Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 in Washington, DC – November 2, 1996 in… Read Full Bio ↴Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 in Washington, DC – November 2, 1996 in Bowie, Maryland) was an American vocalist described by the British newspaper The Guardian as "one of the greatest voices of her generation." She had a diverse repertoire of jazz, blues, folk, gospel and pop. Cassidy remained virtually unknown outside of her native Washington, DC, when she died of melanoma (which had spread to her bones) in 1996. Her posthumously released recordings have since sold in excess of four million copies, and in early 2001 the compilation album Songbird reached #1 on the UK album charts.

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.

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01Kathy's Song2:46

02Ain't No Sunshine3:27

03The Letter4:18

04At Last3:01

05Time After Time3:59

06Penny to My Name3:44

07I Wandered by a Brookside3:34

08I Wish I Was a Single Girl Again2:31

09Easy Street Dream3:23

PT3M23S

Eva Cassidy

10Anniversary Song2:57

11Woodstock4:24

12Way Beyond the Blue2:26

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Easy Street Dream
Eva Cassidy Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

It's Sunday morning
I can feel the side effects
You shake out your body
And you wake up what's left
Spent too much money last night
I had too much to drink
Spending too much time with myself
And I don't know what to think

Any love this easy
Falls down like rain
Any love this easy
Goes out with a bad name
Any love that you find on Easy Street
Can only be a dream
Any love that you find on Easy Street
Can only be a dream

It was only for pleasure
Our love took a back seat
My heart went crazy
And my whole life skipped a beat
Swallowed each emotion down
To kill the aftertaste
Staring to the future now
I can only see your face

Any love this easy
Falls down like rain
Any love this easy
Goes out with a bad name
Any love you find on Easy Street
Can only be a dream
Any love that you find on Easy Street
Can only be a dream

Only a dream
Oh only a dream
Only a dream
Only a dream
Only a dream

Overall Meaning

The song "Easy Street Dream" by Eva Cassidy is a melancholic reflection on the fragility of love and relationships, particularly those that start off too easily and too quickly. The opening lines of the song convey a sense of regret and physical weariness, suggesting that the singer has recently indulged in some form of excess or self-destructive behavior. However, the focus of the song is not on these fleeting pleasures, but rather on the deeper emotions that lie beneath.

The chorus repeats the phrase "Any love this easy/Falls down like rain," suggesting that love that comes too easily is bound to fail. The allusion to rain implies a sense of transience and impermanence, as rain is a natural phenomenon that cannot be controlled or contained. The idea that love on "Easy Street" can only be a dream suggests that it is not something that can be easily attained or sustained. The second verse suggests that the singer was swept away by passion and desire, but that these feelings were ultimately unsustainable and left a bitter aftertaste. The final lines of the song repeat the phrase "Only a dream" several times, reinforcing the idea that love on "Easy Street" is a fantasy that is not meant to come to fruition.

Overall, "Easy Street Dream" is a poignant and haunting song that captures the emotional complexities of love and relationships. It warns against the dangers of falling for something that is too easy, and suggests that true love requires more effort and commitment than fleeting moments of pleasure.

Line by Line Meaning

It's Sunday morning
The song sets the scene by describing a lazy Sunday morning.

I can feel the side effects
The singer is feeling the after-effects of a wild night out.

You shake out your body
The singer imagines someone else getting up and shaking their body in an attempt to feel better.

And you wake up what's left
This line means that shaking the body is not going to completely cure the hangover, but it might help wake up what is left of the body's energy.

Spent too much money last night
The singer regrets spending too much money on their night out.

I had too much to drink
The singer drank too much last night and is now feeling the effects.

Spending too much time with myself
The singer may be feeling a little down and lost in their own thoughts.

And I don't know what to think
The singer is lost and unsure of what to do next.

Any love this easy
The song is now moving onto the topic of love.

Falls down like rain
The idea is that love that comes too easily is like the rain, it is fleeting and will eventually dissipate.

Goes out with a bad name
This phrase means that easy love will not be remembered fondly, rather it will be known for its lack of substance and effort.

Any love that you find on Easy Street
This line is a metaphor for love that comes easily and without much effort or hard work.

Can only be a dream
The idea is that this type of love is not real or sustainable, it's more of a fantasy or dream.

It was only for pleasure
The song reflects on a casual affair that may not have had any deep meaning.

Our love took a back seat
The singer is saying that lust and physical pleasure took priority over any true love that may have been present.

My heart went crazy
This line reveals the singer's vulnerability and how their heart was affected by the casual relationship.

And my whole life skipped a beat
The casual affair may have been exciting and thrilling, but ultimately it was not enough to sustain a true, meaningful relationship.

Swallowed each emotion down
This line represents the singer suppressing or hiding their emotions about the affair, which may have been difficult to handle.

To kill the aftertaste
The singer may have been trying to forget the casual encounter by suppressing their emotions and moving on.

Staring to the future now
The singer is reflecting on the past and looking to what comes next for them.

I can only see your face
Despite the casual encounter, the singer cannot help but think of the person they were with and the memories they shared.

Only a dream
The song ends on a sad note, with the singer lamenting that the easy love they experienced was never real or sustainable, and ultimately it was only a dream.

Oh only a dream
This is a variation on the previous line, reinforcing the sad and wistful feelings that the song conveys about easy love.

Only a dream
This line repeats the idea that easy love is only a dream and not something that can be permanent or lasting.

Only a dream
The final line of the song brings the theme of easy love full circle, reinforcing the message that it is not worth pursuing, as it will only end in heartache and disappointment.

Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS

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It's Sunday morning

I can feel inside the facts

You shake out your body

And you wake up what's late

You spent too much money last night

And I had too much to drink

Spending too much time with myself

And I don't know what to think

Any love is easy

Falls down like rain

Any love is easy

Goes out with a bad name

Any love that you find on easy street

Can only be a dream

Any love that you find on easy street

Can only be a dream

It was only for pleasure

Our love took a backseat

My heart went crazy

And my whole life skipped a beat

Shallow deed took motion down to kill it after a taste

Staring to the future now I can only see your face

Any love is easy

Falls down like rain

Any love is easy

Goes out with a bad name

Any love that you find on easy street

Can only be a dream

Any love that you find on easy street

Can only be a dream

Only a dream

Only a dream...