The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face - Celine Dion

As My wife and I were driving out to Captiva Island, FL this morning after church, one of my stored songs on my USB drive cycled on and it was this song by Celine Dion, titled "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"... You may recall that it was popularized by a great artist named Roberta Flack back in 1972 and it was her break out song! Yet, did you know that there are many other artists who have commercially recorded this song and numerous other singers who have sung it, as well? I selected the Celine Dion version as there was something about her voice that captured the essence of that song in my being...and I have yet to get this song out of my head several hours later... LOL!

Song Background/History:

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by Scottish 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."

LYRICS:

"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" by Celine Dion

The first time ever I saw your face
I thought the sun rose in your eyes
And the moon and the stars were the gifts you gave
To the dark and the endless skies my love

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

The first time ever I lay with you
And felt your heart so close to mine
The first time ever I saw your face
Your face

(Repeated [3x])

Writer(s): Evan Maccoll

I hope you enjoy it!
Kerry
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