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 Wish I Was a Single Girl
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I went dressed up so fine
Now I am married Lord
And I go ragged all the time
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
I got dishes to wash
When you are married Lord
You know you got it all to do
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again yeah
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
The lyrics to Eva Cassidy's "I Wish I Was a Single Girl" speak to the experiences of a married woman who is longing for the freedom she felt when she was single. The song compares the singer's life before and after marriage, and expresses frustration with the responsibilities and duties that come with married life. The singer recalls how she used to dress up when she was single, but now feels ragged all the time. She also laments the fact that she has to do the dishes and go to springs (likely to collect water) now that she's married. Ultimately, she expresses a desire to go back to the days when she was a single girl.
The song captures the feelings of many people who have made the transition from being single to being in a committed relationship. It is not uncommon for people to reflect nostalgically on the freedom and spontaneity they enjoyed when they were single, particularly when they are feeling burdened or stressed by the demands of married or family life. The song also touches on gender roles and expectations within marriage, with the singer explicitly acknowledging that as a married woman, she has more work to do than she did when she was single.
Overall, "I Wish I Was a Single Girl" is a poignant reflection on the joys and challenges of married life, and a reminder that even in the midst of commitments and responsibilities, it is natural to long for the freedom of our youth.
Line by Line Meaning
When I was single
In my past, when I was not married
I went dressed up so fine
I had the freedom and opportunity to dress elegantly and stylishly
Now I am married Lord
Currently, I am joined in marriage and bound to my partner
And I go ragged all the time
Nowadays, I am often unkept and poorly dressed
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Expressing a strong desire to relive the days of being single
I got dishes to wash
I have household chores, such as cleaning dishes
And springs to go to
I have obligations and errands to run
When you are married Lord
Being married, one is frequently inundated with responsibilities
You know you got it all to do
The tasks and demands of married life often seem never-ending
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again yeah
Repeatedly expressing a deep yearning to return to the freedom and simplicity of being single
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Repeating the same sentiment as before, further emphasizing the desire to return to being single
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Restating the same longing, as if pleading for a way to turn back time
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Àlainn Caileag
When I was single
I went dressed up so fine
Now I am married Lord
And I go ragged all the time
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
I got dishes to wash
And springs to go to
When you are married Lord
You know you got it all to do
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again yeah
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Maurice Belanger
I am a 76 year old man and I weep at each and every songs that this beautiful Angel voice sings . She is as beautiful as her voice . God bless you Eva you are probably singing with God’s Angels 👼💕❤️💕👍👼🇺🇾
James Murphy-Walsh
Stunning . The female voice is just beautiful .
Àlainn Caileag
When I was single
I went dressed up so fine
Now I am married Lord
And I go ragged all the time
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
I got dishes to wash
And springs to go to
When you are married Lord
You know you got it all to do
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again yeah
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Oh Lord don't I wish I was a single girl again
Eugene Clasby
Amazing. As always.
mr. jinks
She had soul, a lot of it.
Mark Conlan
I stumbled on this researching the history of the song, which apparently was first recorded by a man — Vernon Dalhart, who had the first million-selling country record, "The Wreck of the Old 97." I still think Rose Maddox's version, fast and hillbilly-ish but brimming with anger and feisty independence, is the best, but this slowed-down version by a singer I'd never heard before is very beautiful and worth hearing. It's too bad we lost her so early; she reminds me of Phoebe Snow, and from me that's very high praise.
Mavarla
Love this version...
Ryan Bruns
Truly amazing voice and pretty good lookin
Horsey Horselips 🐎
She is or at Least Was Fricken Gorgeous
G Hall
This goes to show, it's not what you know. It's who you know , and who you blow, because she definitely has all the attributes of a gorgeous country singer..I really like this ,it's much better than the,way to fast ," country hillbilly hick version.