“Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing” is a single by Stevie Wonder, taken from his 1973 album Innervisions. It reached number 16 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart, number 10 on the Cash Box chart, and number 2 on the R&B chart. The song’s lyrics convey a positive message, focusing on taking things in one’s stride and accentuating the positive.
…starting with a Latin piano intro. The opening melody is reminiscent of Horace Silver’s “Song For My Father”[2] over which Stevie engages in an English dialogue with a woman, trying to impress her with talk of worldliness of having been to “Iraq, Iran” and a made-up place he calls “Ukraingia,” before changing to Spanish, using the phrase “Todo ‘stá bien chévere”, which loosely translates as “Everything’s really great,” continuing with an attempt to impress the woman.
Describing the song for the “Stevie Wonder: 20 Essential Songs” feature in The Daily Telegraph, Chris Harvey said:
With its playful Latin-piano-and-street-jive intro … and its uplifting, upward-spiralling chorus, Don’t You Worry ‘bout a Thing easily takes its place among the works of pure joy that the musical prodigy has effortlessly poured out throughout his career. Showcased on the 1973 Innervisions album that came from the period in which Wonder … was experimenting with synthesized sounds with producer Robert Margouleff, it’s a back-to-basics song (although it does feature a Moog bass, played by Wonder) that relies on the interplay of piano, percussion and that ecstatic voice. It sounds and feels like a burst of summer happiness. Source
Though I’ve not seen it documented I can’t help but ‘Wonder’ if Bob Marley was listening to this when he wrote “Three Little Birds”. That’s quite the hook line.
Jamaicans have come into their on style and genre listening to American music. I believe you are right. Think of Stevie, who 🎼regggaed🎼 MASTER BLASTER.🤔
Love it
👍☕️