First Time Ever I Saw Your Face by Johnny Cash Song Info
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who was later to become his wife. The song became a major international hit for Roberta Flack in 1972. "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" has been covered by numerous artists such as Marianne Faithfull, the Kingston Trio, the Chad Mitchell Trio-Mike Kobluk solo, Gordon Lightfoot, Vern Gosdin, Shirley Bassey, Céline Dion, Bert Jansch, Maria Taylor, Peter, Paul and Mary, We Five, Johnny Cash, The Chi-Lites, José Carreras, Michael Sweet, Jeffrey Gaines, Isaac Hayes, Nana Mouskouri, Bradley Joseph, Joanna Law, Richard Marx, Alison Moyet, George Michael, Elvis Presley, Stereophonics & Jools Holland, Mel Tormé, Vanessa L. Williams, Mathilde Santing, Cindytalk, Amanda Palmer, Conner Reeves, Christy Moore, David Cook, Journey South, Bobby Vinton, Kate Ceberano, Lauryn Hill, Leona Lewis, Gregorian, Wayne Newton, Englebert Humperdink, The Temptations, The Smothers Brothers, Johnny Mathis, Paul Potts, Jeffery Osbourne, Andy Williams, Petula Clark, Harry Connick, Jr., Aaron Neville and Marcia Griffiths (member of the I-Threes). There is also a jazz rendition of the song by the Rachel Z trio, on their album of the same name. It has been used as a sample in Mastersafe's 1992 Breakbeat Hardcore release on Formation records In Your Eyes, Joanna Law's vocal appeared on Way Out West (musicians)'s The Gift and the Drum & Bass song Dimensional Entity, released by Teebee and the Future Prophecies. Ewan MacColl himself made no secret of the fact that he disliked almost all of the cover versions of the song, referring to them collectively as "the Chamber of Horrors".
