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.
Waly Waly
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Then will my love return to me
When roses bloom in the wintry snow
Then will my love return to me
Oh waly waly love be Bonnie
And bright as a jewel when it's first new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew
There is a ship it's sailing the sea
It's loaded high and deep can be
But not so deep as my love for you
I know not if I'll sink or swim
Oh waly waly love be Bonnie
And bright as a jewel when it's first new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew
In the first stanza of Eva Cassidy's song Waly Waly, the singer yearns for the return of their lost love. The imagery of "cockleshells turn[ing] to silvery bells" and "roses bloom[ing] in the wintry snow" alludes to the idea that the chances of their love returning are highly unlikely. Just as it is unnatural for shells to become bells and roses to bloom in the snow, the singer feels that it is equally unlikely for their lover to return. Despite this, the singer maintains hope that their love will come back to them when these improbable events occur.
The second stanza highlights the fleeting nature of love. While the singer acknowledges the beauty and brightness of young love ("love be Bonnie / And bright as a jewel when it's first new"), they also recognize that love can age, grow cold, and disappear like morning dew. This acknowledgment adds a melancholic tone to the entire song as the singer recognizes the fragility of love.
Overall, the song beautifully captures the pain and longing of a lost love while also acknowledging the ephemerality of romantic relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
When cockleshells turn to silvery bells
When something impossible happens, my love will return to me
Then will my love return to me
I will only be reunited with my lover when a significant and impossible event occurs
When roses bloom in the wintry snow
Just like roses blooming in the snow, only when something miraculous happens will my love return to me
Oh waly waly love be Bonnie
Oh, dear love may you be beautiful and radiant to the eyes like a brand new jewel when it sparkles
And bright as a jewel when it's first new
When love is fresh and new, it is as beautiful as a new jewel
But love grows old and waxes cold
However, love can lose its charm over time and turn cold
And fades away like morning dew
Love, like morning dew, eventually dries up and disappears
There is a ship it's sailing the sea
There is a ship sailing in the deep sea
It's loaded high and deep can be
The ship's cargo is loaded high, and it crosses great depths
But not so deep as my love for you
However, my love for you surpasses even the great depths of the sea
I know not if I'll sink or swim
I'm not sure if I can handle the depth of my love; it could either make me sink or swim
Lyrics © CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: TRADITIONAL, LUCY SIMON, STUART SCHARF
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@shenalewington8960
I so wish I could replicate her beautiful voice! Here is an updated set of lyrics for 2021:
When cockleshells turn to silver bells
Then will I trust Johnson’s honesty ……
When roses grow in the winter’s snow
Then can I trust what is said to me
Oh waley, waley, let me follow the guidance that says what we have to do …
But trust grows cold, when half-truths are told, and fades away like morning dew.
When someone breaks the rules he makes
And all around are condemning him.
But then we hear he is in the clear –
I know not if I sink or swim
Oh waley, waley, I will follow the guidance that says what we have to do…
But trust grows cold, when half-truths are told, and fades away like morning dew.
When a test is done and counted more than one
How can I trust Johnson’s honesty?
Wear a mask, wear it not, does it matter a jot?
How can I trust what is said to me?
Oh waley, waley, let me follow the guidance that says what we have to do…
But trust grows cold, when half-truths are told, and fades away like morning dew. .....
@mico5003
I don’t know how to express myself. When a song has true message it cuts to the core of your soul! It heals you. This is an divine intervention. A voice of an angel singing before you.
@allanpayne9296
Stunning. No singer, not one, takes me where she does. Ethereal; exquisite, beautiful. I cannot stop listening to her - a beautiful Songbird.
@TonyBee63
If ever there was a voice from Heaven...this surely is it...💕💕
@musicmatters1114
My favorite Eva Cassidy song. Hauntingly beautiful!
@Melahel1107
So pure, so perfect ! Absolutely wonderful !
@timfarris9231
I cannot help but cry when I hear her voice. Such a talent...such a loss too soon.
@MrJazzohjazz
Eva’s pitch is perfectly centered .... exceptional voice with real feeling. Miss her.
@damionpegley7971
So unforgettably moving , such a haunting vocal . Truly an exceptional talent . Thanks Eva
@nanlev613
I’ve only known about Eva for a few months now and it seems like the more songs I listen to her sing the more in love I get with her voice!
@coffeeloverforever582
Dear God this is so beautiful!