The First Man You Remember Lyrics – Aspects of Love

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

This duet sits at the delicate center of Aspects of Love: a lilting waltz sung by George and his teenage daughter Jenny. The surface is all manners and moonlight. Underneath, Andrew Lloyd Webber writes a slow-bloom melody that rises on polite compliments and lands on a held cadence that feels like a parent steadying a first dance. Don Black and Charles Hart’s lyric keeps the language disarmingly simple - invitations, firsts, and the ritual of a gentleman asking for the floor - which lets the scene do the subtextual heavy lifting.

Highlights - quick hits

• Elegant 3/4 sway; orchestration favors strings and woodwinds with piano underpinning.
• Call-and-response structure lets Jenny’s lines mirror and gently answer George’s.
• Melodic writing climbs in small steps, saving the glow for the refrain’s “the very first”.
• Stagecraft matters: it’s a dance lesson as much as a song, which keeps the tone chaste even as Jenny’s adulthood peeks through.

Creation History

Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart for the 1989 West End premiere, the number appears in Act 2 as George leads Jenny in a formal dance. A standalone single featuring Michael Ball and Diana Morrison was issued in the UK that autumn on Really Useful Records/Polydor with “Mermaid Song” as the flip, drawing TV spots and variety-show performances that sometimes misread it as a lovers’ duet.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

On the terrace at Pau, George Dillingham offers his daughter Jenny a ceremonial first dance. She accepts, thrilled, basking in the attention. Their steps draw in other characters, but the emotional axis stays fixed: a father codifying memory for a child who is rushing toward adulthood. Alex - Jenny’s older cousin and earlier crush - keeps his distance, and the staging lets us feel that distance.

Song Meaning

The text frames “firsts” as safeguards. George wants to be the first man in Jenny’s memory-keeping, so later men arrive measured against care and courtesy. The lyric’s sweetness doubles as instruction: how to be treated, and how to carry yourself. Jenny’s replies play along yet pulse with excitement; her cadence quickens on phrases like “sweep me off my feet,” tilting the scene toward the cusp of romantic awareness without crossing the line.

Annotations

I want to be the first man you remember... the last man you forget.

That coupling makes the arc plain: first to last, childhood to adulthood. Memory becomes a moral anchor. The rhyme is soft but final - “remember/forget” - a neat hinge between innocence and experience.

May I be first to dance you round the floor?

Old-world etiquette phrased as a question. The music’s three-quarter glide underscores the courtly ritual, almost a lesson in social timekeeping.

The very first to sweep me off my feet.

Jenny’s answer escalates the metaphor. She leans into fairy-tale phrasing, which the orchestration gently grounds - no cymbal crash, just a warm string cushion so the image stays safe, not swooning.

Style and setting

It’s a waltz - a social dance embedded in the score - and that choice does quiet work. A waltz implies guidance, proximity, and trust. Dramaturgically, it anchors the show’s swirl of adult entanglements in something simple: a father teaching grace. Historically, it also nods to musical theatre’s long line of parent-child dance numbers where choreography is character.

Key Facts

• Artist: Original London cast voices of George and Jenny
• Featured: Notable single by Michael Ball & Diana Morrison
• Composer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Lyricists: Don Black, Charles Hart
• Producer: Andrew Lloyd Webber
• Release Date: October 21, 1989 (UK single entry week)
• Genre: Stage & Screen - show tune; waltz ballad
• Instruments: Orchestra with strings, woodwinds, horns, piano
• Label: Really Useful Records/Polydor
• Mood: Tender, ceremonial, gently luminous
• Length: 6:20 on cast album (Version 2/Live)
• Track #: 14 on Aspects of Love (Original London Cast)
• Language: English
• Album: Aspects of Love - Original London Cast Recording
• Music style: 3/4 waltz with lyrical counterpoint
• Poetic meter: Predominantly iambic lines in short, parallel phrases
• © Copyrights: © 1989 The Really Useful Group Ltd.; ? 1989 The Really Useful Group Ltd. under exclusive license to Polydor Ltd. (UK)

Questions and Answers

Who sings it in the show?

George Dillingham and his daughter Jenny, as a formal first dance with Alex present but reluctant to join.

Where does it sit in the narrative?

Act 2 on the terrace at Pau, after Jenny’s return - a ceremonial pause before later scenes complicate her feelings for Alex.

Was it released as a single outside the cast album?

Yes - Michael Ball and Diana Morrison recorded a single in 1989 on Really Useful Records/Polydor; the B-side was “Mermaid Song.”

Did it chart?

In the UK it reached No. 68 and spent four weeks in the Top 100, two in the Top 75, in October-November 1989.

Any notable covers or adaptations?

Stephanie Lawrence & Dave Willetts recorded it for concert/compilation releases; orchestral and instrumental versions circulate, including a cello arrangement associated with Julian Lloyd Webber.

Awards and Chart Positions

• UK Singles Chart: Peak No. 68 - weeks of October 21, 28, and November 4, 1989 - four weeks in Top 100, two in Top 75.
• Stage accolades (show-wide): Aspects of Love received six Tony Award nominations in 1990, including Best Musical and Best Original Score.

How to Sing The First Man You Remember

Vocal types: George is written for baritone; Jenny is soprano. That pairing lets the duet sit close without crowding the top line.

Time and feel: It’s a true waltz in 3/4. Keep a gentle one-two-three that breathes like a dance lesson rather than a showstopper. Think lifted pickups, especially into “the very first.”

Breath and phrasing: Shape George’s opening in two-bar arcs and avoid over-weighting “first.” Jenny answers with lighter articulation; place consonants forward so the flirt of the language reads while staying youthful.

Blend: On shared refrains, match vowels and let Jenny’s line bloom above a warm baritone cushion. No belting - the dynamic sweet spot is mezzo-piano to mezzo-forte.

Staging: Treat it as choreography. If you move, let steps drive phrasing - release on turns, settle on cadences. It should feel like guidance, not seduction.

Additional Info

• The single by Michael Ball & Diana Morrison drew TV attention in 1989, including Royal Variety Performance coverage, which helped introduce the number beyond theatre audiences.
• The cast album was later remastered, restoring trims and preserving the full “Version 2/Live” placement of the duet.
• In the 2023 West End revival, Michael Ball returned to the show in the older role of George, a neat full-circle for a singer closely tied to the score.