1969 SONG OF THE DAY- ‘THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE”- ROBERTA FLACK

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1969 Song of the Day is- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face- by Roberta Flack. Wait- this was a hit song in 1972 right? When I saw this as a 1969 song I immediately thought it was wrong but no- it was first released by Roberta Flack on her 1969 debut album- First Take. It went nowhere. In 1971 Clint Eastwood heard the song- and wanted to use it in his first movie he was directing- Play Misty For Me. He called Flack up and offered her $2000 to use Flack’s song. They agreed but Flack said she wanted to re-record it that the song was too slow. Eastwood said “No it’s not.” It is an incredibly slow song- I can’t think of many #1 hits that are this slow.. it crawls.  After gaining attention in the movie the song was released as a single and Roberta Flack’s career was ignited big time. Up to this point she had one hit -with Donny Hathaway- a cover of You’ve Got A Friend which peaked at #29. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face shot to #1 and won the 1973 Grammy’s for both Record and Song of the Year and was the #1 charted single for the entire year of 1972 on the Billboard charts. Her first album- released three years earlier shot to #1. For a couple of years it seemed like the Grammy Awards were the Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack Awards- Flack would win Record of the Year for Killing Me Softly With His Song- in 1974- making her the only solo artist to win Record of the Year two years in a row.

The song itself- was written back in 1957 by Ewan MacColl a British political singer-songwriter. He wrote it for Peggy Seeger who later became his wife. The song has now been recorded by a long long list of other artists- ranking from Isaac Hayes, to Wayne Newton, Celine Dion, Johnny Cash, Miley Cyrus, Elvis Presley, Gordon Lightfoot- the list goes on and on. All because Clint Eastwood heard it on the car radio while on the LA Freeway.  MacColl by the way said he hated all the versions of the song. He said they were all travesties. I am sure he cashed the royalty checks though.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9jmusgMgro

7 responses to “1969 SONG OF THE DAY- ‘THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE”- ROBERTA FLACK”

  1. Very interesting back story. It’s going to sound funny but the first time I heard, “The First Time…” I was blown away by it. The song pulled me in. Never realized Roberta didn’t write it, as it was written for her to sing. Can’t imagine any of the others who covered it coming close.

  4. How could MacColl hate Roberta’s version–slow or not? It’s so beautiful! Very strange when artists are bitter about things like that instead of being amazed and humbled, maybe, that their work touched so many people!

    • I imagine he cashed the royalty checks with a big smile on his face though! He hated every version of the song- and there were so many covers of it- makes you wonder about him.. I am thinking he is the guy who wanted to sue Bob Dylan for lifting a tune- but couldn’t because well He had lifted the tune from someone else to begin with…

  5. Say what now?! If that story’s true, this guy’s pretty much an incredible jerk! The lyrics of the song are so beautiful, I’d imagined, probably naively, that they were a reflection of the author’s soul somehow. But….NO. Evidently not!
    I was listening to the version he did with Peggy Seeger (I don’t know when), and although I realize it’s a folk song and meant to sound a certain way, I did not like it as much as R. Flack’s cover. Not even close!

  6. It’s just about midnight @Newport Jazz Festival 1971…Duke Ellington (solo) playing piano and Roberta Flack singing “First time…”. Did I dream it? No…it happened and the stars were aligned and shining brightly.

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