I think play and joy and feeling good deserve more of our time. I don’t see why adults are supposed to grow out of those things. If I have a mission it’s to make everyone who comes to my concerts leave feeling a heightened sense of freedom to play, sing, and enjoy themselves.

— Bobby McFerrin

Bobby McFerrin Quotes

I want to write a book of poetry, as well as children’s stories.

— Bobby McFerrin

I played piano as a kid; I still play a little bit.

— Bobby McFerrin

Inviting audiences to open up and hear things differently is an important part of what I do. But I still love to sing songs with words, too.

— Bobby McFerrin

I grew up in a time when being a musician and learning to be a musician was actually very wonderful.

— Bobby McFerrin

Miles Davis turned his back to the audience when he came out on stage, and he offended people. But, he wasn’t there to entertain; he was all about the music. I kind of do that.

— Bobby McFerrin

But, if there’s any aspect of my career that needs attention, it’s writing.

— Bobby McFerrin

Improvisation means coming to the situation without rigid expectations or preconceptions. The key to improvisation is motion – you keep going forward, fearful or not, living from moment to moment. That’s how life is.

— Bobby McFerrin

Music is so powerful, it needs to be used for some kind of redeeming work. To lift peoples spirits, to lift their souls.

— Bobby McFerrin

I have a lot of albums yet to do.

— Bobby McFerrin

I use the audience as my color palette, my instrument.

— Bobby McFerrin

I’d actually been making my living as an organist with bands since I was probably 15 or 16 years old, and then as a senior in high school I put together a jazz quintet called The Bobby Mack Jazz Quintet.

— Bobby McFerrin

Seriously though, my father was the first African American to sign a contract with the Metropolitan Opera so I grew up with classical music and jazz in the home all the time.

— Bobby McFerrin

I like a very dark house, just black. I sit there and just think. Once I’m still and quiet inside, I’ll begin. It’s very personal; it has to be. One song may be Bach, the next blues, a song from TV, or a nursery rhyme or jazz piece.

— Bobby McFerrin

If I can bring joy into the world, then I’ll be successful.

— Bobby McFerrin

I couldn’t do anything without faith. I couldn’t open up my eyes, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t sing.

— Bobby McFerrin

It’s not that I don’t love the song. My songs are like my children: some you want around and some you want to send off to college as soon as possible.

— Bobby McFerrin

I prepared five songs, I sang them, and he hired me. I started working about a month later at the piano bar.

— Bobby McFerrin

When I’m on stage by myself, I don’t have to think about anything. I don’t have to worry about anything because I’m not responsible for anything except just opening my mouth and making sure music comes out.

— Bobby McFerrin

Well, I started conducting kind of by accident. I wanted to give myself a special birthday present for my fortieth birthday, and I was living in San Francisco at the time and I started attending some of the concerts and then simply dropping hints.

— Bobby McFerrin

I did the one concert, and I was not bitten by the conducting bug, and I thought I was done, but then the phone started to ring, and gradually, over time, I started conducting more and more. Now a third of my performances are with orchestras.

— Bobby McFerrin
More Bobby McFerrin Quote >>
Privacy Policy   5.70ms  0.70MB