Rod Stewart – The First Cut Is The Deepest

Rod Stewart has covered many songs in his career. I’ve always liked this version of the song. It was written by Cat Stevens in 1967. The song peaked at #21 in the Billboard 100, #11 in Canada, and #1 in the UK in 1977. Stewart recorded the song at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama, United States, and it appeared on his 1976 album A Night on the Town. It was released as a double A-side single with “I Don’t Want to Talk About It”.

Rod Stewart had a total of 52 songs in the Billboard 100, 16 top 10 hits, and 4 number 1’s.

From Songfacts

This was written by Cat Stevens. It was a hit for P.P. Arnold in Britain in 1967, reaching #18 in the charts. Stevens, who included it on his debut album New Masters later in 1967, never released his version as a single, as he felt Arnold’s rendition was definitive.

P.P. Arnold is a female singer from America who got her start as one of Ike & Tina Turner’s backup performers (an Ikette). After two years with Ike & Tina, she moved to London and got a record deal with Immediate Records. Cat Stevens was also part of the London music scene at the time, and his song found it’s way to Arnold, who recorded it for her first album.

Arnold, who was in an abusive marriage as a teenager, felt it was a perfect song for her. “It encapsulated everything that I was at the time,” she said. “Having the courage to get out of that [abusive relationship] and create a life for me and my kids. What a blessing.”

In 1968, Arnold scored another UK hit when her cover of “Angel of the Morning” went to #29.

This is about a guy who has met a girl he wants to start a relationship with. In the song, he is explaining the hurt he feels because of his first love, and how it is keeping him from diving into this potential new relationship.

In America, the first version to chart was by Keith Hampshire, who took it to #70 in 1973. Rod Stewart covered it in 1976, taking it to #21 US and #1 UK; Sheryl Crow released her version in 2003, which made #14 in the US and #37 in the UK.

The First Cut is the Deepest

I would have given you all of my heart
But there’s someone who’s torn it apart
And she’s taken just all that I had
But if you want I’ll try to love again
Baby I’ll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest
Baby I know the first cut is the deepest
But when it come to being lucky she’s cursed
When it come to loving me she’s the worst
I still want you by my side
Just to help me dry the tears that I’ve cried
And I’m sure going to give you a try
And if you want I’ll try to love again
Baby I’ll try to love again but I know

The first cut is the deepest
Baby I know the first cut is the deepest
But when it come to being lucky she’s cursed
When it come to loving me she’s the worst

I still want you by my side
Just to help me dry the tears that I’ve cried
But I’m sure gonna give you a try
‘Cause if you want I’ll try to love again
Baby I’ll try to love again but I know

Wooh
The first cut is the deepest
Baby I know the first cut is the deepest
When it come to being lucky she’s cursed
When it come to loving me she’s the worst

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

24 thoughts on “Rod Stewart – The First Cut Is The Deepest”

  4. I like rod’s version but Sheryl Crow’s is my fave and paradoxically Keith Hampshire’s is what I would consider the “definitive” (yet strangely not the best) because that was the one I grew up hearing in the 70s– he was I assume, Canadian, and had a lot of Canadian hits with cover versions.

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    1. I like a lot of his stuff…He was part of my childhood.
      You know I have to get back to your site and try to comment again…

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    1. That is why I like it….it’s not smooth…and why I like Janis Joplin and singers like that. He is great.

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      1. Well…I see the Reader doesn’t interpret symbols anymore. Geez…

        I can’t do Joplin no matter what she is singing. She makes my hair hurt & ears bleed. I have the same reaction to Michael Bolton. Make. It. Stop.

        One of my fave Stewart songs is one that you rarely hear & didn’t chart all that high…’Baby Jane’.

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      2. no no no…it’s against the law to say Janis and Bolton in the same sentence. She had a soul…he does not…

        Oh that song was around the same time as Young Turks….that is when I saw him.

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      4. I saw him in Murfressboro… he had a soccer ball on the stage and was very good…

        yea even if you don’t like Janis…she did have soul…and was cool. Bolton…is just souless

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