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.
My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That's newly sprung in June;
My love is like a melody
So sweetly play'd in tune
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I;
Though all the seas gone dry.
Though all the seas gone dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt with the sun;
I will love thee still my dear,
Though the sands o' life shall run.
So fare-thee-weel, my only love!
And fare-thee-weel awhile!
And I will come to you again,
Though it were ten thousand miles!
Though it were ten thousand miles, my dear
Though it twere ten thousand miles.
I will come to you again.
Though it twere ten thousand miles.
The song "My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose" by Eva Cassidy is a cover of the original traditional Scottish poem and song written by Robert Burns. In this song, Cassidy sings about love in a poetic and metaphorical way, comparing it to a newly sprung red rose in June and a sweet melody played in tune. She states that her love is as fair as a bonnie lass and declares her deep love for her partner, promising to love them even if the seas run dry or the sands of life shall run out.
The chorus of the song emphasizes Cassidy's dedication to her lover, bidding farewell to them but promising to come back to them, no matter how far it may be. This heartfelt expression of love captures the essence of the song, highlighting the timeless and universal nature of love.
Overall, "My Love Is Like A Red Red Rose" is a beautiful and poetic ode to love, sung with Cassidy's signature soulful voice and accompanied by delicate instrumentation.
Line by Line Meaning
My love's like a red, red rose
My love is as beautiful and pure as a freshly bloomed red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
Just like a rose that blooms in June, my love is new and refreshing
My love is like a melody
My love is like a sweet and pleasant tune that soothes the soul
So sweetly play'd in tune
My love is so perfectly in tune, just like a musical melody
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
My dear, you are as lovely and fair as can be
So deep in love am I;
I am deeply in love with you
And I will love thee still, my dear,
And I will continue to love you, my dear
Though all the seas gone dry.
Even if all the seas were to dry up
Though the rocks melt with the sun;
And even if the rocks were to melt under the scorching sun
I will love thee still my dear,
I will still love you, my dear
Though the sands o' life shall run.
Even if we run out of time in this life
So fare-thee-weel, my only love!
So goodbye, my one and only love
And fare-thee-weel awhile!
And goodbye for a short time
And I will come to you again,
And I will return to you
Though it were ten thousand miles!
Even if it means traveling ten thousand miles
Though it twere ten thousand miles.
Even if the distance is as far as ten thousand miles
I will come to you again.
I will always come back to you.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Downtown Music Publishing
Written by: CRAIG LEON, ROBERT BURNS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@dunhillan8360
"A Red, Red Rose," a Scottish love song written by Robert Burns:
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
@justinebanaag63
LYRICS
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair thou art, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come to you again,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
@davidartist2750
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry. Robbie burns
@terryeashby
I lost my husband suddenly 14 years ago. He was an Eva Cassidy fan. I played this song for months nonstop until finally I let it go. Listened to it today and the emotion that her voice evokes came flooding back. Powerful.😢❤
@dunhillan8360
"A Red, Red Rose," a Scottish love song written by Robert Burns:
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
@stephenryan7698
Listening to Eva always lifts my spirits what an absolute blessing to humanity she was and is and will continue to be. GOD BLESS ALL.
@annmillington6576
Thank you Eva for helping me through the grief of losing my younger sister. You were young when we lost you, but you have touched my 70 year old heart.
@davidjacksonjackson3212
Wow, that voice is so beautiful, probably why God wanted her in his choir, R.I.P.
@chikadoyle
I feel so blessed to find this song. To my beloved husband, this is all what I felt and forever feeling for him.
@junetaylor8396
Miss you so much Eva - you were heaven-sent
@annaiain118
my wife had this song walking down the aisle, thank you Eva x beautiful voice
@RO8s
Weren't you there too? I'm nearly sure you should have been.
@annaiain118
@@RO8s this made me laugh :)