Bing Crosby’s influence on popular culture and popular music is considerable, as from 1934 to 1954 he held a nearly unrivaled command of record sales, radio ratings and motion picture grosses. He is usually considered to be a member of popular music’s “holy trinity” of ultra-icons, alongside Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Bing Crosby popularized singing with conversational ease, or ‘crooning’. His musical interpretations amalgamated rhythm and romance with scat singing, whistling, rhythmic improvisation and melodic paraphrasing as elements of a hotter, sexier sound than had been conceived before.
Crosby is also credited as being the major inspiration for most of the male singers that followed him, including the likes of Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dean Martin. Tony Bennett summed up Crosby’s impact, stating, “Bing created a culture. He contributed more to popular music than any other person - he moulded popular music. Every singer in the business has taken something from Crosby. Every male singer has a Bing Crosby idiosyncracy.”
Crosby’s recording of PlayWhite Christmas is recognized as the best-selling single in any music category with over 40 million copies sold.
In 1962, Crosby was the first person to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Louis Armstrong (1901-1971) was a trumpet player, singer, bandleader, and is widely regarded as one of the most influential artists in the history of jazz.
Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans, a culturally diverse town with a unique musical mix of creole, ragtime, marching bands and blues. Although from an early age he was able to play music professionally, he never traveled far from New Orleans until 1922, when he went to Chicago to join his mentor, King Oliver. Oliver’s band played primitive jazz, a hotter style of ragtime, with looser rhythm and more improvisation, and Armstrong’s role was mostly backup. Slow to promote himself, he was eventually persuaded by his wife to leave Oliver, and In 1924 he went to New York to join the Fletcher Henderson Orchestra. At the time, there were a few other artists using the rhythmic innovations of the New Orleans style, but none did it with the energy and brilliance of Armstrong, and he quickly became a sensation among New York musicians. Back in Chicago in 1925, he made his first recordings with his own group, Louis Armstrong and his Hot Five, and these became not only popular hits but also models for the first generation of jazz musicians, trumpeter or otherwise.
Other hits followed through the twenties and thirties, as well as troubles: crooked managers, lip injuries, mob entanglements, failed big-band ventures. As jazz styles changed though, musical purists never lost any respect for him —although they were sometimes irritated by his hammy onstage persona. Around the late forties, with the help of a good manager, Armstrong’s business affairs finally stablilized and he began to be seen as an elder statesman of American popular entertainment, appearing in Hollywood movies, touring Asia and Europe, and dislodging The Beatles from the #1 position with “Hello, Dolly”. Today more people may know him as a singer (a good one), but as Miles Davis said: “You can’t play nothing on modern trumpet that doesn’t come from him.”
Lazy Bones
Bing Crosby & Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How you spect to get your day's work done?
You can't get your day's work done
Sleepin' in the noon day sun
Lazybones, layin' in the shade
How you gonna get your cornmeal made?
You can't get no cornmeal made
When taters need sprayin', I bet you keep prayin'
The bugs'll fall off of the vine
And when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin'
Them fish don't grab your line
Lazybones, loafin' all the day
How you spect to make a dime that way?
You won't make no dime that way
Loafin' in the shade all day
The song "Lazy Bones" by Bing Crosby is a classic piece with an insight into the realities of lazy and unproductive habits. The lyrics describe a person who spends their days sleeping in the sun and shade, and they cannot get any work done in the process. The song portrays laziness as a hindrance to progress and making a living. The use of rhetorical questions adds to the effect, as the singer asks how such a person expects to make a dime, or complete any work while sleeping all day. The singer also highlights the consequences of idleness, such as not being able to generate income.
The song also touches on the notion of escapism. It portrays how people would instead engage in daydreaming and wishful thinking than facing life's realities. The line "when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin', Them fish don't grab your line" highlights the theme of escapism. Instead of focusing on the task at hand, the lazy person hopes that he won't catch any fish, which means he won't have to do any work.
In conclusion, "Lazy Bones" is a song that emphasizes the importance of diligence and hard work. Laziness cannot lead anyone to achieve their goals or generate income to support themselves. Bing Crosby's timeless classic serves as a poetic reminder of the dangers of complacency and procrastination.
Line by Line Meaning
Lazybones, sleepin' in the sun
Addressing a person as lazy for sleeping in the sun
How you spect to get your day's work done?
Expressing doubt about the person's ability to complete their work while sleeping in the sun
You can't get your day's work done
Asserting that sleeping in the sun is counterproductive to getting work done
Sleepin' in the noon day sun
Further emphasizing the point that sleeping during daytime hours will not help accomplish tasks
Lazybones, layin' in the shade
Identifying a person as lazy for lying in the shade
How you gonna get your cornmeal made?
Questioning the person's ability to accomplish tasks while lying in the shade
You can't get no cornmeal made
Asserting that lying in the shade will not lead to the completion of tasks
Sleepin' in that evening shade
Repeating the idea that idleness in the shade is not productive
When taters need sprayin', I bet you keep prayin'
Suggesting that the person is not proactive in their work, and instead relies on luck
The bugs'll fall off of the vine
Imagining a scenario where the person's lack of effort is still rewarded by nature
And when you go fishin' I bet you keep wishin'
Continuing to criticize the person's laziness in a different context
Them fish don't grab your line
Implying that the person is not successful in catching fish due to their lack of effort
Lazybones, loafin' all the day
Repeating the idea that the person is idle and lazy
How you spect to make a dime that way?
Asking how the person expects to make money without putting in any effort
You won't make no dime that way
Asserting that laziness will not lead to financial success
Loafin' in the shade all day
Repeating the idea that remaining idle in the shade is not productive
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: HOAGY CARMICHAEL, JOHNNY MERCER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@cutielaner
My grandpa always called me Laineybones, and I never understood it lol. I had coffee with him the other day (he's now 90) and he sang this to me. What a special moment ill remember forever
@brendawolfe6002
My parents also sang that song to me and I and I sang it to my boys who are now 33 and 40
@bunchie1966
My mother used to have a 78 of Bing Crosby singing this by himself (I think I preferred that version). Nice to hear it again.
@alittlebitlocohere
They're brilliant together!
@kanifol62
Wonderful! )))))
@brahmin21
yes.....!!!!
@j.j.c.s2802
Love this song. Our geography teacher used to sing this as he beat seven types of shit out of us. Great days.
@samsonwilkinson8090
Sure.
Happy days...
@MalcolmMarshall57
One of the best singing duo's ever
@jamesmcinnis208
duo's what?