I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children’s stories.
BOBBY MCFERRINHere’s a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don’t worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don’t worry, be happy Don’t worry, be happy now
More Bobby McFerrin Quotes
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I’d actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.
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When we listen to improvisational jazz, or solo classical violinists, the way they phrase and inflect melodies feels vocal, like they’re talking to us.
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I couldn’t do anything without faith. I couldn’t open up my eyes, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing.
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I bury my mind in my book, the Bible. Every morning it’s the first thing that I do. I’ve been doing it for years and years.
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Remembering that life can be full of surprises is useful in any part of your life.
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Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.
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The audience is like my instrument. It’s not just me up there, it’s collaborative.
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I want them to have this sense of real, real joy from the depths of their being. Because I think when you take them to that place, then you open up a place where grace can come in.
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It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.
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Music is still part of my spiritual life. Sometimes I sing my prayers. When I get audiences singing, I hope I’m helping them feel connected to something beyond themselves.
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You keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.
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Here’s a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don’t worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble But when you worry you make it double Don’t worry, be happy Don’t worry, be happy now
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I do a lot of performing, but don’t get a chance to go to the studio and write good music.
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You can try a new way of singing a song you’ve performed for years, a new way of showing your family your love for them, or a new recipe.
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I think play and joy and feeling good deserve more of our time. I don’t see why adults are supposed to grow out of those things.
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I actually fought the idea for a while because it seemed almost too radical, but it became obvious what I was supposed to be doing.
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Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn’t there to entertain; he was all about the music. I kind of do that.
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When you worry your face will frown, that will bring everybody down, so don’t worry BE HAPPY!:)
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If I have a mission it’s to make everyone who comes to my concerts leave feeling a heightened sense of freedom to play, sing, and enjoy themselves.
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
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So I want to come back here [to Israel] to see the places that I read about every day. It’s very important to my faith to feed [my] spirit in Israel.
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When I was figuring out how to perform solo, I wanted to move back and forth between bass riffs, melody, and harmony, so I often used sounds instead of — or alongside — the words of a song.
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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
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Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion.
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One song may be Bach, the next blues, a song from TV, or a nursery rhyme or jazz piece.
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The voice gets to the soul of a person more than any other instrument. Because it’s the voice. It sings talks, it cries, it laughs, it squeals, it barks, it shouts it whispers, There is no other instrument that can do that. We’re born with it.
BOBBY MCFERRIN