"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

Flack, Roberta

album cover

A Timeless Tremble of a Love Song

The canvas is almost blank when Roberta Flack begins "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face." There's barely a discernible tempo—activity, such as it is, comes from idling acoustic guitar chords. A bass creeps in, and Flack drops little sprinklings of piano ornamentation on top. The lullaby mood changes when she begins to sing: Suddenly what had been a neutral atmosphere is flipped into something stately, pensive, almost regal. Flack captures Scottish songwriter and playwright Ewan MacColl's recollection of love with a quiet, and very internal, lucidity. It's as if she's talking to herself, remembering, with a kind of awed reverence, someone extraordinary.

A former junior high school teacher, Flack recorded "The First Time" on her debut, First Take. The album drew positive notices from jazz critics—Flack was "discovered" by organist Les McCann, and the album included a sassy reading of his "Compared to What" as well as two Donny Hathaway songs. But it sold little until Clint Eastwood put "The First Time" into his film Play Misty for Me. That essentially kick-started Flack's career: The song hit number one in early 1972, lifting the album to the top of the charts for five weeks. Flack then made several strong albums, each with at least one transfixing ballad—the best known is "Killing Me Softly with His Song," a monster hit in 1973. The subsequent recordings are pleasant showcases for Flack's serene easygoingness, her ability to improvise without relying on showbiz dazzle. But "The First Time" stands apart: So slow it'd never get a chance on the radio today, it's the rare song that makes time stand still.

Genre: R&B
Released: 1969, Atlantic
Appears On: First Take and all her hits collections.
Catalog Choice: Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway; Killing Me Softly
Next Stop: Anita Baker: Rapture
After That: The Fugees: The Score
Book Pages: 280–281