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.
Dear Old Southland
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And I long how I long to roam
back to my old Kentucky home.
Dear old Southland for you my heart is yearning
And I long just to see once more
Louis Armstrong's "Dear Old Southland" is a touching ode to his longing for his southern roots. Throughout the song, Armstrong recalls the beauty and simplicity of his childhood in the South and expresses his deep yearning to return. In the opening lines, Armstrong hears the South calling out to him and he can't resist the pull. As he sings, "Dear old Southland I hear you calling me, and I long how I long to roam back to my old Kentucky home," he expresses his desire to return to the place where he feels most at home.
As the song continues, Armstrong's longing for the South becomes even more evident. He sings, "Dear old Southland for you my heart is yearning and I long just to see once more," conveying how much he misses the place where he was born and raised. The song is filled with powerful imagery, evoking memories of the early morning mist, the sound of the river, and the warmth of the sun. Through his lyrics, Armstrong paints a vivid picture of life in the South, one that is filled with nostalgia and fondness.
Ultimately, "Dear Old Southland" is a poignant tribute to a place that Louis Armstrong always held dear. Through his words and music, Armstrong conveys his love for the South and the deep sense of belonging he feels when he's there. It's a song that speaks to the heart of anyone who has ever yearned for a place they once called home.
Line by Line Meaning
Dear old Southland I hear you calling me.
I feel a strong emotional connection to my Southern roots and I am compelled to return to that place.
And I long how I long to roam
I have a deep yearning to travel back to the South and experience the familiar sights and sounds of home.
back to my old Kentucky home.
I am specifically drawn to my childhood memories and the unique culture of the state of Kentucky.
Dear old Southland for you my heart is yearning
My affection for the South is so strong that I can feel it physically in my heart.
And I long just to see once more
The desire to reconnect with my Southern roots is so powerful that I cannot help but wish for the opportunity to return.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: STAN GETZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
jamesp34
Quelle émotion extraordinaire dans ce duo magique .... un grand moment de jazz.
Urbino237
Oh my goodness - such majesty and humility all in one. Not to mention a boundless musical imagination. What has happened that we do not hear jazz music with these qualities today?
SELMER B.Action
@Urbino237 Fully disagree !!
The genius of Mozart is elsewhere. There are a lot of child prodigy today who will not become geniuses... Genius is not only to compose a symphony at 8 but the ability to upset the meaning of History and to bring something new that never existed before...
What Pops did...and Bird, Duke, Miles, Picasso, Einstein, Chaplin...
Urbino237
@SELMER B.Action IMHO Louis wasn't a genius; but Mozart was. When you are composing a complete symphony at age 8...but make no mistake about Pops. Benny Green the jazz saxophonist put it well when he said "Anybody could learn what Louis Armstrong knows about music in a few weeks. Nobody could learn to play like him in a thousand years."
Joan Soldwisch
We abound in musical geniuses today...but what we live through 'composes' the music we hear. Alas, given all that's going on now, one just has to wonder what we or our grandchildren and their children will be listening to.
Ian Widow
SELMER1947 Not true whatsoever. They are just suppressed
SELMER B.Action
Because all geniuses are dead...
Alvaro Veil Gamez
Me encantaaaaa... simplemente me encanta.
Jay Tee
This brilliant piece of music brings a tear to my eye..
SELMER B.Action
Quelle merveille !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!