The true musician is to bring light into people’s hearts.
BOBBY MCFERRINIf 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.
More Bobby McFerrin Quotes
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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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This is what I want everyone to experience at the end of my concert… everyone has this sense of rejoicing. I don’t want them to be blown away by what I do,
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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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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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Then I came up with this crazy idea just to walk out on the stage with no band at all and just start singing whatever came to mind.
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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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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 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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I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be.
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I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children’s stories.
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Don’t just play the licks you know. We’re all improvising all the time – it’s good to recognize that and embrace it.
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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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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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Remembering that life can be full of surprises is useful in any part of your life.
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I found that if I sang a line using the consonants, vowels, shadings, and inflection we recognize as human language sounds, people responded as if I were talking to them.
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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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Each of us might give that phrase a different meaning. It’s open to interpretation, and one song becomes a thousand songs. I love that.
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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.
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I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.
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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 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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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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Here’s a little song I wrote. You might want to sing it note for note. Don’t worry, be happy.
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Improvisation is the courage to move from one note to the next.
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Musicians are the architects of heaven.
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If I stand there, appreciating the world around me as full of amazing sounds and the possibility of new ones,
BOBBY MCFERRIN