Its replacement of "Drive My Car" on the North American version of Rubber Soul advanced the album's identity as a folk rock work, although some commentators view this change as masking the band's late-1965 creative developments.

The song has been covered by several bluegrass bands, including the Charles River Valley Boys, the Dillards and the New Grass Revival with Leon Russell.

Still, this otherwise sweetly simple "folk rock" song really pushes the envelope in terms of the sheer number of diverse styles juggled simultaneously as well as the effortlessly seamless manner in which they are fused.

[29] O'Grady similarly highlights the song's folk-styled guitar contribution with underlying hints of bluegrass, comparing it to another of McCartney's 1965 compositions, "I'm Looking Through You".

[31] Author Chris Ingham writes "I've Just Seen a Face" indicates the Beatles' continued interest in country music,[32] and music critic Richie Unterberger describes the "almost pure country" song as a continuation on the band's country-influenced work from the previous year, such as their album Beatles for Sale and the song "I'll Cry Instead" from A Hard Day's Night.

[38] Musicologist Naphtali Wagner instead categorises it with later McCartney compositions that "explore ambiguous, elusive and altered states of consciousness", such as "Got to Get You into My Life" from Revolver (1966) and "Fixing a Hole" from Sgt.

[47] During the same afternoon session, the band recorded McCartney's new rock and roll song "I'm Down" before breaking for dinner and returning to begin work on "Yesterday".

[41] In keeping with the company's policy of reconfiguring the Beatles' albums,[67] Capitol Records removed "I've Just Seen a Face" and the other non-film songs from the North American version of Help!, replacing them with several orchestral pieces from the film's soundtrack.

[69] Capitol's approach was motivated by the popularity of folk rock in the United States,[70] with singles such as Sonny & Cher's "I Got You Babe", Barry McGuire's "Eve of Destruction",[71] the Byrds' cover of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man", Simon & Garfunkel's "The Sound of Silence" and the Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'" all representative of the style in 1965.

for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine describes "I've Just Seen a Face" as "an irresistible folk-rock gem" that is much better than two of McCartney's other contributions to the album, "The Night Before" and "Another Girl",[81] a sentiment author Andrew Grant Jackson echoes.

[83] Writing for Pitchfork, Tom Ewing pairs the song with "Yesterday", describing both as a "personal breakthrough for McCartney", with each achieving a "deceptive lightness that would become trademark and millstone for their writer".

He recognises "I've Just Seen a Face" as "a folksy country song [that demonstrates] the gift for pastiche that would help give the rest of the Beatles' career such convincing variety".

[23] Riley, Carlin and Everett each praise the song's lyricism,[89] MacDonald commenting that its internal rhyming and fast-paced delivery "complements the music perfectly".

[1] Music critic Rob Sheffield describes the North American Rubber Soul's sequencing of "I've Just Seen a Face" and "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" as a "magnificent one-two punch" which results in "the only case where the shamefully butchered U.S. LP might top the U.K.

Kruth argues that both songs helped acquaint rock fans with small doses of country music, setting up the turn from folk rock to country by the Byrds with their 1968 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo;[94] in Kruth's opinion, the song's "deep wooden timbre" can be heard in the music of Crosby, Stills & Nash; James Taylor and Jackson Browne.

[101] Journalist Nicholas Schaffner writes that their inclusion "electrified audiences", and Rodriguez similarly describes the Beatles section of the setlist as the "emotional highlight for most attendees".

"[101] In a retrospective assessment, Riley lauds McCartney for performing the song during the tour as though he were "sitting around on a porch harmonizing to a good old rural favorite".

[107] The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Charles River Valley Boys (CRVB) recorded a cover of "I've Just Seen a Face" for their 1966 album, Beatle Country, a collection of Lennon–McCartney compositions played as bluegrass and sung in a high lonesome style.

[108] James Field of the group later recalled hearing the song on the radio in the lead up to the US release of Rubber Soul and thinking "it instantly felt like bluegrass".

[110] Produced by Paul A. Rothchild and co-produced by Peter K. Siegel, recording for Beatle Country took place in September 1966 at the Columbia Studios in Nashville, Tennessee.

[111] The CRVB's cover of "I've Just Seen a Face" changes the composition in several ways, including transposing it from the key of A to G. Structurally, the CRVB add extra instrumental breaks for banjo, mandolin and fiddle – a typical feature of bluegrass music, where each musician is allowed the chance to solo – as well as repeating the chorus an extra time, which musicologist Laura Turner writes serves to emphasise the "quintessential bluegrass technique" of close three-part harmonies.

[95] Doggett writes the tempo and chord changes of "I've Just Seen a Face" "[cry] out for a banjo and mandolin",[118] and Turner argues it has been "key in stimulating a relationship between bluegrass and the music of the Beatles".

[95] Unterberger calls it "a respectable version" which "completed [the Dillards'] move from bluegrass into folk-country-rock",[33] while Turner describes it as "relaxed in tempo and wistful", writing that its use of a pedal steel guitar is "a clear salute to the flourishing folk-rock scene".

[124] The group Bluegrass Association recorded the song for their 1974 album Strings Today ... And Yesterday, basing their arrangement on the Charles River Valley Boys' version.

He credits the release of tracks under their working titles as one of the album's unique selling points, being "details that Beatles fanatics of the time simply devoured".

[128] Hank Crawford, the alto saxophonist of Ray Charles, recorded a funk and reggae-inspired version of the song for his 1976 album Tico Rico.

[130] The 2007 jukebox musical romantic drama film Across the Universe features a cover of the song,[129] later included on its associated soundtrack album.

[131] In the film, the lead character, Jude (Jim Sturgess), sings about Lucy (Evan Rachel Wood) at a bowling alley in what Kruth terms a "somewhat bizarre love-fantasy scene".

[129] Though Kruth disparages Carlile's version as "[not] particularly different or innovative",[129] a 2010 ranking by Paste magazine of the 50 best Beatles covers placed it at 46, writing that she transforms the song into a "sing-along hoe-down".

[132] Kruth designates "I'll Just Bleed Your Face" as the song's "most bizarre" cover,[129] recorded by Beatallica – a mashup group of heavy metal band Metallica and the Beatles – for their 2009 album Masterful Mystery Tour.