Our 3rd random runner-up for the week, and I have to admit I smiled when the date generator threw up this #2 single…
‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’, by Bobby McFerrin
#2 for 1 week, from 16th – 22nd October 1988, behind ‘One Moment in Time’
I smiled, because I would be able to tell the world how much I detest this song. To say the date generator threw it up feels apt (as does calling it a ‘number two’ single….)
Childish name calling aside, I really do struggle to find anything likeable about this song. Which is strange, because there are few pop songs that have tried as hard to be likeable. The whistling, the finger clicks, the spoken asides… It’s all so folksy, so cute. An a cappella song for all ages – from five to ninety-five – to enjoy.
Except, no. It genuinely makes my skin crawl. And that’s before you get to the lyrics. One critic at the time described it as a ‘formula for for facing life’s trials’, but Bobby’s formula is to simply smile like a lunatic at whatever problems life brings… No money, no partner, rent’s due and the landlord is taking you to court…? Don’t worry, be happy! Why? ‘Cause when you worry your face will frown, And that will bring everybody down… So shut up and smile, you whiny prick!
Maybe I’m reading the song wrong, and am missing a layer of cynicism buried within. Maybe it’s a satire of this sort of life-affirming nonsense. But I doubt it. I’m pretty good at spotting cynicism. No, for me, this is the musical equivalent of a ‘Live, Laugh, Love’ poster, a song for those who refuse to ‘adult’. Plus the song’s crimes go beyond the pop charts: it helped spawn Big Mouth Billy Bass, the mounted fish toy that sings ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ on demand.
While I think it’s bad enough that this made #2 in the UK; it made it to the top in the US, Canada, and Germany. It stayed at #1 for seven weeks Down Under, which confirms every suspicion I ever had about Australians… It was released on the soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie ‘Cocktail’, which features another all-time classic in The Beach Boys’ ‘Kokomo’. Bobby McFerrin is a one-hit wonder thanks to this tune, but to his credit he moved pretty quickly away from uplifting novelties, and started working in TV and film sountracks, as well as classical, jazz, and musical education in colleges and schools.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Probably the most irritating hit single since Meri Wilson’s toe-curling ‘Telephone Man’ (“hey laadii-daadi daadi, hey laadi-daadi daadi”, and I will refrain from sending you the link if you don’t know it – you won’t want to know it). If his students discovered his past history and taunted him by singing this song in class or lectures back at him, serve ‘im right.
Lately we have been reversing roles!
No I could not listen to this over and over again…but once in a while I can take it. It’s NOT like “I Can See Clearly Now” that makes me feel good everytime I hear it…which is what I think he wanted out of this and failed.
It is a novelty song…nothing more nothing less. I’m very surprised it didn’t make number 1 there.
Wasn’t that Big Mouth Billy Bass creepy as hell?
No, not a song I like but I would not sprinkle holy water lol.
Haha true… I know this is just intended as harmless novelty but it just rubs me up the wrong way… Even holy water isn’t saving this one. Put a stake through its heart and end the torment!
I like to think it didn’t make #1 in the UK because we’re just that bit more cynical than the rest of the world 😄
I get what you are saying Stewart! I have songs that do me the same way.
“Even holy water isn’t saving this one. Put a stake through its heart and end the torment!” YES YES! I now can feel company on the train that I’m on.
Yea ok…but the UK also didn’t even chart Crimson and Clover!!!!
No by the way…I still can’t believe that. Something had to cause it…it’s too good of song and everyone knows it…even across the pond!
Yeah true… But so many of their songs didn’t chart in the UK, and we’re talking huge US number ones… I think it was more likely to be a label/copyright decision rather than nobody buying them. Because the one song that did chart, ‘Mony Mony’, was a massive number one! (Having said that, I couldn’t find out why…)
Yea you are right…I remember looking at the charts and thinking…this can’t be right. I remember seeing only Mony Mony. Of all the chart mysteries I’ve seen….that one tops it. Oh yea…and CCR never having a #1 hit here!
I just found this…I’ll leave it alone promise… this might be one of the reasons: “James continues to play across the US, but has never performed in Europe.”
Never….
Hmm… That could explain them not being bigger hits, but not charting at all…? Elvis never performed in Europe, and that didn’t hurt him.
Yea I agree…not being as popular is the right phrase…yea but Elvis…was Elvis lol…I get what you are saying though. Since his label had big mob ties…I don’t know…maybe that had something to do with releases there. I’m going to continue looking….because like Jimmy Stewart said…Lost causes are the only causes worth fighting for lol.
Thought you might enjoy this article. https://www.courierpress.com/story/entertainment/music/2017/04/06/mr-music-chart-topping-tunes-didnt-appear-uk-charts/100082286/
Thanks for that – interesting. Quite a few of the earlier fifties songs charted in versions by British singers, which meant the US originals weren’t released. That still doesn’t explain Tommy James though….
No it doesnt…and I’ll continue!
Rating: 1.5/5
As an Australian, even though I wasn’t alive at this time, I apologise for the seven weeks this song spent at the top of the chart. It was the 80s – whatever was #1 in the US inevitably ended up #1 down under.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who dislikes this song. So goddamn annoying. It’s not absolutely terrible, but it’s not good either. I’ll take UB40’s lead singer anyday and I hate UB40’s lead singer. I will admit it’s pretty damn impressive that everything on this track is his voice. That’s a talent very few people have. It’s a pity he couldn’t use that talent to make a good song.
Ouch! I’ll be the one to defend it then 🙂 It’s doing nothing more than being laid-back and saying stop worrying! Take life slow n easy n probably with weed in a sunny Caribbean setting. It’s not about the rat race, mortgages, freezing wet winters, relationship dramas, it’s about getting away from all that and living for the moment. OK, irresponsible if you take it literally, but lowering stress and anxiety is pretty good advice generally.
Thinks that’s what appealed to everybody, plus it’s just so jolly and engaging! 🙂
Haha : ) Well even the worst offenders need someone to defend them in court! Lyrics aside (and as an aside, if the song was about getting drunk and/or high to forget your problems then I might be able to relate a little more…) the tune is just pretty grating as well.
The challenge with this song is it’s only really funny when you hear it for the first. With each successive spin it starts losing the initial appeal. It also didn’t help this song was heavily overexposed. It got to a point where I couldn’t stand it any longer when it would come on the radio.