Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing
Encyclopedia
- Not to be confused with SHeDAISYSHeDAISYSHeDAISY is an American country music group founded in the late 1980s by sisters Kristyn Robyn Osborn , Kelsi Marie Osborn , and Kassidy Lorraine Osborn from Magna, Utah...
's Don't Worry 'bout a ThingDon't Worry 'bout a Thing"Don't Worry 'bout a Thing" is the title of a song recorded by the American country music group SHeDAISY for their 2004 album Sweet Right Here. The third and final single from that album, the song was the fourth and final Top Ten hit of the group's career, reaching a peak of #7 on the U.S...
.
"Don't You Worry 'bout a Thing" was a hit single from Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
's 1973
1973 in music
-January–April:*January 9 – Mick Jagger's request for a Japanese visa is rejected on account of a 1969 drug conviction, putting an abrupt end to The Rolling Stones' plans to perform in Japan during their forthcoming tour.*January 14...
album Innervisions
Innervisions
Innervisions is the sixteenth album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973 on Motown Records; a landmark recording of his "classic period"...
, which reached #16 on the Billboard Pop Singles
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart and #2 on the R&B
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, is a chart released weekly by Billboard in the United States.The chart, initiated in 1942, is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, soul,...
chart. The song's lyrics convey a positive message about taking things in stride and accentuating the positive.
It begins with an unusual spoken bit of dialogue, a forerunner of the "skit
Hip hop skit
A hip hop skit is a form of sketch comedy that appears on a hip hop album or mixtape, and is usually written and performed by the artists themselves. Skits can appear on albums or mixtapes as individual tracks, or at the beginning or end of a song. Some skits are part of concept albums and...
s" popular in later hip-hop albums, in which Wonder portrays a slick character trying to impress a woman with his worldliness. " 'Cause like I been to, y'know, Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, y'know, I mean, uh, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
, Eurasia
Eurasia
Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...
... y'know I speak very, very, um fluent Spanish -- 'Todo 'stá bien chévere' -- you got that? "
The tune is in E minor, starting with a Latin piano intro. The song's second chorus begins with Stevie taking the vocals up an octave with two vocal overdubs singing the same line. He also sings two other background overdub vocals, mimicking a horn line with the Spanish phrase 'Todo 'stá bien chévere' which, loosely translated, means "Everything's really cool."
In 1974 it was covered by Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers
Roy Ayers is an American funk, soul, and jazz composer and vibraphone player. Ayers began his career as a post-bop jazz artist, releasing several albums with Atlantic Records, before his tenure at Polydor Records beginning in the 1970s, during which he helped pioneer jazz-funk .- Biography :Ayers...
in his "Change Up the Groove" and in the same year by The Main Ingredient on their LP Euphrates River. In 1992, it was covered by British acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...
band Incognito
Incognito (band)
Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
, who took it to #19 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Also in 1992, it was covered by the group First Call
First Call
First Call is a Contemporary Christian music group, originally consisting of Mel Tunney, Marty McCall, and Bonnie Keen. Mel's husband, Dick Tunney, acted as the arranger and producer for many of the group's early projects.-Group history:...
on their album "Human Song." In 2005, it was covered by John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
, produced by will.i.am
Will.i.am
William James Adams, Jr. , better known by his stage name will.i.am and occasionally by his other stage name Zuper Blahq, is an American rapper, musician, songwriter, singer, actor and producer...
of The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas
The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...
, and included on the soundtrack to Hitch
Hitch (film)
Hitch is a 2005 romantic comedy film directed by Andy Tennant and starring Will Smith. The film, which was written by Kevin Bisch, co-stars Eva Mendes, Kevin James, and Amber Valletta. Smith plays a professional matchmaker who makes a living teaching men how to woo women...
. The original version was also featured in Holy Man
Holy Man
Holy Man is a 1998 comedy drama film directed by Stephen Herek. It starred Eddie Murphy, Jeff Goldblum and Kelly Preston. The film was a box office and critical failure.-Plot:...
soundtrack. In 1997, it was covered by Hiram Bullock
Hiram Bullock
Hiram Law Bullock was an American jazz funk and jazz fusion guitarist.He was born in Osaka, Japan to African American parents serving in the U.S. Military. At the age of two he returned to Baltimore, Maryland with his parents, and quickly showed a prodigious musical talent...
on his Carrasco CD.
A descending chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic
Diatonic and chromatic are terms in music theory that are most often used to characterize scales, and are also applied to intervals, chords, notes, musical styles, and kinds of harmony...
series from this song later appeared in a remix of a traditional Japanese folk song called Kokiriko Bushi.
In 2005, saxophonist Nelson Rangell
Nelson Rangell
Nelson Rangell is an American velvet-smooth jazz musician and composer originally from Castle Rock, Colorado. Although Rangell is known for his work with the tenor, alto, and soprano saxophone, his primary instrument is the piccolo flute, which he began playing at the age of 15...
released a rendition from his album "My American Songbook, Vol. 1."