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.
Still Not Ready For Good Times
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We've just begun
Let's not play...
Just for today
Take it slow
You have to go
I think we're through...I'm still not ready for good times
Don't ask me why...
Across the room
Let's not assume
We can forgive
The way of it
It's getting cold out...
so please close the open door and all the windows of my soul
The lyrics to Eva Cassidy's song Still Not Ready For Good Times convey feelings of fear, reluctance, and hesitation in embarking on a new relationship or starting a new phase of life. The first line "Don't make fun, we've just begun" hints at the vulnerability of the singer, who seems to be asking for patience and understanding from the other person. The phrase "let's not play, just for today" shows that the singer is not ready to engage in frivolity and wants to take things slow. The line "take it slow, you have to go" could suggest that the other person might be impatient and want to move faster, but the singer is not ready for that.
The chorus "I'm still not ready for good times, don't ask me why, never try laughter before sorrow" shows that the singer has had some difficult experiences in the past and might be afraid of getting hurt again. The phrase "never try laughter before sorrow" highlights the idea of caution and not taking happiness for granted. The second verse "across the room, let's not assume, we can forgive, the way of it" suggests that there might be some unresolved issues between the two people, and forgiveness might not come easily. The ending line "please close the open door and all the windows of my soul" conveys a sense of emotional guardedness and a need for protection.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't make fun
Please don't ridicule me
We've just begun
We have only started
Let's not play...
Let's avoid pretending
Just for today
Just for the moment
Take it slow
Let's take things gradually
You have to go
You need to leave
I think we're through...I'm still not ready for good times
I believe our relationship is over and I am not yet prepared to move on and be happy
Don't ask me why...
Please do not inquire why
Never try laughter before sorrow...
Do not attempt to find joy before confronting grief
Across the room
From the opposite side of the space
Let's not assume
Let's avoid making assumptions
We can forgive
It's possible to pardon each other
The way of it
The way things work
It's getting cold out...
The temperature outside is becoming chilly
so please close the open door and all the windows of my soul
Please help me close off my emotions and stop feeling vulnerable
Contributed by Victoria P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ray
She was one of my major inspirations for learning to play the guitar
Salt Rock Shakers
This video is filled with great photos of Eva's singing expressions being matched to the mood of the music. Hats off to the Video Meister. I think you've captured a facet of Eva's personality that's close to being the "Essence of Eva."
drglennf11
can't believe i am the first to comment. this is a relatively less know song but Eva as always conveys a depth of melancholy and soul. brings chills and tears. wonderful arrangement