This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
First girl I loved
Time has come I will sing the sad goodbye song
When I was seventeen, I used to know you
And I haven't seen you now in so many years
And the last time I saw you
You said you joined the Church of Jesus
But me I remember your long red hair
Falling in our faces as I kissed you
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
And you're probably married now
With a house and car and all
And you turned into a grown-up female stranger
If I was lyin' by you now, I wouldn't be here at all
Well we parted so hard
Me rushing 'round New York with a guitar
Making love to people I didn't even like to see
And I still sometimes think of you
As I lay here in the six at morning
And in the lonely midnight
I've got to hold your face before me
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
And you're probably married now
With kids and all
And you turned into a grown-up female stranger
If I was lyin' by you now, I'd just have to fall
And I never slept with you
Though we must have made love a thousand times
'Cause we were just young
Didn't have no place to go
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
So its goodbye, first love
And I hope you're fine
I have a sweet woman
Maybe someday she'll have babies by me
(She pretty)
She's a true friend of mine
Time has come I will sing the sad goodbye song
When I was seventeen, I used to know you
And I haven't seen you now in so many years
And the last time I saw you
You said you joined the Church of Jesus
But me I remember your long red hair
Falling in our faces as I kissed you
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
And you're probably married now
With a house and car and all
And you turned into a grown-up female stranger
If I was lyin' by you now, I wouldn't be here at all
Well we parted so hard
Me rushing 'round New York with a guitar
Making love to people I didn't even like to see
And I still sometimes think of you
As I lay here in the six at morning
And in the lonely midnight
I've got to hold your face before me
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
And you're probably married now
With kids and all
And you turned into a grown-up female stranger
If I was lyin' by you now, I'd just have to fall
And I never slept with you
Though we must have made love a thousand times
'Cause we were just young
Didn't have no place to go
I just want you to know I just had to go
I just want you to know I just had to grow
So its goodbye, first love
And I hope you're fine
I have a sweet woman
Maybe someday she'll have babies by me
(She pretty)
She's a true friend of mine
Lyrics submitted by SirRaustusBear
First Girl I Loved Lyrics as written by Robin Williamson
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
More Featured Meanings
Gentle Hour
Yo La Tengo
Yo La Tengo
Magical
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
How would you describe the feeling of being in love? For Ed Sheeran, the word is “Magical.” in HIS three-minute album opener, he makes an attempt to capture the beauty and delicacy of true love with words. He describes the magic of it all over a bright Pop song produced by Aaron Dessner.
Blue
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
“Blue” is a song about a love that is persisting in the discomfort of the person experiencing the emotion. Ed Sheeran reflects on love lost, and although he wishes his former partner find happiness, he cannot but admit his feelings are still very much there. He expresses the realization that he might never find another on this stringed instrumental by Aaron Dessner.
Punchline
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran sings about missing his former partner and learning important life lessons in the process on “Punchline.” This track tells a story of battling to get rid of emotions for a former lover, whom he now realized might not have loved him the same way. He’s now caught between accepting that fact and learning life lessons from it and going back to beg her for another chance.
Page
Ed Sheeran
Ed Sheeran
There aren’t many things that’ll hurt more than giving love a chance against your better judgement only to have your heart crushed yet again. Ed Sheeran tells such a story on “Page.” On this track, he is devastated to have lost his lover and even more saddened by the feeling that he may never move on from this.
These lyrics could not possibly have come out of Robin Williamson, it's just not possible. He wouldn't have written anything so boringly straightforward and asinine. I've noticed a lot of bland "impostor" songs that record companies probably forced on artists to either make them more palatable to the public or just to force their hand on them, and this surely must be one of them.
@epiwoosh it’s just the song of a naive young man. Not yet the ‘bard’ he wanted to become...