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Category: songs, in English

Revelatory Covers (12th in series): Bert, NOT covering Roberta

Chances are, you know this song via Roberta Flack’s hushed, reverent “1972” version.

(Her 1969 version became a hit in 1972, thanks to Clint Eastwood)

Lovely as hers is, it inhabits an utterly different musical world to that of Ewan MacColl’s Scottish-folksong-ish 1957 original.

In 1973 Bert Jansch recorded his singular, Scottish-folkish version of The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.

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Revelatory covers (9th in series): Andy, Mike & Roger tackle George

and Ira.

George Gershwin wrote this song’s music, his brother Ira the words, for a 1932 opera. A flop on debut, it is now a landmark.  Its most tender number – Summertime – is probably the best-loved 20th century song. Its sardonic song is less popular; I have heard only several hundred covers of It Ain’t Necessarily So! 

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