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.
I Wandered by a Brookside
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I wandered by a mill
I could not hear the water
The murmuring it was still
Not a sound of any grasshopper
Nor the chirp of any bird
But the beating of my own heart
The beating of my own heart
Was the only sound I heard
Then silent tears fast flowing
When someone stood beside
A hand upon my shoulder
I knew the touch was kind
He drew me near and nearer
We neither spoke one word
But the beating of our own two hearts
Was the only sound I heard
The beating of our own two hearts
Was the only sound I heard
In “I Wandered by a Brookside,” Eva Cassidy creates a vivid picture of a quiet, peaceful environment in which she walks along the brookside and mill. The opening of the song establishes a sense of tranquility, as she is unable to hear even the usual sounds of nature. Cassidy's lyrics reflect a spiritual searching and ultimate redemption. The line "But the beating of my own heart was the only sound I heard" is an acknowledgement of her own thoughts and personal feelings. It is as if she is seeking a higher purpose or meaning that she can only find within herself, rather than within her surroundings. Cassidy's soothing voice and gentle guitar chords complement this introspective quality of the lyrics.
The song's theme shifts when someone approaches her, putting a hand on her shoulder, showing a comforting kindness. The word "He" is capitalized, "We neither spoke one word," and "the beating of our own two hearts" are small hints at the song’s religious references. Cassidy’s mention of silent tears and the drawing near of two hearts allude to the presence of a comforting and loving entity. The exchange is a moment of peace and mutual understanding. Cassidy carefully builds to the climax of the song, where the sound of two hearts beating as one is heard. This last image is one of the most powerful moments in the song, revealing how the connection with another person can be so intimate that it becomes spiritual.
Line by Line Meaning
I wandered by a brook side
I walked alongside a brook
I wandered by a mill
I walked by a mill
I could not hear the water
I couldn't hear the water of the brook
The murmuring it was still
The brook was silent
Not a sound of any grasshopper
I didn't hear any grasshoppers chirping
Nor the chirp of any bird
I didn't hear any birds chirping
But the beating of my own heart
The only sound I heard was my own heartbeat
Was the only sound I heard
I didn't hear any other sounds
Then silent tears fast flowing
I started crying silently and heavily
When someone stood beside
Someone came and stood beside me
A hand upon my shoulder
They put their hand on my shoulder
I knew the touch was kind
I felt that the touch was gentle and caring
He drew me near and nearer
He pulled me closer and closer to him
We neither spoke one word
We didn't say anything
But the beating of our own two hearts
The only sound we heard was the beating of our hearts
Was the only sound I heard
There was no other sound but the beating of our hearts
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
James Murphy-Walsh
I wandered by a brookside
I wandered by a mill
I could not hear the water
The murmuring it was still
Not a sound of any grasshopper
Nor the chirp of any bird
But the beating of my own heart
Was the only sound I heard
The beating of my own heart
Was the only sound I heard
Then silent tears fast flowing
When someone stood beside
A hand upon my shoulder
I knew the touch was kind
He drew me near and nearer
We neither spoke one word
But the beating of our own two hearts
Was the only sound I heard
The beating of our own two hearts
Was the only sound I heard
Salt Rock Shakers
As evidenced in the comments, Eva’s immense talent evokes a poetic side in many of us who long to convey our admiration in return, but I always fail miserably trying to express in words the depth she reaches into my soul. I guess, only my blissful tears and a healing heart can reveal the true extent.
Gail Piper de Mesa
Exquisitely beautiful. So grateful that Eva’s angelic voice will be with us forever.
Steve Kerley
One of the most amazing things about this is there are only 39K views of this Absolute Masterpiece - What precise voice inflection and beautiful music
Don Strasbaugh
The greatest musician ever. I just can’t ever get enough of her beautiful breathing. Thank you Eva😘
bontchin
Such a wonderful voice. Can't stop listening to her. So sad that fame really came after her passing!
Ben Eastwood
Gorgeous. What a voice! Impossibly beautiful Eva.
Niki And Janie
Ben Eastwood and her playing as well. So good. It’s hard for me to listen to Tall Trees in Georgia....Tennessee Waltz. Just thing of them makes me cry. I hope she was as peace. I thought I’d heard otherwise; going to research that. God....
Rachel Lisette
Every Eva Cassidy song soothes the soul 💓🥰
Liz Bowen
My favorite Eva did. So angelic!
Franca Abba
My eyes are always crying at this Gods voiced angel.