Today’s classic song of the day comes from Stevie Wonder and his landmark album, Innervisions. Released as a single in March of 1974, “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” peaked at #16 on the Billboard Hot 100, #10 on the Cash Box Top 100, #9 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart, and #2 on Billboard’s Hot Soul Singles chart.
“Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” is song about positivity in the face of adversity. As the lyrics put it:
Everybody’s got a thing
But some don’t know how to handle it
Always reaching out in vain
Just taking the things not worth having, but
Don’t you worry ’bout a thing
Don’t you worry ’bout a thing, mama
‘Cause I’ll be standing on the side
When you check it out
Stevie recorded this one over a period of several months from late 1972 to early 1973. He played all the instruments on this one save for bongos and shaker. It’s kind of the ultimate feel good song, and one of Stevie’s best and most lasting.
That bit in a foreign language that I always heard as “Chevrolet” (and wondered why Stevie was talking about a car) is actually “chevere,” a Spanish word that means “great” or “cool.” That whole phrase, “todo está bien chévere” means, according to Google Translate, “everything is cool.”
Here’s how Stevie came up with it all, in his own words:
“I remember the night I was going to do this song. And I just so happened to meet this girl named Rain. And she was beautiful. And she worked at this record shop—this record store. And I’m like saying to her, hey, you know, it’s amazing. You know, she sings. You know, she’s Puerto Rican. I say, yeah, OK, well, you know, I’m doing a little thing and like a little something called ‘Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing.’ What can I—I mean, give me something, something. I’ll let you come to the studio if you have anything to say. I’ll say some things, and it will be a wonderful day. And she said, ‘todo está bien chévere.’ And that’s how I got that in a song. And, you know, we fell in love, and it was a beautiful thing.”
Musically, “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” is all pretty black notes on the piano (, which is typical of Stevie Wonder tunes. (As a blind pianist, it makes sense to gravitate to the black keys for finger placement; you seldom see Stevie writing anything in the all-white key of C.) The verse, in particular, goes like this: Ebm – Ebm(Maj7) – Ebm7 – Ab9 – Dbm9 – Gb9 – BMaj7 – E9. – In terms of theory, that’s i – im(Maj7) – im7 – IV9 – vi9- III9 -VIMaj7 – vII9. Fancy stuff that Stevie makes sound completely natural.
Innervisions, as many of you know, was the third of five groundbreaking albums that Stevie put out in the 1970s: Music of My Mind, Talking Book, Innervisions, Fulfillingness’ First Finale, and Songs in the Key of Life. It’s tough to pick a “best” album from this bunch (okay, it’s Songs in the Key of Life) but Innervisions is right up there, thanks to tunes like “Too High, “Living for the City,” “Golden Lady,” “All in Love is Fair,” and “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing.” There’s a reason it won a Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1974.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s Stevie Wonder and his band playing “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” live” on the West German Musikladen program broadcast on January 22, 1974. I love this one.
