An American Trilogy – The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Edited 03-Apr-1972. Single, Live Recording – Las Vegas Hilton
- An American Trilogy
- The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Reference: 74-0672
Side A: An American Trilogy
Recording: February 16, 1972, Las Vegas Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Author: Mickey Newbury
Side B: The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face
Recording: March 15, 1971 RCA Studio B, Nashville, Tennessee
Author: Ewan MacColl
Publication date: April 4, 1972
The single An American Trilogy / The First Time Ever Your Face was released in April 1972 and was supposed to be (as it curiously showed at the bottom of the single) the precursor to an album that was ultimately never released and was entitled “Standig Room Only“. It was an album that was supposed to contain live songs, recorded in Las Vegas in February 1972 and studio songs that would be recorded later.
The A-side of the single contained the song by composer Mickey Newbury that he himself had released at the end of 1971 and was about his vision of national reconciliation in the USA as it united several national anthems. Elvis was amazed by the song and quickly used it for his stint at the Las Vegas Hilton in February 1972.
In Elvis’ hands, An American Trilogy was the ultimate expression of patriotism and the arrangements of the song, the conviction and devotion with which Elvis performed it had that purpose. Elvis saw how in Las Vegas people were enthusiastic every time he performed this interpretation, so he indicated to the executives at RCA that this would be the A-side of his next single. He firmly believed that it would be a success.
The B-side was a song by the composer Ewan MacColl. It was a ballad also in folk style that Elvis had heard from other artists and that he recorded in Nashville in March 1971. It is an intimate version where Elvis once again immerses himself in it. Perhaps the harmonic and accompanying voices take away authenticity from the composition, but what does not quite fit are the arrangements that give the song an air in the opposite direction to the one Elvis originally had.
Unfortunately this single did not have the success that Elvis predicted, obtaining a position number 66 on the Billboard charts, and sales did not exceed 100,000 copies.
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