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.

Bill Baileywont You Please Come Home
Louis Armstrong Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Won't you come home, Bill Bailey, won't you come home?
I've moaned the whole night long
I'll do the cookin', honey, I'll pay the rent
I know I done you wrong

You remember that rainy evenin'
I threw you out with nothin' but a fine-tooth comb
Ya, I know I'm to blame; now, ain't it a shame?

Bill Bailey, won't you, please, come home?

Won't you come home, Bill Bailey, won't you come on home?
I've moaned that whole day long
I'll do all the cookin', honey, I'll even pay the rent
I know that I have done you oh-so wrong

You remember that rainy evenin'
I throwed you out with nothin' but a fine-tooth comb
I know I'm to blame; now, ain't it a shame?
So, baby, won't you, please, come

I said now, won't you, please, come
Bill Bailey, won't you, please, come on home?

Overall Meaning

The song "Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home" is a classic blues song about a woman pleading for her man, Bill Bailey, to come home. She is remorseful for her previous actions and is willing to make it up to him by doing the cooking and paying the rent. The lyrics convey the idea that the woman knows she made a mistake and wants to fix it by apologizing to Bill Bailey and admitting that she was wrong.

The song's lyrics reflect the traditional call-and-response form of blues music, with the woman singing the refrain and the man responding. The lyrics express the raw emotions of a woman who is desperate to have her man back and willing to do anything to make it happen. In addition, the song's catchy melody and lyrics have made it a popular standard that has been recorded by many famous artists over the years.

Overall, the song is about love and forgiveness, and how it is important to be willing to admit your mistakes and make amends when they occur in a relationship. It is a timeless classic that has touched the hearts of many and will continue to do so for years to come.

Line by Line Meaning

Won't you come home, Bill Bailey, won't you come home?
Please come home, Bill Bailey, please come home.

I've moaned the whole night long
I have been sad and lamenting all night long.

I'll do the cookin', honey, I'll pay the rent
I will take care of everything, including cooking and paying rent.

I know I done you wrong
I know that I have hurt you in some way.

You remember that rainy evenin'
You surely must remember that rainy evening.

I threw you out with nothin' but a fine-tooth comb
I kicked you out with only a small and insignificant item.

Ya, I know I'm to blame; now, ain't it a shame?
I acknowledge that I am responsible, isn't it unfortunate?

Bill Bailey, won't you, please, come home?
Bill Bailey, I implore you, please come home.

I've moaned that whole day long
I have been sad and lamenting the entire day.

I'll do all the cookin', honey, I'll even pay the rent
I will take care of everything, even the cooking and rent payments.

I know that I have done you oh-so wrong
I recognize that I have done you a great injustice.

So, baby, won't you, please, come
So, my dear, won't you please come.

I said now, won't you, please, come
Asking once again, please come home.

Bill Bailey, won't you, please, come on home?
Bill Bailey, I beg of you, please return home.

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: HUGHIE CANNON, KIRBY SHAW

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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Comments from YouTube:

@charmsly9506

Man you can see the sweat on his head. Such a talented and hard working musician. RIP

@dragon.1469

3y↑19

The fact that a 1961 mic sound better than mine ....

@coreyferguson401

2y↑8

It's not the microphone Dragon. It all about the genius broadcast technicians at CBS Television in New York. You just can't believe how good this sounds for live TV in 1961. The microphone was the same used for Ringo Starr's drum set with the Beatles. Electro-Voice 642 shotgun used on a Mole Richardson 103B/126 peramulator boom and yes it was all picked up by one microphone. Amazing isn't it? Mind blowing!