The First Time Ever I saw Your Face, was made famous by Roberta Flack, but American Idol’s David Cook brought the song back into the spotlight tonight. But most people haven’t heard about the man who wrote the song. Born in 1915 in Langshire, England, Ewan MacColl, was a true renaissance man– a trade-unionist, iron-moulder, singer, songwriter, writer, playright, and activist. And he wrote The First Time Ever I saw Your Face, for his wife, Peggy Seeger, the half sister of Pete Seeger.

Check out the great versions of the song, one by Roberta Flack and one by Johnny Cash. And watch Ewan MacColl sing The Joy of Living

Then and learn more about MacColl’s amazing life and order The Essential Ewan MacColl Songbook: Sixty Years of Songmaking, which includes a forward written by Pete Seeger.