Gordon Lightfoot - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face [HD]

Gordon Lightfoot sings 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' from his 1966 debut United Artist album 'Lightfoot!'. This song was written for Peggy Seeger by Ewan MacColl and a huge hit for Roberta Flack in 1972 after appearing in the Clint Eastwood film 'Play Misty for Me'. The lyrics are below with comments about the song.

Note: This song on some Gordon Lightfoot albums is also called 'The First Time' or 'The First Time Ever'. The video has images of Gordon Lightfoot along with images of his albums containing this song and also other artists such as Roberta Flack, Vikki Carr, and Celine Dion with their albums containing this song.

[Vinyl/15-Images/WAV]

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Singer: Gordon Lightfoot)

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars
Were the gift you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love
To the dark and the empty skies

The first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth turn in my hand
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command

The first time ever I lay with you
And felt your heart beat close to mine
I thought our joy would fill the earth
And last 'til the end of time, my love
And last 'til the end of time

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and stars
Were the gift you gave
To the dark and the empty skies, my love
To the dark and the empty skies

Songwriter: Ewan MacColl
[Lyrics from Musixmatch]

Wikipedia states:

"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.

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.

The song entered the pop mainstream 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 on "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face":

It's a perfect song. Second only to "Amazing Grace, I think... "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." "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."