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.
Do Nothin Till You Hear from Me
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But they wouldn't hurt you, not much
Since everyone spread the story
With his own little personal touch
Do nothin' till you hear from me
Pay no attention to what's said
Why people tear the seam of anyone's dream
Do nothin' till you hear from me
At least consider our romance
If you should take the word of others you've heard
I haven't a chance
True I've been seen with someone new
But does that mean that I'm untrue
When we're apart the words in my heart
Reveal how I feel about you
Some kiss may cloud my memory
And other arms may hold a thrill
But please do nothin' till you hear it from me
And you never will
Do nothin' till you hear from me
Do nothin' till you hear from me
Pay no attention to what's said
Why people tear the seam of anyone's dream
Is over my head
Do nothin' till you hear from me
At least consider our romance
If you should take the word of others you've heard
I haven't a chance
True I've been seen with someone new
But does that mean that I'm untrue
When we're apart the words in my heart
Reveal how I feel about you
Some kiss may cloud my memory
And other arms may hold a thrill
But please do nothin' till you hear it from me
And you never will
Louis Armstrong's song “Do Nothin Till You Hear from Me” is a classic song with timeless themes. The song is about rumors and how they can ruin a person's reputation. The first stanza sets up the theme of the song. It talks about how the rumors started, and how they spread like wildfire. The second stanza is a plea from the singer to the listener to not believe the rumors until they hear from him. The singer is asking the listener to give him the benefit of the doubt and to consider their romance. The third stanza is about his own fidelity, and how he is faithful to his lover despite being seen with someone new. He is asking his lover to trust him, and not to believe the rumors that they may hear.
The lyrics of this song carry a message about the importance of trust and communication in a relationship. The singer, in the face of rumors, is pleading with his lover to trust him and not to let the rumors ruin their relationship. This theme is universal and can be applied to any relationship. It is important to communicate with your partner and to build trust in a relationship so that rumors or misunderstandings do not ruin it. The song also highlights the power of rumors and how they can affect people's lives, and it cautions listeners to be cautious about believing everything they hear.
Line by Line Meaning
Someone told someone and someone told you
The grapevine passed the message along until it finally reached you
But they wouldn't hurt you, not much
The messengers didn't have bad intentions when they shared the news
Since everyone spread the story with his own little personal touch
People added their own spin to the message as it spread
Do nothin' till you hear from me
Don't jump to conclusions until you've heard the truth from me
Pay no attention to what's said
Don't believe everything you hear
Why people tear the seam of anyone's dream is over my head
I don't understand why people try to break up relationships or ruin someone's reputation
At least consider our romance
Please don't let rumors ruin our relationship without hearing my side
If you should take the word of others you've heard, I haven't a chance
If you believe the rumors, there's no hope for us
True I've been seen with someone new, but does that mean that I'm untrue
Yes, I've been seen with someone else, but it doesn't mean I'm cheating
When we're apart, the words in my heart reveal how I feel about you
When we're not together, I still have feelings for you
Some kiss may cloud my memory
I may have kissed someone else, but it doesn't change how I feel about you
And other arms may hold a thrill
I may have hugged or held someone else, but it means nothing to me
But please do nothin' till you hear it from me, and you never will
I'll explain everything to you soon, but you'll never hear about it from someone else again
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Written by: DUKE ELLINGTON, BOB RUSSELL
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