"Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright"
About this Quote
The grammar matters. “Gonna be alright” sits in vernacular, not polished uplift, which makes it feel communal rather than preachy. It’s the sound of someone talking you off a ledge on a stoop, not a guru selling enlightenment. The repetition in the song turns the phrase into a ritual; you don’t just believe it, you practice it. That’s the subtext: calm as a discipline, hope as something you rehearse together.
Context sharpens the edge. Marley wasn’t singing from a bubble. He came up in postcolonial Jamaica, amid economic strain and political violence, and he became a global symbol while carrying the contradictions of fame, poverty, and power. Against that backdrop, the line reads less like denial and more like survival technology: a portable peace you can carry through instability. It’s comfort with teeth - a refusal to let panic be the default setting.
Quote Details
| Topic | Optimism |
|---|---|
| Source | 'Three Little Birds' , lyric by Bob Marley and the Wailers: "Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright." |
| Cite | Cite this Quote |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Marley, Bob. (n.d.). Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/dont-worry-about-a-thing-cause-every-little-thing-171998/
Chicago Style
Marley, Bob. "Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright." FixQuotes. Accessed February 2, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/dont-worry-about-a-thing-cause-every-little-thing-171998/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be alright." FixQuotes, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/dont-worry-about-a-thing-cause-every-little-thing-171998/. Accessed 2 Feb. 2026.






