First Cut Is the Deepest

Soul Music

BBC

Music, Music Commentary

4.7 • 831 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Long before it was a worldwide hit for Rod Stewart, the Cat Stevens song 'First Cut is the Deepest' made a name for Ike and Tina Turner's former backing singer, PP Arnold.

PP describes the emotional connection she felt to the lyrics, having emerged from an abusive marriage shortly before recording it.

The song's original producer, Mike Hurst describes how he achieved the huge 'wall of sound' production using double drums, a huge string section, and a harp instead of a guitar to play the signature riff at the the start of the track.

There are many personal stories associated with the track: Carsten Knauff recalls a childhood sweetheart - his first true love - and explains why the Cat Stevens' version brings back bitter-sweet memories for him.

Rosemarie Purdy saw PP Arnold give an extraordinary live rendition at a club in Portsmouth in 1967. Never before had she seen such a heartfelt, emotionally charged performance. It's something she's never forgotten.

The Sheryl Crow version reminds Rachel Batson of a very difficult phase in her life; it's a song she says reflects her own faith journey.

And former Radio Caroline DJ, Keith Hampshire, describes the circumstances that led to him having a No.1 hit with the song in Canada. It was the first time 'First Cut' reached No.1 anywhere in the world.

Series about pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.

Producer: Karen Gregor

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2015.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to quickly tell you about some others.
0:05.1	My name's Andy Martin and I'm the editor of a team of podcast producers at the BBC in Northern Ireland.
0:11.3	It's a job I really love because we get to tell the stories that really matter to people here,
0:16.2	but which also resonate and apply to listeners around the world.
0:19.6	And because the team is such a diverse range of
0:21.8	skills and strengths, we've trained journalists, people who love digging through archives, we've
0:26.7	got drama and even comedy experts, we really can do those stories justice. So if you like this
0:32.3	podcast, head to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more fascinating stories from all around the UK.
0:38.9	My name is P.P. Arnold and I am a soul singer. I never had any ambition to be in show business.
0:47.6	I was a young woman in a horrible situation. I had become pregnant at a very young age when I was 15, and my father
0:59.6	made me get married. So there I was in this situation of being in a very abusive teen marriage
1:08.7	with someone who I didn't really know. And I worked two jobs. I worked during
1:14.9	the day. I was a clerk typist. And in the evening, I would pick my kids up from my first job
1:22.3	and bring them home and put them to bed. And then I'd go to my second job, which was working in a factory that separated
1:31.0	egg whites from egg yolks. So, yeah, that was my life. And one morning, one Sunday morning,
1:38.6	I was in the laundry room doing my laundry, as you do when you're working, five days a week, and you have children doing my laundry.
1:47.8	And I just said a prayer.
1:50.2	I had two children by this time.
1:52.5	I'm 17 years old.
1:54.2	And I just asked God to show me a way out of this hell.
2:00.1	And then about an hour later, the phone rang. And it was a girlfriend
2:04.7	of my brothers. She and another girl, Gloria Scott, they wanted to audition for Ike and Tina Turner.
	...

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