Johnny Cash - "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"

tom.d.stiller · Post by **tom.d.stiller** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 9:49 am

It really brings me to tears to hear Cash singing this song.

It is (was) at once a great requiem to June Carter who was his life, and a promise to follow soon, a promise which he kept.

The song, I know, is a cover, but I'm talking about the way Johnny sang it, gave a life to it beyond sentimental love songs.

His once so forceful voice, almost broken on this last album, gives another quality to lines like "The first time ever I kissed your mouth..."

Rest in "Hillbilly Heaven", Johnny.

tom

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 7:06 pm

Hi there,

I never heard Johnny Cash do that song! It is a beautiful song (which some might think schmaltzy - but I like it). I can't imagine him doing it, but at the same time, I can imagine him making it very poignant.

Yes, June Carter was his life. Kind of fitting that they just couldn't seem to live without one another. Regardless of all the stuff that went on in their lives. Jesse Colter put up with an awful lot from Waylon, as well. She said that she couldn't help it, "he was a force". I can just imagine.

Linda.

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:25 pm

Linda-

It is on Cash's AMERICAN IV: The Man Come Around.

It has the hit tune, "Hurt" on it.

This cd is well worth the price. You can go to amazon.com and look up the song list, it is a good one!

Tom- i agree, it is a beautiful, heart wrenching rendition.

On the not sentimental list from this cd, i love 'Personal Jesus.' It made me buy the single by the original artists, Depech Mode, to hear their version.

L

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:45 pm

Ah, OK, 'Hurt' I'm familiar with, of course. I thought the video was very fine indeed.

As for "The First Time..." I can see him making it a tribute to June. His voice so ravaged by then, and he so frail. There are some things that just can't be manufactured. His love for her was so obvious, so deep, despite all the crap that went on when they were younger.

I can probably find a listen clip on it. I have to be so careful about what CDs I buy, othewise, I'll need another spare room in which to put them. Not to mention the cost of getting ALL my favourites.

Thanks for the tip. I don't think I would've bought that CD for 'Hurt' only.

Linda.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 8:48 pm

I just re-read the whole thread. Cash says 'mouth'? Oh, that is so much better than 'lips'. I have to find a listen clip.

Linda.

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Sun Mar 13, 2005 11:33 pm

I havent heard Johnny Cash version of it but is this a Gordon Lightfoot song? If it is the one I'm thinking of then it is indeed a very beautiful song...one that catches your attention immediately as you are driving and it comes up on the radio.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 3:54 am

Hi Kush,

Not Gordon Lightfoot - I'm pretty sure of that. All I know is that Roberta Flack did the original - it is a beautiful song. Couldn't tell you who wrote it though. Bet your computer could though.

Regards,
Linda.

Joe Way · Post by **Joe Way** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 6:02 am

Hi Tom and all,

This was written originally by Ewan MacColl. He was married to Peggy Seeger and you can read more about him here:

http://www.pegseeger.com/html/ewan.html

I remember the song very well and I first encountered it in written form in a song book that my brother brought home for me when he visited the New York World's Fair in 1964. He bought the book in Greenwich Village and it's called "Young Folk" and features the music of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Jack Elliott, The Greenbriar Boys, The New Lost City Ramblers and Peggy Seeger. I have the book here in my hands and this is what is written about "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face."

"This is more than just a sweet, modern love song with some baroque adornments. Peggy Seeger has enriched and deepened it not only with her singing, but with an incredibly lovely, subtle, deceptively simple and moving accompaniment. She uses constantly changing arabesques and dissonances, in such a way that Peggy's guitar becomes a harp. Ewan's words and tune become, in the finest sense, an art song. They should write it down and publish it that way sometime. In the meantime here is an approximation of how Peggy does it."

In the spring of 1973, I traveled with a group of my friends to Boston in an all day and night caravan to see a hockey tournament and we kept our radio tuned to WLS out of Chicago so that we wouldn't have to change the station. Roberta Flack's version was either number one or close to number one so this memory along with "The Night The Light's Went Out in Georgia" and my own folk memories of the song from other artists all run together in a generally agreeable memory of happy times. I can also say that the words:

"The first time ever I lay with you
And felt your heart beat close to mine
I thought our joy would fill the earth
And last until the end of time, my love
And last until the end of time"

evoked the most erotic thoughts for me.

The other songs in the book include:

(from Bob Dylan)

Song to Woody
Fare the Well
The Ballad of Hollis Brown
Boots of Spanish Leather
Masters of War

(from Joan Baez)

What Have they Done to the Rain?
The Lily of the West
John Riley
El Preso Numero Nueve
Silver Dagger

(from Peggy Seeger)

Katy Cruel
Matty Groves
The Wedding Dress Song
The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Come Fill Up Your Glasses

"Come Fill Up Your Glasses" was another of my favorite songs that Ewan MacColl brought forth.

"We'll drink a long life to our sweethearts and wives,
And the ladies, being willing, will greet us likewise,
May your children be many, your troubles be few,
May you treasure the day you made one out of two."

I'll be out getting Johnny Cash's version soon!

Joe

LaurieAK · Post by **LaurieAK** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 7:00 am

Hi Joe~

Thanks for all this great information.

I thought its inception was the Roberta Flack, early 70's version.

Listening her way back then was closer to the time of those feelings being quite new. I remember that song so well as a backdrop to my early teen years.

Now years later, like Tom first said, Johnny Cashs' version does bring tears. It is not just his singing, i think it is having the wisdom of hindsight and an appreciation for things now, that we were once too young to understand.

L

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:57 am

Hi all,

I've finally had the opportunity to have a good listen to Cash's treatment of this song, and it is beautiful. It really does deserve to be heard. I doubt that anyone could be disappointed.

People often say that Cash had the ability to make a song 'his own'. And it's true. Although I didn't think it could be true of this particular song - I was wrong.

Thanks for the link Joe - I also thought the origins were with Roberta Flack.
But you are right about the verse you quoted. I think many of us feel the same way.

Interesting collection of material in those books of yours. It sounds as though you had very agreeable time.

Linda.

Joe Way · Post by **Joe Way** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 8:23 pm

Hi Laurie and Linda,

Yes, it is fun to go back to the sources at times. I think that Lightening has encouraged us to listen to an early folk version of "Go No More A Rovin'" I have a copy of a Bob Dylan concert from the Gaslight in Greenwich Village in the early years and I find it nostalgic but also very enjoyable. I think that I've mentioned this before, but my daughter, Kate, has an interest in a particular music methadology based on the work of Zoltan Kodali and finds herself listening to tapes collected by Alan Lomax from Appalachia and such places. Gordon Bok, a singer from Maine, talks about a song called "John of Dreams" based on a Tchaikovski (sp?) work that was itself inspired by a snatch of song that he heard workmen singing. So how it all goes around.

And, yes, I'm sure there is a poignancy to a Johnny Cash version recorded after June's passing.

Joe

Kush · Post by **Kush** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 9:18 pm

Joe and Linda...thanks for correcting me and for all the info. It is indeed the same song by Ewan MacColl (first time I heard his name) that I have Lightfoot's version of. Since he rarely does covers I just assumed it was his song. I'll look out for Johnny Cash's version. This song really needs to be heard....just reading the lyrics don't do justice.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:18 pm

Kush,

Are you saying Lightfoot covered "First time...? I don't believe it. I have to check it out on the 'net. A listen clip would be a hilarious thing to find.. I definitely can't hear our Gordie do this song. I hope it's on one of his very, very, very recent CDs - I'll think I'll look up his discography.

This does not sound right at all. You're probably right, Kush, but it would be like Willie Nelson singing The Impossilbe Dream, just too incongruous to be true!

Thanks for the info and see you!

Linda.

linda_lakeside · Post by **linda_lakeside** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 10:37 pm

Hi Kush again,

Almost forgot - give the Cash version a try. It is truly a good song. The CD also has 'Hurt' and other stuff. I think it's worth checking out. Hmmm. Maybe you already know all this. Anyway, can't hurt to remind you.

See ya later,
Linda.

Paula · Post by **Paula** » Mon Mar 14, 2005 11:11 pm

"Hurt" his last video was one of the best bravest music videos ever done.