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Meher Baba and Bobby McFerrin's "Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Meher Baba (1957, Meelan Studos) (Source: Wikipedia)

In 1988, Bobby McFerrin's a cappella effort, Don't Worry, Be Happy, won him three Grammy awards for Song of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Male Pop Vocal Performance respectively. The song is performed sans instruments with all sounds produced by McFerrin himself. The lyrics are minimal centring on the catchy title.

The title, Don't Worry, Be Happy, according to the artiste, was taken from a poster of Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual guru who made a splash in the West in the mid-20th century. The posters often featured a truncated variant of Baba's quote, "Do your best. Then, don’t worry; be happy in My love. I will help you". McFerrin noted that the abbreviated version "is a pretty neat philosophy in four words".

Meher Baba (1894–1969) was a Parsi mystic who maintained a vow of silence for about 44 years of his life. He also claimed that he was an avatar of a god.

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