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.
Before Long
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
How blue the skies can be
Before long this love we know
Will bloom and glow, you see
?
At least as I recall
And you will be so accustomed to me
Before long you'll long for me
And I will long for you
Louis Armstrong's song Before Long is a beautiful love song that describes the progression of a relationship over time. The first two lines speak of the realization that the skies can be just as blue as they can be gray or stormy, suggesting that despite any difficulties that may lie ahead in the relationship, there is hope for a bright future. The line "Before long this love we know will bloom and glow, you see" reinforces this sentiment, implying that love can grow and thrive over time.
The following lines, beginning with "At least as I recall," refer back to a past memory or moment in the relationship, perhaps alluding to something that the singer and their partner shared that was particularly special. The line "And you will be so accustomed to me" implies that the relationship has already progressed to a certain degree, that the two have spent ample time together to the point of comfort and familiarity. The final line, "Before long you'll long for me and I will long for you," suggests that the love between the couple will only continue to grow and deepen, ultimately leading to a longing for one another in times of separation.
Overall, Before Long is a romantic and hopeful love song that speaks to the beauty and potential of long-lasting love.
Line by Line Meaning
Before long you'll realize
It won't be long until you recognize
How blue the skies can be
How happy you can be
Before long this love we know
Soon enough our relationship
Will bloom and glow, you see
Will develop and become stronger
At least as I recall
From what I remember
And you will be so accustomed to me
You will become familiar with me
And ?
This line is not given, please specify what it is.
Before long you'll long for me
Soon you will miss me
And I will long for you
And I will also miss you
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: RYUICHI SAKAMOTO
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