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.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Up high
In the land
That I heard of once
Once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow- skies
Are blue
That you dare to dream
Really do come true
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up
Where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
(Instrumental)
Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up
Where the clouds are far behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me
Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue
And the dreams...that you dare to dream
Really do come true
If happy little bluebirds fly
Above the rainbow, why
Oh, why can't I?
The song "Somewhere Over The Rainbow" was originally written for the 1939 movie "The Wizard of Oz." It was sung by Judy Garland and became one of the most famous songs in movie history. The song was written by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg.
Eva Cassidy's version of this song is a beautiful interpretation. Her soulful voice adds a sense of longing and hope to the already melancholic tone of the song. The opening lines of the song speak of a faraway place that the singer has only heard of in a lullaby. This place is the "land over the rainbow" where everything is perfect and problems don't exist.
The second verse speaks of this place as if the singer has actually been there. The skies are blue, and dreams come true. The listener can't help but feel hopeful and comforted by these words. The third verse talks about wishing upon a star to be transported to this perfect place, where troubles melt away like lemon drops.
The famous instrumental part of the song is an iconic piece of music. It's a beautiful interlude that leads to the final verse, and its melody is instantly recognizable. The final verse reminds the listener that this perfect place exists and that dreams do come true. The final line, "If happy little bluebirds fly above the rainbow, why oh why can't I?" is a bittersweet reminder that the perfect place may not be within reach, but hope can be found in dreaming.
Line by Line Meaning
Somewhere over the rainbow- way
I wish I could go way over the rainbow to a special place.
Up high
It must be high up where I can barely see it because it's so special.
In the land
It's in a place, still waiting to be discovered.
That I heard of once
I've heard about it before, but I'm not sure if it's real.
Once in a lullaby
It's so magical that it's only mentioned in lullabies to help children to fall asleep.
Somewhere over the rainbow- skies
In that special place, the sky is blue.
Are blue
The sky is always blue in that magical place.
And the dreams
The dreams you have in that magical place.
That you dare to dream
Any dream you dare to have will come true there.
Really do come true
You will get everything you dream about in that special place.
Someday I'll wish upon a star
One day, I wish I could wish upon a star that can take me to that magical place.
And wake up
Then, when I wake up from that dream, I'll be there.
Where the clouds are far behind me
In that place, I can't see the clouds that used to block my view.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
There are no worries in that magical place; they all disappear like melting lemon drops.
Away above the chimney tops
It's so high up that it's above the tallest points of the houses.
That's where you'll find me
That's where I belong, in that special place.
Somewhere over the rainbow
That special place that's over the rainbow.
And the dreams...that you dare to dream
All the dreams you're too scared to have can come true in that magical place.
Really do come true
All your dreams will come true in that special place.
If happy little bluebirds fly
If even the little bluebirds are happy there,
Above the rainbow, why
If the bluebirds are happy, then why not me?
Oh, why can't I?
Why can't I go to that special place too?
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Yip Harburg, Harold Arlen
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@oakbank214
Who is still listening to this in 2024 ❤
@marydwyer3241
Lost my brother in 2019 to brain cancer. Been playing this song ever since😢.
@olwinmcdonald563
I am 💗
@joerowlinson4498
Me too at 81.Joyful
@MrVaug
@@marydwyer3241Lost my mother to cancer, we played this at her funeral 💔
@Christian-fk9xg
i am
@benefitpartnersdirect2065
I graduated from high school with Eva and had the privilege of seeing her live before she died. So, so good. An amazing talent and also a very humble and sweet lady. A tragic loss....
@laurieelliott1969
That is so cool, this will play when I go to heaven. Love rainbows and what God made. Gonna fly like a bluebird and troubles fly away.
@bryanrendleman2001
She was the most amazing singing talent to ever perform.
@AngelaDoyle-jh9gn
How privileged you are to have known such amazing talent.