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.
Need Your Love So Bad
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
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I need someone's arms to hold and squeeze me tight
And when the night begins and until it ends
Oh baby I need your love so bad
I need someone's lips to feel next to mine
I need someone to stand up and tell me when I'm lyin'
And when the lights are low and till it's time to go
So go on and give it up baby and bring it on home to me
Write it on a piece of paper so that it can be read to me
Tell me that you love me stop driving me mad
Oh 'cause I need I need your love so bad
I need a soft voice to talk to me at night
Don't you worry baby we won't fuss and fight
So listen to my plea and bring it on home to me
Oh I need your love so bad
So go on and give it up bring it all home to me
Or write it on a piece of paper so it can be read to me
So tell me that you love me please stop driving me mad
'Cause I need I need your love so bad
Mmmm I need a soft voice to talk to me at night
Well don't you worry baby we won't fuss and fight
So listen to my plea and bring it on home to me
Oh because I need your love so bad
Oh I need oh I need your love so bad
Oh yeah
The song "Need Your Love So Bad" by Eva Cassidy and Chuck Brown is a plea for love and companionship. The opening lines express a deep yearning for connection and the need for someone to hold and comfort the singer. The lyrics convey a sense of loneliness and vulnerability, as the singer longs for someone to be with them through the night.
As the song progresses, it becomes clear that the singer is willing to do whatever it takes to receive love and attention. They ask for someone to tell them when they're lying, and for soft words to soothe them. The repetition of the refrain "I need your love so bad" emphasizes the desperation that the singer is experiencing.
Even the suggestion of having it written down on a piece of paper shows how important receiving love and support is to the singer. They are willing to do whatever it takes to feel seen and heard, and to have the person they're singing to express their affection clearly.
Overall, the song expresses a very basic human need for love, companionship, and reassurance. It is a reminder that no matter how strong someone may seem, everyone needs someone to hold them up and make them feel supported.
Line by Line Meaning
I need someone's hand to lead me through the night
I am lost and in desperate need of guidance from a caring individual who will lead me through darkness.
I need someone's arms to hold and squeeze me tight
My heart is seeking comforting embrace of somebody who will hold me tight and never let go.
And when the night begins and until it ends
Throughout the night, from the beginning until the end, my yearning for love persists.
Oh baby I need your love so bad
I am consumed by a burning desire for your love and affection, my dear.
I need someone's lips to feel next to mine
Nothing in this world could compare to the feeling of your lips pressed against mine, oh how I crave for it.
I need someone to stand up and tell me when I'm lyin'
It would bring me comfort to have someone who knows me so well that they can call me out on any lies I may be telling myself.
And when the lights are low and till it's time to go
From when the setting becomes dim to when the dawn breaks, my desire for love continues to burn bright.
Oh I need your love so bad
My hunger for love is insatiable, only your love can bring me the satisfaction I yearn for.
So go on and give it up baby and bring it on home to me
Come forward and make your love known to me, bring it to me with all your love and passion.
Write it on a piece of paper so that it can be read to me
Your words of love, written down and read to me, can help me feel your love even when you're not with me.
Tell me that you love me stop driving me mad
I'm mentally consumed by the thought of you and your love, and I need you to confirm your feelings for me to put my mind at ease.
Oh 'cause I need I need your love so bad
Nothing in this world is more important to me than your love and affection.
I need a soft voice to talk to me at night
When the sun sets and my thoughts fill my mind, nothing would soothe me more than the voice of someone I connect with, letting me know I'm not alone.
Don't you worry baby we won't fuss and fight
Your love to me is peaceful, and I don't want negativity like arguments or fights to get in the way of your kindness and warmth.
So listen to my plea and bring it on home to me
I'm reaching out to you in desperation for your love, and I'm begging you to come to me with it. I need it by my side.
Oh because I need your love so bad
I've never needed someone's love as much as I need yours right now.
Oh I need oh I need your love so bad
My desire for your love is unquenchable, like a thirst that can't be satisfied. I need you, I need your love, oh so very bad.
Oh yeah
An affirmation of the depth and persistence of need for the love.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: MERTIS JOHN JR., WILLIAM EDWARD JOHN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind