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.
Chantez Les Bas
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Patois, Mardi Gras and romantic blues
Once I hard a lover, when work was over strum a Creole croone
To his wherein lovey dovey underneath a Dixie Moon. I heard her say
Chantez-les bas, that means in Creole - sing ′em low. Yeah
Chantez-les bas. She liked her blues played sweetly and slow, yeah
Chantez-les bas. I can't forget that serenade, and if you listen to me
Jes' fore day, in the mornin′
Jes′ fore day, in the mornin'
Jes′ fore day, and New Orleans, hey, hey! Oh in the mornin' baby
Jes′ fore day, in the mornin'
Jes′ fore day, in the mornin'
Jes' fore day, I′ll come to get you and take you away, far, far away
Louis Armstrong's Chantez Les Bas is a beautiful love song that tells the story of a lover in Louisiana, the land of Creole Sues, romantic blues and Mardi Gras. The singer recalls a moment when he heard a lover singing a Creole crooner to his beloved underneath the Dixie moon after work. The woman told the man to "Chantez-les bas," which means "sing them low" in Creole because she preferred her blues played sweetly and slowly. The singer can't forget that serenade, and he wants to share what it says with us. He then sings about how he will come to get his lover early in the morning and take her far, far away.
The song is a beautiful tribute to the romantic, musical and cultural heritage of Louisiana, but it is also a subtle commentary on the racial tensions and social inequalities that existed in the state at the time. The song was recorded in 1954, at a time when the Civil Rights Movement was beginning to emerge, but Jim Crow laws still enforced segregation and discrimination against African Americans in the South. The lyrics express the longing and the aspiration of a black man to take his loved one away from a place where they are not free to be together, to a place where they can be happy and safe.
Line by Line Meaning
Down in Louisiana, Louisiana - Land of Creole Sues
Louisiana, the land of Creole culture, where people speak Patois, celebrate Mardi Gras, and play romantic blues music
Once I hard a lover, when work was over strum a Creole croone
I once heard a lover playing a Creole song after their work was done
To his wherein lovey dovey underneath a Dixie Moon. I heard her say
He played the song to his beloved under the stars and moon of the South, and I heard her say
Chantez-les bas, that means in Creole - sing ′em low. Yeah
She asked him to play the song softly in a Creole way, saying 'Chantez-les bas', which means 'sing them low'
Chantez-les bas. She liked her blues played sweetly and slow, yeah
She preferred blues music that was slow and sweet, just like the song she requested to be played softly
Chantez-les bas. I can't forget that serenade, and if you listen to me
The singer can't forget that beautiful serenade, and if we listen, he'll try to share what was said
Just a while, I′ll try to sing for you what they say: Oh in the mornin' baby
He will try to sing the song for us and share what was said: 'Oh in the morning, baby'
Jes' fore day, in the mornin′
Just before daybreak, in the early morning
Jes′ fore day, in the mornin'
Again, just before daybreak, in the early morning
Jes′ fore day, and New Orleans, hey, hey! Oh in the mornin' baby
Just before daybreak in New Orleans, the song repeats its refrain: 'Oh in the morning, baby'
Jes′ fore day, in the mornin'
Once again, just before daybreak, in the early morning
Jes' fore day, I′ll come to get you and take you away, far, far away
In the early morning, I will come and take you far away with me
Writer(s): Handy William C
Contributed by Savannah Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@arzainc1
Merci à Murakami 1Q84, (Que je relis avec plaisir et cette fois en français ) de m'avoir fait découvrir ce morceau que je ne connaissais pas... comme bien d'autres selon les commentaires plus bas... Superbe piece musicale.
@czzham
Love it!
@liseghilain3437
Un morceau rare une belle découverte...à travers Murakami...!
@snilas
La Nouvelle-Orléans & 1Q84, of course ! Thanks Haruki ;-)
@j109joell
Very good!
@aminou207
1Q84 🇩🇿 thanks a lot murakami sama
@kesteedavis1386
🥰 🎶🎵
@koombaloomba
One of his best...... 1Q84 Cairns, Australia
@sergioamaral7574
SAO PAULO - BRASIL 🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷
@TheScriptsmith
Murakami brought me here too. Nice scene from 1Q84.