The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face (1969) – Roberta Flack

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 (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”) was pretty special.

— Roberta Flack, The Daily Telegraph, July 16, 2015.

The first time I heard this song, it was love at first listen – and that feeling has never faded. Even now, it still kills me softly with its slow-burning passion and aching sense of yearning. Few songs I’ve encountered are as heartfelt and spellbinding, where love seems to pour from every note and that so completely capture the essence of falling in love as Roberta Flack’s transcendent The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

It’s almost unfair how haunting this song is. With the most delicate of piano chords and Flack’s voice caressing each syllable, time seems to slow down. She barely raises her voice, yet somehow it’s the quietest moments that hit the hardest. It feels like a relationship condensed into a few breaths, each breath carrying the weight of devotion. It’s no surprise that this song became an anthem for weddings. She later explained she sang it very slowly – more slowly than originally intended – because she wanted “the space to think about what the lyrics meant”.

The song was originally written by Scottish folk singer Ewan MacColl in 1957 for his partner Peggy Seeger which you can hear here. Roberta Flack recorded her version in 1969 for her debut album First Take, but it wasn’t until Clint Eastwood selected it for a love scene in his 1971 directorial debut Play Misty for Me that it reached widespread acclaim. Clint had called Flack at home and asked if he could use the song in his film. From there, the song catapulted to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed there for six weeks in 1972. It won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face became the first of several big hits for Flack over the next few years including of course Killing Me Softly which I was remiss not to have already included here. Roberta Flack is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist who was born on February 10, 1937, in Black Mountain, North Carolina. She attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where she received a degree in music education. I encourage you to read more about her music career in the Wikipedia reference below.

Flack retired from touring and recording in 2019 after she suffered a stroke and was forced to cancel a series of concerts. In 2022, it was announced that Flack had been diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as motor neuron disease (MND). Flack died of cardiac arrest on February 24, 2025, on her way to a hospital in New York City. She was 88 years old.

[Verse 1]
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

[Verse 2]
And the first time, ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hand
Like the trembling heart
Of a captive bird
That was there, at my command
My love

[Verse 3]
And the first time, ever I lay with you
I felt your heart so close to mine
And I knew our joy
Would fill the earth
And last, ’til the end of time
My love

[Outro]
The first time, ever I saw
Your face
Your face
Your face
Your face

References:
1. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face – Wikipedia
2. The Story Behind the Song “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” by Roberta Flack – Hubpages

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“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand