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This Eva Cassidy rendition of a Paul Simon song* is a perfect example of the type of music Cassidy enjoyed: covers of songs she loved. The genre of music mattered little; i.e. jazz, blues, gospel, rock, folk; she cared about and insisted on singing songs in any musical style. As a result, her music didn't really fit into the format-defined music industry. Her career never materialized which is why so very few people anywhere ever heard of her.
So, how is it that a gifted artist achieved fame after death, after life in obscurity? Her posthumous popularity occurred when her music was first broadcast in the UK on BBC Radio Two in 1999 (she died in 1996). In 2001, the BBC television show Top of the Pops 2 showed a homemade video clip of Cassidy doing "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".
The public response was incredible! Her album, Songbird, became number 1 in independent and album charts. The rest is history.
It is amazing that the unexpected popularity in Eva Cassidy's music (which came along years after her death) became a true phenomenon. She still remains unknown in much of her country of origin (USA). I was fortunate to learn about her from a You Tube fan. This is my form of payback time. :))
*Note: Paul Simon wrote the lyrics and his own arrangement of American Tune. However, it should be noted that he discovered a good chunk of the melody from listening to JS Bach's "St. Matthew's Passion". Bach used a good chunk of the melody that originated with Hans Leo Hassler's "Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret" (a love song). So, this wonderful melody found its way to the voice of Eva Cassidy via a love song , the Passsion of Christ and a perspective of the American experience.
LYRICS:
Many's the time I've been mistaken and many times confused
Many's the time I've been forsaken and certainly abused
But it's all right, it's all right you can't be forever blessed
When I think of another working day
I've just got to get some rest
I've got to get some rest
I don't know a soul who's not been battered
Don't have a friend who feels at ease
Don't know a dream that's not been shattered or driven to its knees
Oh but it's all right, it's all right we've lived so well so long
And when I think of the road we've travelled on
So far away from home
So far away from home
And I dreamed I was dying
I dreamed that my soul rose unexpectedly
And looking back down at me smiled reassuringly
And I dreamed I was flying
And high up above my eyes could clearly see
The Statue of Liberty sailing away to sea
In a dream I was flying
We come on the ship they call the Mayflower
We come on the ship that sailed the moon
We come in the age's most uncertain hour
And we sing an American tune
Oh but it's all right, it's all right you can't be forever blessed
And when I think of another working day
I've just got to get some rest
I've got to get some rest