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.
Blue Moon
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for
You heard me saying a prayer for
Someone I really could care for
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The only one my arms will ever hold
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold!
Blue moon!
Now I'm no longer alone
Without a dream in my heart
Without a love of my own
Louis Armstrong's rendition of Blue Moon is a classic. The song starts with the singer being alone under a blue moon without any hope or purpose. The moon knew exactly what he was there for and heard him praying for someone to love. Suddenly, someone appears, the only person he would hold in his arms forever. This person whispers to Louis to love them, and when he looks back at the moon, it's turned into gold. Now, he is no longer alone, and he has found the person he can truly care for. Finally, the song ends with Louis happily telling the Blue Moon that he has found love and no longer needs to be alone.
The lyrics of the Blue Moon convey that fate plays a significant role in our lives. When Louis Armstrong was standing alone under the Blue Moon, he never thought that he would find true love. However, fate intervened, and the person he had been praying for suddenly appeared before him. The transformation of the blue moon into gold in the song signifies that life can change dramatically in a split second, and miracles can happen when we least expect them.
Line by Line Meaning
Blue moon you saw me standing alone
The singer is addressing the moon, acknowledging that it 'saw' him standing by himself.
Without a dream in my heart
The singer laments the fact that he has no aspirations or goals to work towards.
Without a love of my own
The singer expresses his loneliness, the absence of a romantic partner in his life.
Blue moon, you knew just what I was there for
The artist suggests that even the moon, a celestial body, seemingly understood his purpose for standing alone.
You heard me saying a prayer for
The artist mentions that he was praying, indicating a desperation or yearning for something.
Someone I really could care for
The subject of the singer's prayer was for a person he could truly love and cherish.
And then there suddenly appeared before me
The singer's prayer seems to have been answered as a person appeared before him.
The only one my arms will ever hold
The artist believes he has found his true love, the only person he will ever embrace.
I heard somebody whisper 'Please adore me'
The artist is convinced this person wants to be loved and cared for, and is perhaps even expressing that desire aloud.
And when I looked, the moon had turned to gold!
The artist is deeply overjoyed, as the moon turning to gold is a metaphor for the remarkable change in his fortunes since meeting his love.
Blue moon! Now I'm no longer alone
The singer reiterates the opening line of the song, and celebrates that now he is no longer alone.
Without a dream in my heart
The artist seems to suggest that finding love has given him a new sense of purpose and direction in life.
Without a love of my own
The singer is no longer without love, and the phrase 'love of my own' now takes on a whole new meaning for him.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers
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