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.
little children
Eva Cassidy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A boy on the corner with his hands held high
He sees a gun sees an eye
But he'd rather get shot than give it up
Works for a violent man
Who expects to get money when he sees him again
And if he doesn't die on the corner tonight
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Little young man he ain't got a lot
But he'd sell his whole world just to get what you've got
He's not even sure if his body's hooked
But if he gets a little higher he could fly away
Little young lady watch her children play
There's two outside and one on the way
She hasn't seen her man in a thousand days
Since the police came around and took him away
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Sirens scream through the empty streets
Headed to the scene of another mistake
One man hanging on the edge of life
The other one thrown in a bag
The children watch the children think
That the bottom line is that nothing's free
But it doesn't take much to end a life
When the thoughts stop coming out straight
Children throw their lives away
A little more every day
The lyrics of Eva Cassidy's Little Children shed light on the harsh realities of urban life, including gun violence, drug addiction, poverty, broken families, and hopelessness. The opening lines of "dark night broken lights" set a foreboding tone for the song, suggesting that the world is not a safe and peaceful place for the characters in the narrative. The image of a boy on a corner with his hands held high suggests that he may be a victim of a robbery or a street gang. The line "he'd rather get shot than give it up" reveals his desperation to hold onto something, possibly drugs or money, that is driving him to risk his life.
The second verse introduces another character, a young man who is willing to sell his whole world to get what others have. His ambiguous statement, "he's not even sure if his body's hooked," implies that he may be addicted to drugs or other vices that alienate him from society. The image of a young lady watching her children play while missing her man, who was taken away by the police, adds a layer of sadness and loss to the song. The unifying theme of children throwing their lives away suggests that the cycle of violence and poverty is perpetuated from one generation to another, as those who are born into such circumstances find it hard to break free from the constraints that keep them trapped.
The final verse describes the aftermath of violence, with sirens screaming through the empty streets and two men fighting for their lives, one hanging on the edge and the other thrown in a bag. The despair of the children watching the scene and thinking that nothing is free highlights the fact that they are growing up in an environment where violence and death are constant threats. The closing line, "when the thoughts stop coming out straight," suggests that the song is not just about external factors that are causing the characters to throw their lives away, but also about the internal turmoil and confusion that trap them.
Line by Line Meaning
Dark night broken lights
In a dark night with broken street lights
A boy on the corner with his hands held high
A boy stands at the corner with his hands raised
He sees a gun sees an eye
He sees a gun pointed at him and the person holding the gun
But he'd rather get shot than give it up
Rather than giving in, he prefers to get shot
Works for a violent man
The boy works for a violent man
Who expects to get money when he sees him again
The violent man expects money from the boy when he sees him next
And if he doesn't die on the corner tonight
If he doesn't die on the corner tonight
It won't take too long to catch him
He will soon be caught
Children throw their lives away yeah
Children waste their lives
A little more dying every day
Dying a little more every day
Little young man he ain't got a lot
A young man with very little
But he'd sell his whole world just to get what you've got
He would trade everything he has to get what you have
He's not even sure if his body's hooked
He's unsure if his body is addicted
But if he gets a little higher he could fly away
If he gets a little higher, he can escape
Little young lady watch her children play
A young woman watches her kids play
There's two outside and one on the way
She has two kids outside and one on the way
She hasn't seen her man in a thousand days
She hasn't seen her man in 1000 days
Since the police came around and took him away
The police took him away
Sirens scream through the empty streets
Sirens can be heard throughout the empty streets
Headed to the scene of another mistake
The sirens are headed to the scene of another mistake
One man hanging on the edge of life
One man is close to dying
The other one thrown in a bag
The other man is put in a body bag
The children watch the children think
The children observe and contemplate
That the bottom line is that nothing's free
Nothing comes for free
But it doesn't take much to end a life
It doesn't take much to end a life
When the thoughts stop coming out straight
When the thoughts become unclear
Children throw their lives away
Children waste their lives
A little more every day
A little more every day
Children throw their lives away
Children waste their lives
A little more dying every day
Dying a little more every day
Children throw their lives away yeah
Children waste their lives
A little more dying every day
Dying a little more every day
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Greg Gary
so 13 years later and even though Eva is known for softer work, I do not, not, understand why this hasn't got 1 Million views at least. What a voice, passion and a heart breaking topic.
Dark night broken lights
A boy on the corner with his hands held high
He sees a gun sees an eye
But he'd rather get shot than give it up
Works for a violent man
Who expects to get money when he sees him again
And if he doesn't die on the corner tonight
It won't take too long to catch him
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Little young man he ain't got a lot
But he'd sell his whole world just to get what you've got
He's not even sure if his body's hooked
But if he gets a little higher he could fly away
Little young lady watch her children play
There's two outside and one on the way
She hasn't seen her man in a thousand days
Since the police came around and took him away
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Sirens scream through the empty streets
Headed to the scene of another mistake
One man hanging on the edge of life
The other one thrown in a bag
The children watch the children think
That the bottom line is that nothing's free
But it doesn't take much to end a life
When the thoughts stop coming out straight
Children throw their lives away
A little more every day
루시
Dark night broken lights
A boy on the corner with his hands held high
He sees a gun sees an eye
But he'd rather get shot than give it up
Works for a violent man
Who expects to get money when he sees him again
And if he doesn't die on the corner tonight
It won't take too long to catch him
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Little young man he ain't got a lot
But he'd sell his whole world just to get what you've got
He's not even sure if his body's hooked
But if he gets a little higher he could fly away
Little young lady watch her children play
There's two outside and one on the way
She hasn't seen her man in a thousand days
Since the police came around and took him away
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away
A little more dying every day
Children throw their lives away yeah
A little more dying every day
Sirens scream through the empty streets
Headed to the scene of another mistake
One man hanging on the edge of life
The other one thrown in a bag
The children watch the children think
That the bottom line is that nothing's free
But it doesn't take much to end a life
When the thoughts stop coming out straight
Children throw their lives away
A little more every day
beany weanie
this is another song I haven't heard before from Eva. I can't get enough of her. She is inspirational - how can someone with so much joy and soul to give to this world be gone from it forever? She would have been a superstart if she lived today. What a tragedy she is gone. What a miracle she existed at all.
Don Strasbaugh
Eva is so good it’s beyond incredible. I would give anything to be in that studio when she delivered these goods. Holy God. She’s just a monster of command.
justicejunky
Her voice gives me chills, absolutely fantastic!!!!! Not enough words to express. I'm dumbfounded. What a gift she had......
Don Strasbaugh
Eva’s touch on a pop style endeavor is once again spectacular. Everything she touches is simply the greatest moment ever. Wow! What a song. Just power beyond belief. 🎺
ontheseashore
Amazingly versatile Eva. if the record producers had recognised & embraced this sooner instead of quibbling about`categorizing` her , she would have had Worldwide acclaim in life.
MrDaniztheman
I am humbled by you, Eva. I have not heard a song from you I don't like. You continually find another way to speak directly to my soul.The way you change your voice from verse to verse and so wonderful at every turn. From hard to soft then back again.I know I'm not the only one who feels this way obviously but you are the secret everyone needs to hear. I am crazy about you, Babygirl!
454something
How would you like to have been in the studio the day that this was recorded? Imagine the goosebumps everyone must have had during this song. It's just incredible.
David Christopher
When Eva was in the studio, we liked to listen at the board. There was always a point somewhere in the song where we'd go "Woah!!!!!" It was a privilege to be there.
Mosey Long
Thanks michouberlin ! This recording highlights Eva's incredible musicality in the harmonies and vocals. It is an original composition by her friend and co member of a highschool rock band, David Christopher (Lourim), who had a signifigant amount of talent himself, and brought Eva into the home studio of Chris Biondo, with whom she recorded, formed the Eva Cassidy Band, and expanded her musical world. Tony Taylor, a talented producer/composer did most of the arranging, and added his talent.
Joe Calhoun
Another perfection performance by Angel EVA❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️