Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, … Read Full Bio ↴Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. With his instantly-recognizable gravelly voice, Armstrong was also an influential singer, demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also skilled at scat singing (vocalizing using sounds and syllables instead of actual lyrics).
Renowned for his charismatic stage presence and voice almost as much as for his trumpet-playing, Armstrong's influence extends well beyond jazz music, and by the end of his career in the 1960s, he was widely regarded as a profound influence on popular music in general. Armstrong was one of the first truly popular African-American entertainers to "cross over", whose skin-color was secondary to his music in an America that was severely racially divided. He rarely publicly politicized his race, often to the dismay of fellow African-Americans, but took a well-publicized stand for desegregation during the Little Rock Crisis. His artistry and personality allowed him socially acceptable access to the upper echelons of American society that were highly restricted for a black man.

Armstrong was born and brought up 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 didn't travel 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 rhythms and more improvisation, and Armstrong's role was mostly backing. Slow to promote himself, he was eventually persuaded by his wife Lil Hardin 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, trumpeters 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 films, touring Asia and Europe, and dislodging The Beatles from the number-one position with Hello Dolly". Today many 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."

The 62-year-old Armstrong became the oldest act to top the US charts when "Hello Dolly" reached #1 in 1964. Four years later Satchmo also became the oldest artist to record a UK #1, when "What a Wonderful World" hit the top spot.

A Woman Is A Sometime Thing
Louis Armstrong Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

(To Clara)
What, that chile ain`t asleep yet? Give him to me.
I`ll fix him for you.
(Jake takes the baby from Clara)

Lissen to yo` daddy warn you,
`Fore you start a-travelling,
Woman may born you, love you and mourn you,

But a woman is a sometime thing,
Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.

Oh, a woman is a sometime thing.

Yo` mammy is the first to name you,
Then she`ll tie you to her apron string,
Then she`ll shame you and she`ll blame you
Till yo` woman comes to claim you,
`Cause a woman is a sometime thing,
Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.

Oh, a woman is a sometime thing.

Don`t you never let a woman grieve you
Just 'cause she got yo` weddin` ring.
She`ll love you and deceive you,
Take yo` clothes and leave you
`Cause a woman is a sometime thing.

Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.
Yes, a woman is a sometime thing,
Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.

There now, what I tells you; he`s asleep already.

Overall Meaning

Louis Armstrong's "A Woman Is A Sometime Thing" is a melancholic song that reflects the cultural attitudes and stereotypes of women in the early 20th century. The song warns men about the fickleness of women and how they can lead to heartache and trouble. The song is a lullaby sung by Jake, who takes the baby from Clara and tries to soothe him to sleep while using the opportunity to express the complexity of the male-female dynamic.

Through the lyrics, Jake warns the child to be careful while traveling because a woman might only love and mourn him sporadically. Women are sometimes supportive, and sometimes they aren't. The lyrics suggest that a woman can't be relied on to be present in a man's life at all times. A woman can be fickle, shaming and blaming men even if they are not the source of the problem. The lyrics go on to describe how a woman might leave a man despite loving him, deceiving him and taking his clothes on the way out.

Overall, the song reflects a society where women were expected to be passive, submissive, and compliant. Women were not allowed to have a voice or agency, and they were not valued for their intellect or their contribution to society. Louis Armstrong exposes the toxic and oppressive culture in which women were deemed 'sometimes things,' and it urges men to be extremely careful when dealing with women.

Line by Line Meaning

Lissen to yo` daddy warn you,
Listen to me carefully, my child, as I advise you

`Fore you start a-travelling,
Before you begin a journey in life,

Woman may born you, love you and mourn you,
A woman may give birth to you, love you deeply, and feel sadness upon your departure,

But a woman is a sometime thing,
But women can be unpredictable and unreliable at times,

Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.
Yes, it's true, a woman can sometimes act unpredictably.

Yo` mammy is the first to name you,
Your mother is the first person to give you a name,

Then she`ll tie you to her apron string,
Then she'll keep you close to her and try to protect you for as long as she can,

Then she`ll shame you and she`ll blame you
But later on, she'll criticize you for your choices and make you feel guilty,

Till yo` woman comes to claim you,
Until you find a woman who can take you away from your mother's grasp,

`Cause a woman is a sometime thing,
Because women can be unreliable and unpredictable at times,

Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.
Yes, it's true, women can sometimes act unpredictably.

Don`t you never let a woman grieve you
You should never let a woman cause you distress,

Just 'cause she got yo` weddin` ring.
Just because she has your wedding ring doesn't mean she won't hurt you,

She`ll love you and deceive you,
She may love you deeply but still deceive and betray you,

Take yo` clothes and leave you
She may even take your belongings and leave you,

`Cause a woman is a sometime thing.
Because women can be unpredictable and unreliable at times.

Yes, a woman is a sometime thing.
Yes, it's true, women can sometimes act unpredictably.

Yes, a woman is a sometime thing,
Yes, it's true, women can sometimes act unpredictably.

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: DOROTHY HEYWARD, DU BOSE HEYWARD, GEORGE GERSHWIN, IRA GERSHWIN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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