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.
Exactly Like You
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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Not a real one, just a dream
A wonderful vision of us as a team
Can you imagine how I feel now
Love is real now, it's ideal
You're just what I wanted
And now it's nice to live
Paradise to live
I know why I've waited
Know why I've been blue
Prayed each night for someone
Exactly like you
Why should we spend money
On a show or two
No one does those love scenes
Exactly like you
You make me feel so grand
I want to hand the world to you
I hope you'll understand
Each foolish little scheme I'm schemin'
And dream I'm dreamin'
Now I know why mother
Taught me to be true
She meant me for someone
Exactly like you
In this song, Louis Armstrong talks about how he used to have a perfect idea of what he wanted in his sweetheart, but it was just a dream, not a reality. However, now he has found love that is real and ideal, and he is grateful to have found someone exactly like what he had dreamed about. Armstrong sings about how he understands why he had to wait for this person, and why he felt blue without them. He had prayed every night for someone exactly like his current love. The song then goes on to say how their love is so special, they don't need to spend money on fancy shows or elaborate dates because just being together is enough. Armstrong emphasizes how his love makes him feel so grand that he wants to hand the world to his partner, hoping that they understand each little dream he has and everything he plans.
The last part of the song talks about how Armstrong's mother taught him to be true to himself and to wait for someone that was exactly like him. To him, he feels that he has finally met that person who is his perfect match.
Line by Line Meaning
I used to have a perfect sweetheart
I had an ideal person in my mind, who I could love perfectly
Not a real one, just a dream
This person was only a fantasy, not an actual human being
A wonderful vision of us as a team
I saw us as a perfect match, working together and in sync
Can you imagine how I feel now
I am amazed that I have found someone who matches this vision
Love is real now, it's ideal
Now that I have found you, our love is a reality and just as perfect as I imagined
You're just what I wanted
You are everything I hoped for and more
And now it's nice to live
Having you in my life is amazing and makes me happy
Paradise to live
Being with you is like being in paradise
I know why I've waited
All the years of waiting and heartbreak were worth it because I found you
Know why I've been blue
I was unhappy because I had not yet found you
Prayed each night for someone
I longed for a person who would be perfect for me and complete my life
Exactly like you
Someone who is exactly like you, who fits every detail of what I was looking for
Why should we spend money
Why go out and spend a lot of money on entertainment when I have you
On a show or two
Going to a movie or a play is not as romantic as being with you
No one does those love scenes
Even the most romantic movies or plays cannot compare to our real life love
Exactly like you
Our love is unique and special, cannot be duplicated or compared
You make me feel so grand
Being with you makes me feel so special and happy
I want to hand the world to you
I would do anything for you because I love you so much
I hope you'll understand
I hope you know how much you mean to me and how much I love you
Each foolish little scheme I'm schemin'
I have so many ideas and dreams of how we can be together, sometimes they may seem foolish but they come from my heart
And dream I'm dreamin'
Every dream I have revolves around us being together and happy
Now I know why mother
Now that I have found you, I understand why my mother always told me to wait for the right person
Taught me to be true
She wanted me to be real and honest about my feelings and wait for someone who was genuine and real, like you
She meant me for someone
My mother knew that there was someone perfect for me out there
Exactly like you
And that someone, finally, was exactly like you
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Dorothy Fields, Jimmy Mchugh
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