This beautiful song started life as a folk song written in 1957 by British singer songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger who would later become his wife. The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face was then recorded by Roberta Flack in 1972 and this much slower version (almost twice the length of the original) became a hit after its inclusion in the Clint Eastwood film Play Misty For Me. MacColl is said to “hate every cover version of the song” and he apparently had a special section for the cover versions in his record collection which he called ‘The Chamber of Horrors’.

If it’s your first time on the site, find out more about the 365 Songs project or see all of my September songs here.