Roberta Flack had her breakout hit with this folk standard three years after it was released on her debut album. Ewan MacColl had written the song for his future wife Peggy Seeger in 1957. She was in a play and called him asking for advice on a song for a romantic scene. He wrote this song in less than an hour and taught it to her over the phone. 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' has been covered by many diverse artists; but it was the slow and sensual version by Roberta Flack that became a worldwide smash in 1973 after it was used by Clint Eastwood in his directorial debut 'Play Misty For Me'. Flack remembers: "I was so young and innocent in the entertainment business back then in the late 1960s. Do you know the love story behind the song? Peggy Seeger was at a folk festival in Canada in the late ‘50s with her husband, and Ewan was with his wife there. Apparently he looked at Peggy and wrote the song: I thought the sun rose in your eyes, and the moon and stars were the gifts you gave, to the dark and empty skies. Wow. Peggy eventually became Ewan's wife." Flack met Seeger after MacColl had died: "She paid me a powerful compliment. She said she loved what I had done with the song and that she was sure my rendition was exactly what Ewan would have wanted to say." 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' went to the top of the charts in Australia, Canada, and the US pop and adult contemporary charts. It also won a Grammy for Song Of The Year and drove her album 'First Take' to the top of the album chart.
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
To the dark and the endless skies
And the first time ever I kissed your mouth
I felt the earth move in my hands
Like the trembling heart of a captive bird
That was there at my command, my love
That was there at my command, my love
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 till the end of time, my love
And it will last till the end of time, my love
The first time ever I saw your face, your face
Your face, your face
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