First girl I loved   Time has come I will sing you this sad goodbye song   When I was seventeen   I used to know you      Well, I haven't seen you now since many is the short year   And the last time I seen you, you said you'd joined the Church of Jesus   But me, I remember your long red hair falling in our faces   As I kissed you      I want you to know, I just had to go   I want you to know, we just had to grow      And you're probably married now, house and car and all   And you turned into a grownup female stranger   And if I was lying near you now   I wouldn't be here at all      We parted so hard   Me, rushing round Britain with a guitar   And making love to people   I didn't even like to see      I would think of you   And I mean in the six sad morning   And in the lonely midnight   Try to hold your face before me      I want you to know, I just had to go   I want you to know, we just had to grow      You're probably married now, kids and all   You turned into a grownup female stranger   And if I was lying near you now   I'd just have to fall      Well, I never slept with you   Though we must have made love a thousand times   We were just young, didn't have no place to go   But in the wide hills and beside many a long water   You have gathered flowers and they do not smell for me      I want you to know, I just had to go   I want you to know, we just had to grow      So it's goodbye first love and I hope you're fine   I have a sweet woman   Maybe someday to bear babies by me, she's pretty   Is a true friend of mine