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.
Because Of You
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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Because of you my romance had its start
Because of you the sun will shine
The moon and stars will say you're mine
Forever and never to part
I only live for your love and your kiss
It's paradise to be near you like this
And I can smile
Because of you
I only live for your love and your kiss
It's paradise to be near you like this
Because of you my life is now worthwhile
And I can smile
Because of you
Louis Armstrong's song "Because of You" is a romantic ballad that expresses the joy and happiness that the singer feels because of their love. The singer claims that their heart is full of music because of their lover, and that their romance began because of them. The allusion to the sun, moon, and stars suggests that the singer sees their lover as the center of the universe, the reason for everything. The final line of the first verse, "Forever and never to part," emphasizes the strength of the singer's feelings and their belief that their love will endure.
The second verse of the song expands on the idea that the singer's life is only worth living because of their lover. They express that being near their lover is like paradise and that they can smile because of them. This line could be interpreted as the singer saying that they feel complete and happy when they are with their lover. The repetition of the refrain in the second verse reinforces this theme of how the singer's life is transformed because of their love.
Overall, "Because of You" is a simple yet timeless love song that speaks to the power of human connection and how love can make life worth living.
Line by Line Meaning
Because of you there's a song in my heart
The love you've brought has filled my life with joy
Because of you my romance had its start
My love story began when you came into my life
Because of you the sun will shine
Your love has brightened up my life and given me hope
The moon and stars will say you're mine
The universe sees that you and I belong together
Forever and never to part
Our love will last an eternity and we'll never be separated
I only live for your love and your kiss
You're the reason I wake up every day and keep going
It's paradise to be near you like this
Being with you is like living in a dream world
Because of you my life is now worthwhile
Without you, my life would feel meaningless
And I can smile
Your love has brought happiness to my life
Because of you
Everything good in my life is because of you
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Arthur Hammerstein, Dudley Wilkinson
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Anonymous
on What A Wonderful World
What A Wonderful World - Casey Abrams - Lyrics
I see trees of green
Red roses too
I see them bloom
For me and you
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I see skies of blue
And clouds of white
The bright blessed day
The dark sacred night
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Singing how do you do
They're really singing
I love you
I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They'll learn much more
Than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
Musical Interlude
The colors of the rainbow
So pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces
Of people going by
I see friends shaking hands
Singing how do you do
They're really singing
I love you
I hear babies cry
I watch them grow
They goin’ learn much more
Than I'll ever know
And I think to myself
What a wonderful world
I think to myself
What a wonderful world