Girl" by The Chi-Lites |
| Preceded by "Joy to the World" by Three Dog Night |
Billboard Hot 100 Number one single of the year 1972 |
Succeeded by "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando |
