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.
Way Beyond the Blue
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Oh do You remember me
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Oh do You remember me
Do Lord oh do Lord
Oh do You remember me
Way beyond the blue
Oh I got a home in glory land
That outshines the sun
Oh I got a home in glory land
That outshines the sun
Oh I got a home in glory land
That outshines the sun
Way beyond the blue
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Oh do You remember me
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Oh do You remember me
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Oh do You remember me
Way beyond the blue
Way beyond the blue
Way beyond the blue
The lyrics to Eva Cassidy's song "Way Beyond the Blue" are a beautiful and soulful expression of faith and hope, centered around the idea of a home in "glory land" that shines brighter than the sun. The repetition of the phrase "do Lord oh do Lord" adds a sense of urgency to the song, as if the singer is imploring the Lord to remember them and to lead them to this glorious home. The repetition of the phrase "way beyond the blue" reinforces the sense of distance and longing for a better place, a place that is out of reach but still holds the promise of fulfillment and joy.
The powerful emotional impact of this song is enhanced by the simple yet stirring melody, which is based on the traditional African-American spiritual "Do Lord". Eva Cassidy's rendition of the song, with her clear and soulful voice, brings out the spiritual depth and beauty of the words, and imbues the song with a sense of personal connection and authenticity. As a result, the song speaks not only to listeners who share the singer's faith, but also to those who appreciate the power of music to express universal emotions and aspirations.
Overall, "Way Beyond the Blue" is a testament to the enduring power of spiritual music, and to the ability of great artists like Eva Cassidy to uplift and inspire their listeners with their talent and passion.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Asking the Lord if he remembers the singer
Oh do You remember me
The singer wonders if the Lord remembers them
Do Lord oh do Lord
Repeating the request to the Lord to remember the singer
Oh do You remember me
The artist asks the Lord again if he remembers them
Way beyond the blue
Describing an unknown, distant place
Oh I got a home in glory land
The singer has a home in a heavenly place
That outshines the sun
The singer's home in heaven is more radiant than the sun
Oh I got a home in glory land
Repeating the description of the artist's heavenly home
That outshines the sun
Describing how bright and radiant the artist's heavenly home is
Oh I got a home in glory land
Again emphasizing that the artist's home is in heaven
Way beyond the blue
Repeating the description of the unknown, distant place
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Once again asking the Lord to remember the artist
Oh do You remember me
Repeating the singer's question of whether the Lord remembers them
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Continuing to ask the Lord to remember the singer
Oh do You remember me
Once again questioning whether the Lord remembers the singer
Oh do Lord oh do Lord
Continuing to ask the Lord to remember the artist
Oh do You remember me
Continuing to question whether the Lord remembers the artist
Way beyond the blue
Repeating the description of the unknown, distant place
Way beyond the blue
Continuing to describe the unknown, distant place
Way beyond the blue
Continuing to describe the unknown, distant place
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@SusanDawnEntwistle
This song speaks to me so much, im broken by it
@davidr9876
Ty, been looking for this. It was gone off YouTube for a long time
@SusanDawnEntwistle
Adore her voice, her heart her spirit lives on
@saltrockshakers4205
In 1983, Eva went to work six days a week as a singer at Wild World Park in Largo, MD. She was 20 years old at the time. Fellow musicians, Ned Judy and Larry Melton, who had encouraged Eva to apply, had bought a (4) track recorder with their first paycheck, and Eva loved using it to record harmonies for their songs.
This "Do Lord," harmonizing masterpiece, made with that very same (4) track recorder, may not be Eva's first recording, but from my research, it's the earliest Eva Cassidy recording this world has heard, so far. And amazingly, it represents what Eva loved doing the most.
In an interview after she had received a modicum of fame for winning a D.C. Whammy, she was asked what she loved to do most with her music. She said she loved to build the harmonies in choir recordings. No doubt, Eva and Larry definitely built some harmonies and Soul into this version of "WAY BEYOND THE BLUE."
@MaggiMiau_Cat
Thanks 😊
@saltrockshakers4205
"The Rose" by Beth Midler was another song recorded on the 4 track recorder, but it never made it to one of Eva's CD. There were boot-legs on sites like Napster, and here are two versions that made it to YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcJ5oOqVIds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1BBBUHQEpA
👢👖😉You may have seen theses, but they're worth another look.