Eva Cassidy was the third of four children born to Hugh and Barbara Cassidy. From an early age, she displayed artistic and musical talent. When she was nine years old, her father taught her to play the guitar, and she began to play and sing at family gatherings.
While a student at Bowie High School, she did sing with a local band, called Stonehenge, and received considerable praise.
At the age of eighteen, Cassidy began her professional career, singing and playing guitar in a Washington, D.C., area band, called Easy Street. This band performed in a variety of styles, at weddings, corporate parties, and pubs.
During the summer of 1983, Cassidy sang and played guitar, six days per week, at Wild World, in Maryland. Her brother Dan was also a member of this working band.
Throughout the 1980s, Cassidy worked with a number of other bands, including the soul and Motown-oriented band The Honeybees, and the techno-pop band Characters Without Names, later called Method Actor.
During this period, Cassidy also worked as a propagator at a plant nursery and as a furniture painter in Annapolis, Maryland. In 1986, she met (bassist and recording engineer) Chris Biondo, who encouraged her and helped her find work as a backup singer for various acts. In 1990, Biondo and Cassidy hired the so-called "Eva Cassidy Band", composed of Chris Biondo, Lenny Williams, Keith Grimes and Raice McLeod, and she began to perform frequently in the Washington area.
In 1992, Biondo played a tape of Cassidy's voice for Chuck Brown. Best known as the "Godfather of Go-go", Brown is also a jazz and blues vocalist. This led to the first commercial recording of Cassidy, the duet album with Chuck Brown, The Other Side; which featured performances of classic songs such as "Fever", Billie Holiday's "God Bless the Child" and Cassidy's signature tune "Over the Rainbow". The album was released and distributed by Liaison Records, the label that also released Brown's Go-go albums. The duet CD attracted the attention of various record companies, but the offers all required Cassidy to pigeonhole herself within a single style (e.g., pop or jazz), something she adamantly refused to do.[citation needed]
In 1993 Eva Cassidy was first honored by the Washington area music community when she was awarded two Wammie awards for "Female Vocalist Roots/Traditional R&B" and "Vocalist Jazz/Traditional." The next year she was chosen to perform for the awards ceremony.
In January 1996, Cassidy recorded the album Live at Blues Alley, about which The Washington Post later commented that "she could sing anything and make it sound like the only music that mattered". [1] Cassidy was unhappy with her singing on the album, because she had a bad cold on the night of the recording; she began recording a studio album which was eventually released as Eva by Heart posthumously in 1997.
During a promotional event for the Live at Blues Alley CD in July 1996, Cassidy noticed an ache in her hips, which she attributed to stiffness from painting murals. The pain persisted, and, a few weeks later, Cassidy was diagnosed with melanoma. By the time of her diagnosis, the cancer had spread throughout her body. Cassidy's health rapidly deteriorated, and her final performance was in September 1996. At the performance, she had used a walker to reach the stage, sang "What a Wonderful World" in front of an audience of friends, and was subsequently admitted to Johns Hopkins Hospital.[citation needed]
Eva Cassidy died on November 2, 1996, at the age of 33. She was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Washington Area Music Association.
Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
When we kissed goodbye and parted,
I knew we'd never meet again,
Love is like a dying ember,
And only memories remain,
And through the ages I'll remember,
Someday we'll meet up yonder,
And we will walk hand in hand again,
In a land that knows no parting,
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
The lyrics of Eva Cassidy's song "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is a melancholic expression of lost love and the despair of never seeing each other again. The opening lines, "In the twilight glow I see, Blue eyes crying in the rain," sets the mood for the song. The singer sees the tears of their lover's blue eyes in the rain and understands that there is no way to make things right. The second line, "when we kissed goodbye and parted, I knew weโd never meet again," reinforces the finality of the separation.
The second verse of the song compares love to a dying ember, and the only remnant of it is the memories left behind. The lyric "And through the ages, I'll remember, Blue eyes crying in the rain," is a poignant reminder of the loss of this love.
The final verse provides hope for a reunion in the afterlife, where the singer and the lover will meet again, and love will not end. The final lines of the song, "In a land that knows no parting, Blue eyes crying in the rain," are a farewell reminder of the lost love.
Overall, "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" is a heart-wrenching expression of loss, regret, and the unyielding nature of time.
Line by Line Meaning
In the twilight glow I see,
In the fading light of the evening, I witness an emotional scene
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
A person with blue eyes is weeping while it rains
When we kissed goodbye and parted,
Our separation occurred as we said farewell with a kiss
I knew we'd never meet again,
I had a premonition that our paths would never cross again
Love is like a dying ember,
Romantic love can swiftly lose its fervor and passion
And only memories remain,
Reminiscing about the past is all that is left of our love
And through the ages I'll remember,
I will never forget about the love that we shared in the past
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
A person with blue eyes is weeping while it rains
Someday we'll meet up yonder,
One day we will meet in a higher place
And we will walk hand in hand again,
When we reunite, we will be together like we once were
In a land that knows no parting,
A place that is eternal and will never cause us to separate from each other
Blue eyes crying in the rain,
A person with blue eyes is weeping while it rains
Lyrics ยฉ Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Fred Rose
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Camelia Caravas
In the twilight glow I see them
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain
When we kissed goodbye and parted
I knew we'd never meet again
Love is like a dyin' ember
Only memories remain
Through the ages I'll remember
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain
Some day when we meet up yonder
We'll stroll hand in hand again
In a land that knows no partin'
Blue eyes cryin' in the rain
Now my hair has turned to silver
All my life I've loved in vain
I can see her star in heaven
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Margaret Gaskell
"Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain"
In the twilight glow I see her
Blue eyes crying in the rain
When we kissed goodbye and parted
I knew we'd never meet again
Love is like a dying ember
Only memories remain
Through the ages I remember
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Someday when we meet up yonder
We'll stroll hand in hand again
In a land that knows no parting
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Blue eyes crying in the rain
Johnny Mac
Eva is the only voice that bring tears to my 70 year-old eyes. She is so missed.
Parrish Muhoberac
@Johnny Mac I'm only 45, and yeah. TEARS (before I knew she died). That says something about her. an ANGEL.
Roelof Huisman
๐ฅฐ
Robert Daumont
ยซย A รฉcouter religieusement,une voix vraiment sublime,quโelle repose en paix ๐โ
Lynette Odegaard
I totally agree with you , so sad Eva Cassidy is no longer with us, Rest In Peace Eva Cassidy
Phil Piper
Same here friend, and my eyes are 8 years older than yours.
plovify
My Mom passed in 2020 and I listened to Eva Cassidy a lot while I mourned her passing. The power of music is amazing. It brings us up from despair and propels us forward all the while letting us walk through every emotion needed to get there.
craig taylor
โค๏ธ๐โค๏ธ i was the same with my wifeโs passing
Parrish Muhoberac
plovify I know what you mean. Thank you for posting that.
Diana Y
Absolutely!