Today’s featured track has got everything that captures my musical senses: An impassioned Irish lass by the name of Eleanor McEvoy and an achingly haunting melody and lyric. I can see why Only A Woman’s Heart headlined the best-selling Irish album in Irish history. After Eleanor got an honours degree in music from Trinity College, Dublin she went to New York where she spent six months busking. She has gone on to release several albums and her ever evolving style has earned her many glowing reviews from critics over the years. Now if that isn’t the stuff of legend, I don’t know what is.
She even played in the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra for four years from 1988-1992. When she left she began to concentrate on her songwriting. In 1992, she performed a solo gig in which she sang a song she wrote herself called Only a Woman’s Heart. Mary Black, an Irish folk singer ( and a major recording artist) happened to be in the audience and was very impressed with the song and the singer. At the time, Black was working on an album that featured tracks from several female Irish vocalists. When she heard Only a Woman’s Heart, Black invited McEvoy to be a part of the project.
A few days before A Woman’s Heart was released, Tom Zutaut A & R from Geffen Records, who had previously signed Guns & Roses, Mötley Crüe, and Edie Brickell, offered McEvoy a worldwide recording deal after watching her perform at The Baggot Inn in Dublin. I was juggling between which versions to put here of A Woman’s Heart. So we have the original and a standout performance with Mary Black which made this all happen. Between you and me there is another cool version on a Spanish show here.
My heart is low, my heart is so low
As only a woman’s heart can be
As only a woman’s, as only a woman’s
As only a woman’s heart can know
The tears that drip
From my bewildered eyes
Taste of bittersweet romance
You’re still in my hopes
You’re still on my mind
And even though I manage on my own
When restless eyes
Reveal my troubled soul
And memories flood my weary heart
I mourn for my dreams
I mourn for my wasted love
And while I know that I’ll survive alone
References:
1. Eleanor McEvoy – writer of A Woman’s Heart – Irish Music Daily
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
I like this. But it’s sad.
She’s great. Check out ‘At the Mid Hour of Night’.
Gonna check it out….
This is sublime. I wasn’t familiar with Eleanor McEvoy, but she has a captivating voice.
Every version, especially the Spanish one is excellent.