Today Will Be a Good Day under

FOR SONGWRITERS, LYRICS CAN SURFACE ANYTIME, ANY PLACE——IN THE SHOWER, ON A WALK, OR IN DIANNE REEVES’ CASE—IN THE CAR WITH HER MOM. THE 2018 NEA JAZZ MASTER SHARES THE ORIGIN OF HER TOE-TAPPING SONG, “TODAY WILL BE A GOOD DAY.”

Dianne Reeves: The day that I wrote it I was on my way to California to record, and she took me to the airport. She would just say things. You know, “stay ready so you don’t have to get ready,”—things would come out of her mouth, you know. And she said, “Today will be a good day, because I’m going to make it that way.” I was like, “What did you say?”

Today Will Be a Good Day up

I remember getting on the plane, and when we landed I said, “this is the song. We’ve got this song here. This is what we’re going to do.” And we recorded it.