On this date in 1972, Roberta Flack released a cover of one of the most gorgeous, towering love songs ever composed: “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”.
Composed in 1957 by British political singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl especially dedicated to Peggy Seeger, who later became his wife. Seeger sang the song when the duo performed in folk clubs around Britain.
MacColl’s lyrics are an ode to the heady rush of new romance. The outsized poetic imagery in the song is perfectly in tune with that first flush of excitement and rapture. So it’s understandable that the narrator believes that his lover’s eyes command the heavens and her kiss moves the earth.
The song entered the pop mainstream when it was released by the Kingston Trio in their 1962 hit album, New Frontier, and in subsequent years by other folk pop groups such as Peter, Paul and Mary, The Brother Four, and by Gordon Lightfoot on his debut album, Lightfoot! (1966).
But it was Roberta Flack who made the song popular globally, and most singers cover it based on Flack’s version. She won Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year in 1972. Billboard ranked it as the number one Hot 100 single of the year for the same year.
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