When he sings, “Sun in the sky,” his voice rises slowly, taking us upwards but then returning us back down as it shifts back to a lower register. And when he asks, “You know how I feel”—we do. With a slight pause, almost unnoticed, he continues, until suddenly, drums sound and trumpets blare giving strength to just how good he is feeling! Throughout the song his style alternates between one that draws listeners into his more gently sung personal feelings of pleasure to the exuberance of his exclamations of joy and freedom experienced with each new dawn and each new day, as they are a new life. By the song’s end, his voice again mellows, touching us lightly now with his “feeling good.”
When I was visiting in America last summer, my daughter added Feeling Good to my iPod, along with other songs of her choice for me. One morning, back home in India, as the sky was awakening, I was on my bosu ball, gently moving as I listened to the old and new songs play. Positioned in front of a window, I could see blue visible through openings in the fullness of the neem tree. Birds flew in and out. Pink blossoms were bright further away, as I immersed myself in the outdoors. Then Bublé began to sing, and my attention shifted inside. At first, I was surprised by the simplicity of his words. Then they began to draw me in, as love draws one closer to its source. His feeling good was clearly infusing me, and I was feeling good. Each time I have listened since, I have felt inspired to remember that each new dawn is truly a new day, and a new life—mine by my willingness.
Michael Bublé, I discovered, is a multi-talented, world-renowned Grammy award winner from Canada. His modernistic performance on the Internet, interpreting Feeling Good, disappointed me, but I recognize that there are generational, stylistic, and taste differences. The complete words can be found on the Internet, and perhaps Feeling Good will be a gift of guidance for your New Year, as it is mine.
My realization is, “When another person makes a decision for you, you may find that this person has a better understanding of you than you do.”
*Feeling Good was written by English songwriters Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse for the musical The Roar of the Greasepaint – The Smell of the Crowd and first performed on stage in 1964.
*© Michael Bublé (album)