Don't Worry, Be Happy
| "Don't Worry, Be Happy" | ||||||||
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| Single by Bobby McFerrin | ||||||||
| from the album Simple Pleasures | ||||||||
| A-side | "Don't Worry Be Happy" | |||||||
| B-side | "Good Lovin'" "Simple Pleasures" (optional) |
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| Released | September 1988, 1989, 2000 | |||||||
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| Recorded | 1988 | |||||||
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| Length | 4:50 (album version) 4:03 (music video) 3:50 (radio edit) |
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| Label | EMI-Manhattan Records | |||||||
| Writer(s) | Bobby McFerrin | |||||||
| Producer(s) | Linda Goldstein | |||||||
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"Don't Worry, Be Happy" is a popular worldwide hit song by musician Bobby McFerrin. Released in September 1988, it became the first a cappella song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, a position it held for two weeks. The song's title is taken from a famous quotation by Meher Baba. The "instruments" in the a cappella song are entirely overdubbed voice parts and other sounds made by McFerrin, using no instruments at all; McFerrin also sings with an affected accent. The comedic original music video for the song stars McFerrin, Robin Williams, and Bill Irwin, and is considerably shorter than the album version.
The Indian mystic and sage Meher Baba (1894–1969) often used the expression "Don't worry, be happy" when cabling his followers in the West.
In the 1960s, the expression was printed up on inspirational cards and posters of the era. In 1988, McFerrin noticed a similar poster in the apartment of the jazz duo Tuck & Patti in San Francisco. Inspired by the expression's charm and simplicity, McFerrin wrote the now famous song, which was included in the soundtrack of the movie Cocktail, and became a hit single the next year. In an interview by Bruce Fessier for USA Weekend magazine in 1988 McFerrin said, "Whenever you see a poster of Meher Baba, it usually says 'Don't worry, be happy,' which is a pretty neat philosophy in four words, I think."
Linda Goldstein, the song's producer, said the song gave McFerrin "the freedom to explore," adding, "He is a man of infinite, unfathomable, boundless voices and everything he has ever heard has gone into his brain, from the Mickey Mouse Club theme to the Metropolitan Opera."
Originally released in conjunction with the film Cocktail in 1988, the song originally peaked at No. 88 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was re-released the same year and peaked at No. 1 on September 24, 1988 displacing "Sweet Child o' Mine" by Guns N' Roses which had previously held the No. 1 spot.
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