Happy Thanksgiving

For today, take a good, long break

What is he smiling about?

In 1988 a vocalist named Bobby McFerrin rose to the top of the charts with a song called “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” He quickly found himself at the center of a political controversy when George H.W. Bush used it as a campaign song, which of course changed utterly the context and meaning of lyrics like The landlord says your rent is late He may have to litigate Don’t worry, be happy. McFerrin protested, which prompted the elder Bush to push back and invite the artist to events — apparently he really dug the song — but the Mike Dukakis-supporting McFerrin held fast.

It didn’t help. McFerrin was roasted as a traitor to his community for selling polyanna optimism, with Chuck D., Flavor Flav, and Public Enemy immortalizing the zeitgeist with the lyric ‘Don’t Worry, Be Happy’ was a number one jam Damn if I say it you can slap me right here! I loved PE, but it was unfair to McFerrin, who went on to have a long and storied career as a composer and arranger but only one pop hit, and thus got piles of abuse spared more commercially successful artists. Nobody ripped Prince for 1999, a song about partying instead of worrying about nuclear war, for instance. Flavor Flav himself ended up hosting a 21st-century version of The Dating Game.

The same story recently played out with Pharrell Williams, the modern “Happy” merchant who made the mistake of saying, “I hate politics” at an entrepreneuship conference. How weird is the world these days? He even got blasted by Forbes. Happy has an even bigger target on its back than it did in 1988, it’s been made almost shameful to admit being so, but we get to shut the door today and indulge. At least, that’s my plan. Food piled high, a few guests, and all three games.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone, including the many contributors to this site. I’m thankful for all of you, and hope you all get a needed break from tiring schedules, and go to sleep feeling a little less bogged down. Who could begrudge that?