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.
Drowning in the Sea of Love
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
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And I've been down two times
But right now I'm drowning
Drowning in the sea of love
I've been out here for so very long
I've lost all my direction
Baby, when you came my way
But a strong wind came into my life
It surely took me by surprise
I can't seem to control these tears
That are falling from my eyes
I've been down one time
And I've been down two times
But right now I'm drowning
Drowning in the sea of love
Sea of love
Baby, I depended on you
For our love navigation
Now you've gone and deserted me
Can't you see that I'm in desperation
I'm in the middle of a bad love storm
Ooh yeah I wasn't ready for
I look around and all I can see
Is water pouring over me
I've been down one time
And I've been down two times
But right now I'm drowning
Drowning in the sea of love
I've been out here for so very long
I've lost all my direction
Baby, when you came my way
I thought I had found my protection
But a strong wind came into my life
It surely took me by surprise
I can't seem to control these tears
That are falling from my eyes
I've been down one time
And I've been down two times
But right now I'm drowning
Drowning in the sea of love
Drowning in the sea of love
The lyrics of "Drowning in the Sea of Love" by Eva Cassidy describe the feeling of being overwhelmed by love and then abandoned by the person upon whom one has depended for love and support. The first two lines suggest that the singer has experienced hardships before, but none like this present situation in which she feels like she is drowning in a sea of love. The third line of the first verse reinforces this feeling of helplessness and lack of control over the overwhelming emotions of love.
The second verse highlights the desperate hope and dependence that the singer had on this person for direction and protection. The metaphor of a "bad love storm" implies that the relationship was tumultuous and that the singer did not see it coming. The repetition of "I've been down one time and I've been down two times" draws attention to the fact that the singer has struggled before, but this experience is different from those before it.
Overall, the lyrics convey a sense of bewilderment and pain at being left alone in a sea of emotions, without the support and love that had helped the singer survive in the past. It speaks to the universal experiences of heartbreak and the ways in which people can become dependent on others for their emotional well-being.
Line by Line Meaning
I've been down one time
I've gone through a tough phase in my life before.
And I've been down two times
I've gone through a tough phase in my life twice.
But right now I'm drowning
But presently, I am overwhelmed and struggling to cope.
Drowning in the sea of love
I am engulfed in a deep emotional crisis due to my love life.
I've been out here for so very long
I've been dealing with this situation for a long time.
I've lost all my direction
I don't have a clear sense of what to do or where to go.
Baby, when you came my way
When I first met you, I thought you'd be my savior.
I thought I had found my protection
I thought you'd protect me from hurt.
But a strong wind came into my life
Unexpected events beyond my control happened.
It surely took me by surprise
It caught me completely off guard.
I can't seem to control these tears
I can't help but cry due to the pain I feel.
That are falling from my eyes
My tears are a testament to my inner turmoil and sadness.
Sea of love
Love can be both beautiful and treacherous.
Baby, I depended on you
I placed too much trust and reliance on you.
For our love navigation
I believed you'd be the one to guide us through our relationship.
Now you've gone and deserted me
Now you've left me alone and abandoned.
Can't you see that I'm in desperation
Can't you see how desperate and helpless I am?
I'm in the middle of a bad love storm
I'm stuck in the midst of a terrible crisis in my love life.
Ooh yeah I wasn't ready for
Oh yeah, I wasn't prepared for this level of despair and heartbreak.
I look around and all I can see
I can only see a bleak and hopeless future ahead of me.
Is water pouring over me
It feels like an overwhelming flood of emotions is washing over me.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Capitol CMG Publishing, Songtrust Ave, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: KENNETH GAMBLE, KENNY GAMBLE, LEON HUFF
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind