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.
Black and Blue
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Feel like old Ned, wished I was dead
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Even the mouse ran from my house
They laugh at you, and scorn you too
What did I do to be so black and blue?
'Cause I can't hide what is in my face
How would it end? Ain't got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
How would it end? Ain't got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Louis Armstrong's song "Black and Blue" expresses the profound anguish and frustration of facing discrimination and intolerance due to the color of one's skin. Through the lyrics, the singer is distraught and despondent due to the pain and isolation caused by racism. The use of stark images such as the "cold empty bed" and "springs hard as lead" portray a somber and bleak picture of the singer's situation. The singer wishes for death and wonders what they did to deserve such treatment.
The second verse of the song highlights the pervasive and cruel nature of racism through the description of the mouse running out of the singer's house. The singer laments being laughed at and scorned, further emphasizing the inhumanity of the situation. The lines, "I'm white inside, but that don't help my case/ 'Cause I can't hide what is in my face," deal with the idea that people should be judged solely on their character and not their external appearance. However, the singer acknowledges that their whiteness inside cannot change how they are perceived by others.
Towards the end of the song, the singer reflects on the absence of friends and the futility of their efforts to combat their skin color. The final lines "My only sin is in my skin/What did I do to be so black and blue?" leave a lasting impression of the devastating consequences of racism, which can cause extreme physical and emotional pain.
Line by Line Meaning
Cold empty bed, springs hard as lead
I feel alone and abandoned in this uncomfortable bed.
Feel like old Ned, wished I was dead
I feel hopeless and consumed with thoughts of death.
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Why do I suffer this constant misery and pain, simply because of the color of my skin?
Even the mouse ran from my house
Even the smallest of creatures are repelled by my presence.
They laugh at you, and scorn you too
People mock and humiliate me openly.
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Why do others treat me like this solely because of something I cannot control?
I'm white inside, but that don't help my case
Though my heart and soul may be pure, it doesn't change how I am viewed by others.
'Cause I can't hide what is in my face
I can't escape the negative perceptions and prejudices others have of me just by hiding my face.
How would it end? Ain't got a friend
I fear my life will end in misery and I am completely alone in my struggles.
My only sin is in my skin
The only thing 'wrong' with me is the color of my skin - something I shouldn't be made to feel guilty for.
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Why do I suffer this constant misery and pain, simply because of the color of my skin?
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, O/B/O DistroKid, Capitol CMG Publishing, Sentric Music, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Harry Brooks, Andy Razaf, Fats Waller
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@muditachoudhary7980
Cold empty bed, springs hard as lead
Feel like old Ned, wished I was dead
What did I do to be so black and blue?
Even the mouse ran from my house
They laugh at you, and scorn you too
What did I do to be so black and blue?
I'm white inside, but that don't help my case
'Cause I can't hide what is in my face
How would it end? Ain't got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
How would it end? Ain't got a friend
My only sin is in my skin
What did I do to be so black and blue?
@AustinCasey
For those of you here from Ellison's "Invisible Man" please check out the 1931 recording Ellison was referring to in the book: https://youtu.be/-vDm1lomVHU
@KingMobelsa
Lol wasn't expecting someone else to be brought here because of the invisible man.
@jaemalek5363
@@KingMobelsa Im here bc of the invisible man too lmao
@zinahoul4774
Hyy please iam working on the invisible man toi
@zinahoul4774
@@jaemalek5363 are you also working on this book ? Can we exchange ?
@s.garciamusik2125
What are the odds?
@justcause8609
They loved our music but hated our skin💔
@jamesmccusker2260
Cry a fuckin river
@BrownieeeHD
Louis Armstrong was a gift to humanity
@spacepimpkevin1184
Imo this is the best version he did of this song.
He knows what it feels like to be black and blue and he still sings it with wide eyes and a huge grin and it swells me with happiness for his fame and successes.