For The Sake Of The Song: The Dillards “I’ve Just Seen A Face”

With Ringo’s new country album, “Look Up”, grabbing plaudits from all and sundry, it seems timely to look at a Beatles’ track that came to be a bluegrass standard and helped in the development of country rock. Paul McCartney wrote and sang ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’ in 1965, though it was credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership. It was released in the UK on the “Help!” album, but was held over for the American release of “Rubber Soul”. The song is about love at first sight and was reputedly inspired by Jane Asher, and was released in an acoustic country-inspired arrangement that also featured hints of bluegrass and folk. McCartney had clearly been listening to the folk and folk rock music coming out of America at the time.

Playing the part of “The Darlings” on the early ‘60s Andy Griffith Show was a key to The Dillards bringing bluegrass to the American masses in the ‘60s; it also helped them to become one of the first bluegrass bands to take on the influences of the explosion of musical sounds heard in the ‘60s. Their move to electric instruments and covers of hits of the day helped the development of progressive bluegrass and country rock. This influence was enhanced by their relationship with the Byrds, with whom they toured with in 1967. While this experience helped develop the country influence and sound of the Byrds, it was also material in the formation of Dillard & Clark when Doug Dillard left The Dillards and Gene Clark left the Byrds, their album “The Fantastic Expedition of Dillard & Clark” is considered one of defining albums of West Coast country rock. Doug Dillard was replaced by West Coast bluegrass stalwart Herb Pederson.

The Dillards heard the Beatles track from the UK version of “Help!” and recorded their version before the American release of “Rubber Soul”; however, this version was never released. It fell to the Charles River Valley Boys, a bluegrass band from Cambridge, Massachusetts, to release the first bluegrass cover version of the song on their 1966 Elektra album “Beatle Country”. When The Dillards with Herb Pedersen recorded 1968’s “Wheatstraw Suite” they recorded a new version of ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’. The song fit perfectly on an album that wrapped bluegrass in a country rock blanket, and the album has subsequently came to be seen as an early classic of the country rock genre.

The Dillards had a massive influence on the subsequent generation of artists, not only influencing the development of progressive bluegrass, but the emerging genre of country rock. Musicians who are considered rock musicians like Elton John and Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones also claim them as an influence. Sam Bush, who is part of the bluegrass generation that immediately followed The Dillards, has claimed that ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’ by the Beatles was his gateway into the music of the Beatles which led him to the emerging San Francisco sound. He has recorded three versions of the song, two when the New Grass Revival backed Leon Russell, one on “The Live Album”, this version also appeared on the video “Live And Picking Fast”, and the second on the studio recording “Rhythm & Bluegrass”, and as a solo artist on 2013’s “Let Us In Americana – The Music of Paul McCartney…For Linda”. Sam Bush’s enthusiasm must have rubbed off on Leon Russell because Russell continued to play the song live to the end of his career.

“I’ve just seen a face, I can’t forget the time or place
Where we just met, she’s just the girl for me
And I want all the world to see we’ve met
mmm-mm-mm-m’mm-mm

Had it been another day I might have looked the other way
And I’d have never been aware.
But as it is I’ll dream of her tonight
La-di-di-di’n’di

Fallin’ yes I am fallin’
And she keeps callin’ me back again

I have never known the like of this, I’ve been alone
And I have missed things and kept out of sight
But other girls were never quite like this
Da-da-n’da-da’n’da

Fallin’ yes I am fallin’
And she keeps callin’ me back again”