Judy Collins - First Boy I Loved Lyrics






First boy I loved,
Time has come I will sing you
This sad goodbye song,
When I was seventeen, I used to know you
Well, I haven't seen you, many is the short year
And the last time I seen you
You said you'd joined the Church of Jesus
Well me, I remember your long red hair falling in our faces
As you kissed me

And I want you to know, I just had to go
I want you to know, we just had to grow
And you're probably married now
House and car and all
And you turned into a grownup male stranger
And if I was lying with you now,
I'd just have to fall

We parted so hard
Me, rushing round Britain with a guitar
Making love to people
That I didn't even like to see
Well, I would think of you
Yes, I mean in the six sad morning
And in the lonely midnight
Try to hold your face before me

And I want you to know, I just had to go
And I want you to know, we just had to grow
And you're probably married now, kids and all
And you turned into a grownup male stranger
And if I was lying with you now,
I wouldn't be here at all.

I never slept with you
But we must have made love a thousand times.
For we were just young, didn't have no place to go
Yet in the wide hills and by many a long water
You have gathered flowers, and did they not smell for me?
And I want you to know, we just had to grow
And I want you to know, I just had to go

So it's goodbye first love
And I hope you are fine
I am a sweet man's woman
Maybe some day to have babies by
He's a true friend of mine





Other Lyrics by Artist

Rand Lyrics

Last Posts

Judy Collins First Boy I Loved Comments
  1. C.... G....

    My favourite Incredible String Band song - Jackson Browne does it well!

  2. P.... B....

    I am and always have been totally in love with this album and this track in particular. Sad? Optimistic? I don't know and I don't care. It transports me tearfully back without fail to my teens, and I'm 71 now. I went to hear Judy sing this month (Aug 2019) and she is still majestic. What a voice. What a lady. Just, thank you, Judy.

  3. K.... A....

    Comment 33.the first boy I loved appeared on the alter at Mary Immaculate Bellport ny.Then transfigured.I have good taste.and love Judy C. Too

  4. N.... O....

    Interesting cover of the great Incredible String Band masterpiece. Great job by all involved in this recording.

  5. d.... W....

    a staple of my high school years, he was my best friend

  6. D.... M....

    This song allowed me to finally heal from a devastating breakup, now over 40 years ago. Can't hear it now without thinking about us and tearing up but it allowed me closure. Fantastic arrangement...am a musician and am a sucker for a good arrangement, but this is one of the best I've ever heard.

  7. M.... V....

    Beautiful ethereal voice...amazing song...and singer...thank you for posting

  8. G.... G....

    One great album.

  9. p.... ....

    First boy I loved
    Time has come I will sing you
    This sad goodbye song
    When I was seventeen, I used to know you
    Well, I haven't seen you, many is the short year
    And the last time I seen you
    You said you'd joined the Church of Jesus
    Well me, I remember your long red hair falling in our faces
    As you kissed me

    And I want you to know, I just had to go
    I want you to know, we just had to grow
    And you're probably married now
    House and car and all
    And you turned into a grownup male stranger
    And if I was lying with you now
    I'd just have to fall

    We parted so hard
    Me, rushing round Britain with a guitar
    Making love to people
    That I didn't even like to see
    Well, I would think of you
    Yes, I mean in the six sad morning
    And in the lonely midnight
    Try to hold your face before me

    And I want you to know, I just had to go
    And I want you to know, we just had to grow
    And you're probably married now, kids and all
    And you turned into a grownup male stranger
    And if I was lying with you now
    I wouldn't be here at all

    I never slept with you
    But we must have made love a thousand times
    For we were just young, didn't have no place to go
    Yet in the wide hills and by many a long water
    You have gathered flowers, and did they not smell for me?
    And I want you to know, we just had to grow
    And I want you to know, I just had to go

    So it's goodbye first love
    And I hope you are fine
    I am a sweet man's woman
    Maybe some day to have babies by
    He's a true friend of mine

  10. M.... F....

    One of Judy Collins' most brilliant and under-recognized adaptations, "First Boy I Loved" was written by Robin Williamson, co-founder of her Elektra labelmates the Incredible String Band. A free, flowing melody that is similar to some of the laid-back efforts of David Crosby and Joni Mitchell of the time drives the song with a great, subtle grace. Yet the song's melody has structure, especially when it resolves on an ascending chorus refrain. Lyrically, the song is a fond and bittersweet look back at a first love and how two young people grew apart. Collins' vocal attempts some of the gorgeous, slightly dissonant tones that Mitchell was about to become famous for. The arrangement is positively brilliant, with Jim Gordon's drums and especially Stephen Stills' vibrato-soaked electric guitar dancing around Collins' voice like a pair of butterflies. A standout from the exquisite Who Knows Where the Time Goes album, Collins rightfully included it on her 1997 Forever anthology, which was an artist-selected compilation.- matthew Greenwald.... I knew Stephen Stills had to be in this ... werent they also lovers at obe point he wrote Judy Blue Eyes

    M.... F....

    Loved this album so much! But I also loved Robin Williamson's version. They're so different, but brilliant in their own ways. Still makes me weep.

    M.... F....

    One generally doesn't get this kind of in-depth and intelligent analysis on You Tube. I really enjoyed you comments - as I also enjoyed the song itself...

  11. M.... F....

    first boy i loved was ... the exact description of this song. and i wrote the words to this song in a 14 year old diary i kept... so innocent.. yet so so close to my soul. thank you Judy.

  12. D.... G....

    Utterly gorgeous but a bit sad!

  13. s.... m....

    It seems like an eternity ago that I fell in love with Judy Collins and her incredible voice. I guess it was an eternity ago. But something in her voice and her songs still reaches that long ago girl who fell in love hard with that boy I once knew.

  14. r.... ....

    Sublime !

  15. j.... p....

    Thank you for posting this John, from Eagles Nest, India.  Love this song!

  16. m.... t....

    stephen stills great playing and Judy's great vocals and acoustic guitar pla beautiful

  17. m.... t....

    amazing song and album Judy's masterpiece

  18. P.... G....

    Crushes  ISB's version, which is too cramped and kooky. It needs to be stately and melancholy-like this. Judy, Steve and Van Dyke came up with something magical here.

    P.... G....

    please don't go comparing apples & oranges: though this is a nice alternative, the composer's version is nearest & dearest to the hearts of many. "Crushes"? Hardly.

    P.... G....

    It's called an opinion. I love ISB, but the tempo and Robin's singing don't capture the sense of loss and heartbreak. It needs to be more stately. And Stills and Parks kill it. Sorry.

  19. L.... M....

    I used to play this on the radio a lot- I loved what Still does on the guitar.  Sends chills up and down my spine.

  20. G.... K....

    "...I want you to know...we just had to grow....and I want you to know I just had to go......so it's goodbye, first love......and I hope you are fine.....I am a sweet man's woman, maybe some day to have babies by........................he's a true friend of mine............................."  powerful lyrics and melodic voice ........decades of tears.....

    G.... K....

    I totally understand...happened to me with my first lady-love

  21. B.... S....

    it still makes me cry

    B.... S....

    I have the same feeling. This song is so powerful to me after many years......it represents the early memories of a relationship that was so precious and original in its infancy and lost in the romance and time......we'll never have anything other than what we had once again in the same fashion and way.....frozen in time forever in our memory...

    B.... S....

    @Gerry Kirstein
    I couldn't put it any better about myself and this song. After all (40) these years...This song will always evoke the same feelings, bitter sweet.

    B.... S....

    You guys Bobbie and Gerry are great! May God bless you forever

    B.... S....

    Agree with all responses. It has been over 40 years. One of the most beautiful times of my life, and in the end one of the worst times of my life, but I greatly grew from it and I realize now that the end of the relationship was what we both needed to move forward. Yet...it still makes me cry!

  22. B.... I....

    This entire album is outstanding and it was outstanding when it first appeared and that was in the late 1960's when there simply hundreds of outstanding singers,musicians, bands, groups, giving us some of the finest music ever produced.

  23. P.... D....

    This song has haunted me since the 60's.

  24. S.... ....

    Utterly gorgeous. I've loved this sing for forty-five years, and it still hurts.

    S.... ....

    Agreed. 

    S.... ....

    Reminds me of a devastating breakup long ago.

  25. T.... C....

    Always reminds me of my first lover,he had beautiful strawberry blond.hair..he died too young, but we had two beautiful children together.Thinking of him today, on his bday with ♥

  26. J.... m....

    Judy's vest album ever I think and Stephen Still's guitar tracks are all over it : ) Sweet