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.
Oh Had I Golden Thread
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And a needle so fine
I'd weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
In it I'd weave the bravery
Of women giving birth
In it I'd weave the innocence
Children of all the earth
Far over the water,
I'd stretch my magic band
To every city,
To every single land
To every land
Show my brothers and my sisters
My rainbow design
Bind up this sorry world
With hand and heart and mind
Hand and heart and mind
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I'd weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
The song "Oh Had I a Golden Thread" by Eva Cassidy is a beautiful and insightful piece that speaks of a magical world that the singer wishes to create. The lyrics are full of metaphors and symbolism that paint an image of a utopian world where bravery and innocence are interwoven to create a rainbow of diversity and harmony. The song speaks of the desire to bring people together from different parts of the world, to bind them with love and compassion.
The golden thread and needle symbolize the power that art and creativity possess to bring people together. The singer's desire to weave the thread into a rainbow design is a metaphor for the creation of a diverse and unified world. The lines "In it I'd weave the bravery of women giving birth" and "In it I'd weave the innocence of the children over all the earth" speak to the universal experiences of birth and childhood, which are not limited to any particular race, religion, or ethnicity. The song speaks to the hope that humanity can recognize its commonalities and differences, and instead of creating divisions, embrace them to create a world where all are accepted and loved.
Overall, "Oh Had I a Golden Thread" by Eva Cassidy is a beautiful song that speaks to the power of love, creativity, and compassion to create a world that is truly free and harmonious. Its lyrics are deeply symbolic, and the song's message is both timely and timeless.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, had I a golden thread
If only I possessed a golden thread
And a needle so fine
And a needle that is delicate enough to sew with
I'd weave a magic strand
I would weave a special thread
Of rainbow design
With the colors of the rainbow
In it I'd weave the bravery
Within this thread, I would encapsulate the courage
Of women giving birth
That mothers have when delivering a child
In it I'd weave the innocence
I would also include the purity
Of the children over all the earth
That exists in children throughout the entire world
Far over the water,
If I could reach across the seas
I'd stretch my magic band
I would extend my special thread
To every city,
And touch every single town
To every single land
In every country and nation
Show my brothers and my sisters
To display for my siblings
My rainbow design
The thread I wove with the colors of the rainbow
Bind up this sorry world
To mend this sorrowful world
With hand and heart and mind
With the power of compassion, love, and intellect
Oh, had I a golden thread
If only I possessed a golden thread
And a needle so fine
And a needle that is delicate enough to sew with
I'd weave a magic strand
I would weave a special thread
Of rainbow design
With the colors of the rainbow
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: PETER SEEGER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@princepeterwolf
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I'd weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
In it I'd weave the courage
Of women giving birth
In it I'd weave the innocence
Of the children over all the earth
Children of all the earth
Far over the water,
I'd stretch my magic band
To every city,
To every single land
To every land
Show my brothers and my sisters
My rainbow design
Bind up this sorry world
With hand and heart and mind
Hand and heart and mind
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I'd weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design
Of rainbow design
@charliejervis2747
Oh, Had I A Golden Thread
Pete Seeger
Oh, had I a golden thread
And a needle so fine
I would weave a magic strand
Of rainbow design, of rainbow design
In it I'd weave the bravery
Of women giving birth
And in it I would weave the innocence
Of children of all the earth, children of all the earth
Show my brothers and sisters my rainbow design
I would bind up this sorry world
With hand and my…
@henryfrost8542
The most beautiful voice in recorded history... 💖
@markdrinkwater1508
That's Aretha, but Eva had a sweet voice.
@wib304
Her voice and interpretations a gift to all of us.
@machinmeawungshi6418
They say this was her favourite song. What an amazing song
@deborraholiveri6202
Yes..that is what I read too...her favorite ..
What an angel ..what perfection.
@ArcofNeptune
I hear the line '...the courage of women giving birth' and I think of my sons - and tears come to my eyes.🥲 Praise God🙏
@shemsuhor8763
Lord have mercy on us all.
@greggary7217
I’ve described this song as, being jazzed into church, having your shoes set on fire 🔥 and then having it put out with cream and honey.
I cannot think of a song that is more stunningly perfect. That may be because every time I hear this I can’t think of anything else for a week, but I don’t think so.
Eva was (and remains) the real deal, the truth. May she Rest In Light.
@MissTina62
MOST BEAUTIFUL VOICE NOW IN HEAVEN. God bless Eva Cassidy.
@ann_jee
All songs are great but this has a special place in my heart coz the notes she hit are phenomenal and almost impossible in this autotuned music industry of today. REst in power,Angel.