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.
Big Butter and Eggman
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
From way out in the West
She wants somebody who's workin' all day
So she's got money when she wants to play
Now pretty clothes they'll never be mine
But what she told me the other day
I hope she don't change her mind
A great big butter and egg man
From way down South
The lyrics to Louis Armstrong's "Big Butter and Egg Man" tell a story about a woman who desires a wealthy man who can provide her with the money she needs to enjoy her life. She specifically wants a "butter and egg man" from the West or South who works hard all day and has plenty of money to spare. The song contrasts the singer's humble living with the woman's materialistic desires. The woman may have been initially content with the singer's modest lifestyle, but her desire for a more affluent lifestyle may cause her to leave him for a butter and egg man. The singer seems to recognize this and is unsure of what will happen.
Line by Line Meaning
Now she wants a butter an egg man
She desires a wealthy man who can provide luxuries.
From way out in the west
This man should be from a different location than her current residence.
She wants somebody who's workin' all day
She wants a man who works hard for his money.
So she's got money when she wants to play
She desires a man who will provide her with a financially comfortable lifestyle.
Now pretty clothes they'll never be mine
The singer cannot afford expensive clothing.
But what she told me the other day
The woman recently communicated her desire for wealth.
I hope she don't change her mind
The singer is concerned that the woman will desire something different in the future.
Now she wants a butter an egg man
The woman desires a wealthy man.
A great big butter and egg man
She desires a man who is very wealthy.
From way down south
This man should be from a location further south than her current residence.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: LOUIS ARMSTRONG, PERCY VENABLE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@teoosnet7010
Hey, I'm the prof who wrote lyric that analyzes the solo. I wrote for my History of Jazz lectures at Yale in the early 70's. Here ya go...
Here’s an ascending line
Do it again one time
Now do it one more time
Rip up, then reverse it, going down
Now a little longer Melody makes a stronger solo
(Here’s that descending idea)
When he plays it It reminds me of young Charlie Parker (What a great ear!)
Listen to how this repeated note is developed!
As the line comes down again...
And this is nineteen and twenty six
Just imagine all the jazz
Played between now and then
Again that descending idea
See how it makes the whole thing stay tight?
When you listen to Satch’
You know you’re listenin’ right!
@hilmarwensorra1215
In very loving memory of Mrs. May Alix (1902 - 1983 R.I.P. Gone but NOT forgotten).
@MrJagover
My friend Joe sent me this link. Joe is a real gem, I’ve known him since age 12.
@MrJagover
And this song is a gem as well
@franosbornblaschke3694
..."I'll buy ya' all the pretty things ya' THINK ya' need!"... : )
@stevenk113
I'm in jazz history right now and my professor is having us memorize words he made to go with the solo.
@lennyliebmann
Here's the ascending line
Let's do it one more time...
@teoosnet7010
Hey, I'm the prof who wrote lyric that analyzes the solo. I wrote for my History of Jazz lectures at Yale in the early 70's. Here ya go...
Here’s an ascending line
Do it again one time
Now do it one more time
Rip up, then reverse it, going down
Now a little longer Melody makes a stronger solo
(Here’s that descending idea)
When he plays it It reminds me of young Charlie Parker (What a great ear!)
Listen to how this repeated note is developed!
As the line comes down again...
And this is nineteen and twenty six
Just imagine all the jazz
Played between now and then
Again that descending idea
See how it makes the whole thing stay tight?
When you listen to Satch’
You know you’re listenin’ right!
@caradineen
@@teoosnet7010 This is fabulous! Love it! Thank You for sharing! :D
@ryansilver11
i luvv louis armstrongs part hahaha
@1MRBASSMAN
Love the song and version. Something about it has always seemed familiar to me. I finally realized where I recognized it from. Part of this melody from the 10 second to 20 second mark was used in the Bugs Bunny TV show to these words,
"No more rehearsing and nursing a part
We know every part by heart".