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“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face,” originally written for Peggy Seeger by Ewan MacColl in 1957, is considered one of the greatest love ballads of the twentieth century.

In 1962, Peggy released a recording of the song on her and Ewan’s Folkways LP The New Briton Gazette, Vol. 2. It has been recorded by a number of artists over the years including Roberta Flack, whose version became a breakout international hit in 1972, winning Grammy Awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year.

Peggy has recorded the song multiple times throughout her career, with a 1983 version appearing on her album Folkways Years: 1955-1992: Songs of Love and Politics. Her most recent rendition was released last year, prompting her to reflect:

“I’ve had two life partners, one male and one female, and I have three children and nine grandchildren. I’ve come to realise that the lyrics can be interpreted in so many ways. Ewan wrote the tune to mimic the heartbeat of someone wildly in love and I used to feel like a soaring bird when I sang this song. Now I’m grounded within it and that makes me happy.”

Learn more: s.si.edu/3UCFMiP

Photo of Peggy Seeger courtesy of the Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution

Peggy Seeger – Peggy Alone

Peggy Seeger – Peggy Alone

USA, 1968, American folk Whether a cappella, accompanied by her banjo, or strumming her acoustic guitar, Seeger is brilliant here, regaling the listener not only with Child Ballads but with other American folk tunes alternating between the somber and the playful. These renditions show not only the songstress’ respect for the source material but her creativity in combining a couple of the stories…

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Seeger, Peggy – Correspondence, Ralph Rinzler papers and audio recordings, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives and Collections, Smithsonian Institution.

Peggy seeger correspondence letters

I’ve been listening to Willie Taylor by Martin Simpson but can’t find much information about the ballad’s origin, do you know anything?

Suggested Song (do you want the history of your favorite folk song? dm me or submit an ask and I'll do a full rundown)

"Willie Taylor" Martin Simpson, 2016 Upon hearing this song, it stuck out to me for a few reasons. the active character of the song is a crossdresser, this song and its relatives are about a woman crossdressing as a man to find her husband, and in some versions, she doesn't even care that her husband remarries and attends their wedding positively. and often she marries the ship Captain and they live happily together. In my opinion, this puts it in or adjacent to the category of transgender history. Very fascinating for a folk song .

"Willie Taylor" is a rendition of the traditional English Folk song "William Taylor", (which is the oldest song I have covered on this blog) was first published in a chapbook in London in 1712 (I couldn't find a digitized copy) and would continue to be published up through the 1800s. The first publication I could find and show you is from 1792 in the chapbook "Four New Songs". in this, it is titled "Billy Taylor"

The Earliest sheet music I could find is from 1895, Collected by Frank Kidson

and here's its melody

This song also seems to be related to another song about a crossdressing sailor woman called "The Rambling Female Sailor" collected here in the 1860s by Frank Kidson, but they are classified as different songs.

The oldest recording is from 1908, which can be found here the earliest recording I could find that is available is from 1938, performed by George Vinton Graham

here's another version from 1967 by Hedy West

While in most modern (1860s onward) versions, the song is comedic, originally it was completely serious and genuine. this folk song from the early 1700s if not older, presented a crossdresser as a sort of folk hero, a figure that people would sing about with veneration. That's amazing to me. I think it would be fun to reimagine the song as either: the woman cross-dresses as a man and runs away with her husband's woman after killing him as a butchfemme relationship, or the woman could be reinterpreted as a transgender man who runs away and falls in love with the ship captain. idk I just think these would be cute fun new renditions.

Song of the day

"Talking Wheelchair Blues" written by Fred Small 1983, performed by Peggy Seeger 1992

Orinally written and performed by Fred Small, "Talking Wheelchair Blues" is incredibly important as a song for the emerging disability rights movement. I'ts funny, charming, clever, and well written. this song is very special to me as it is one of the shockingly few songs that advocate for disability rights, and it's covered by one of my favorite artists of all time, Peggy Seeger, who does a wonderful rendition of it.

"See, we're all the same, this human race.

Some of us are called disabled. And the rest--

Well, the rest of you are just temporarily able-bodied"

I had no idea that Peggy Seeger is queer! 🙉 I have read more about her

Yea! Its under talked about for sure. Peggy Seeger actually identifies as bisexual and her current partner is Irene Scott. She also contributed to the 2005 book "Getting Bi: voices of bisexuals around the world"

iconic! I love her!

here's a whole album of love poems dedicated to Irene made by Peggy Seeger and released in 2020

AND, the most fucking sapphic thing I have ever heard of or witnessed, peggy seeger and Irene Scott performing "Garden of Flowers" together in her compilation album "Songs of Love and Politics"

this song details the story of two young lovers, and something vaguely terrible happening? It's an incredibly haunting and spooky song and idk guys there is something fundamentally sapphic about it. an underlying yearning and pining perhaps, a feeling of death that rests heavily on the chest. Maybe it's just because it's a tragic heterosexual love story being performed by a sapphic couple. I think about this song often and will probably make a song of the day post about it.

god, I love her so much. Peggy Seeger is the age of my grandmother right now and is the only queer woman I know (beyond speculation I mean) from the folk scene. She is also just super cool in general! I'm a butch lesbian, and it soooo important to me to know that sapphic people, throughout history both recent and old, have always existed. We have always been here. God bless Peggy Seeger, I hope someday she is recognized as a sapphic icon in the same way as Chappell Roan or Tracy Chapman.