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.
Cake Walking Babies
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Look at them syncopators
Goin' home, oh going home
Look at those demonstrators
Talk of town
Green and brown
Pickin' 'em up and layin' 'em down
That's what they like to call' em
They're in a class of their own
The only way for them to lose is to cheat 'em
You may try but you'll never beat 'em
Strut that stuff
They don't do nothin' different
Cake walkin' babies from home
In Louis Armstrong's song Home, the lyrics are depicting jubilant and boisterous African Americans parading down the street, dancing to the rhythm of their own beat. The song is essentially an homage to the uniquely American style of dance known as the "cake walk", where African American slaves would mock the intricate dances of their oppressors in a display of subverted power. As the song progresses, Armstrong takes swipes at those who ridicule the dancers, calling them "prancing fools" who don't know what they're missing out on.
Overall, the song is a celebration of home, community, and cultural identity. It's a reminder that, despite the challenges and injustices faced by African Americans at the time, they were still able to come together and find joy and belonging in the midst of it all.
Line by Line Meaning
There they come, oh here we come
We are approaching and there are others coming as well.
Look at them syncopators
Observe those who play syncopated music.
Goin' home, oh going home
We are leaving to go home.
Look at those demonstrators
See those who are showing support for something.
Talk of town
The subject of discussion among many people in the town.
Green and brown
These are colors that are prevalent or significant in the town.
Pickin' 'em up and layin' 'em down
Referring to moving the feet while walking or dancing.
Prancin' fools (oh prancin' fools)
Those who are dancing wildly or showing off with their movements (in a playful way).
That's what they like to call' em
This is a nickname given to them (prancin' fools).
They're in a class of their own
Their dancing abilities are unique and set them apart from others.
The only way for them to lose is to cheat 'em
They are very skilled dancers and the only way to beat them would be to break the rules or cheat.
You may try but you'll never beat 'em
You can attempt to beat them, but it is unlikely you will succeed.
Strut that stuff
Show off one's dancing skills or style.
They don't do nothin' different
Despite their unique dancing abilities, they do not do anything that is drastically different from others.
Cake walkin' babies from home
This could be referring to the dancers being comfortable or familiar with their dancing style, similar to how walking is natural for babies who have not yet learned to dance.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CLARENCE WILLIAMS, CHRIS SMITH, HENRY TROY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@vpo2g2
They should start every session of Congress with this......we'd have a better nation.
@andrewbarrett1537
vpo2g2 Yeah man!!!
@jazzguy1927
An old jazz magazine from the 1940’s and 1950’s had a poll of the greatest jazz record of all time and this record won the poll by a landslide. Got twice as many votes as the number two choice.
@fillra
Eva Taylor with Clarence Williams' Blue Five, January 8, 1925, New York, NY Taylor, Eva (Vocal) Armstrong, Louis (Cornet) Irvis, Charlie (Trombone) Bechet, Sidney (Soprano Sax) Williams, Clarence (Piano) Christian, Buddy (Banjo) Written by Eva's husband, Clarence Williams. Hot stuff. Pops is Tops. A fortnight earlier, Armstrong and Bechet recorded the same tune with the Red Onion Jazz Babies, featuring Alberta Hunter & C.Todd on vocals. (from the michaelminn/armstrong discography.)
@Palewriter
The singer here is definitely Eva Taylor. I was lucky enough to see her perform live at a jazz club (Stampen) in Stockholm in 1976, just a year before she passed away. This tiny old lady had to be assisted up on stage by two big "handlers," but then belted it out like a trooper. She never missed a beat. They don't make them like that anymore.
@frederickgriffith7004
You are absolutely right.I know she cut quite a few sides with the brilliant Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Clarence Williams.I distinctly remember my maternal grandparents playing these original 78s on two still playable wind up Victrolas on special occasions.Usually each year of their wedding anniversary.They were married in 1926.He was 19.She was 21.They especially loved Louis Armstrong because he was from New Orleans also.I am sure this recording was made in 1925.Both of them were Jazz Hounds.Lol they were still kicking it up on their 70th wedding anniversary in 1996.I remember two other titles with Eva Taylor and this outstanding trio.PICKANINNY ROSE and OF ALL THE WRONG YOU DONE TO ME.Oops i can't forget PAPA DE DA DA.
@rickos1915
This is the definitive version. Played on a great system it can't help but make you hope to live to one hundred.
@genesbeans
One of the great, maybe the greatest.
@martinnelson8382
These are without doubt the two greatest soloists of their generation. Just imagine Bach and Handel jamming together, or how it would sound if Clapton and Hendrix had managed to record something.
The difference is that this actually happened. Wow.
@j.w.2391
Im 400 ! Woke this morning, thinking how I havent early this piece of ages. Only the truest of hardcore Early BLACK Jazz aficionados can appreciate this this. And I see a fair amount do. Love the way Louis and the whole orchestra just let's it rip loose at :40 in.