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.
Go Down
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go
Now, when Israel was in Egypt land
Let my people go
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
So the Lord said "Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go"
So Moses went to Egypt land
Let my people go
He made old pharaoh understand
Let my people go
Yes, the Lord said "Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go"
Thus spoke the lord, bold Moses said
"Let my people go
If not I'll smite, your firstborn dead"
Let my people go
'Cause the Lord said "Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go"
Oh
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go
Louis Armstrong’s “Go Down, Moses” is a powerful gospel song that highlights the story of Moses leading his people out of Egyptian slavery. The song’s opening line, “Go down Moses, way down in Egypt land…” is a reference to the biblical narrative of Moses being called by God to go down and deliver the Israelites from bondage in Egypt. The song then goes on to describe the harsh conditions that the Israelites were facing while in slavery in Egypt. They were oppressed so hard that they could not stand. The lyrics continue with Moses being commanded by God to tell Pharaoh to let his people go.
The repeated phrase, “Let my people go,” is a strong call to action that emphasizes the biblical theme of freedom from oppression. The song ends with Moses warning Pharaoh that if he does not release the Israelites, the Lord will smite his firstborn dead. This is a nod to the biblical account of the ten plagues that fell upon Egypt before Pharaoh finally relented and allowed the Israelites to leave. The song is a symbol of hope for the oppressed and a call to action for those in power to do the right thing.
Line by Line Meaning
Go down Moses
Moses, go to Egypt to help your people.
Way down in Egypt land
In Egypt country, far south of Canaan, lay the ancient kingdom of Egypt.
Tell old pharaoh to
Request the Pharaoh to permit the people of Israel to leave Egypt.
Let my people go
Permit the people of Israel to leave Egypt and return to Canaan, their homeland.
Now, when Israel was in Egypt land
At the time of Israel, when they settled in Egypt for survival.
Oppressed so hard they could not stand
The people of Israel were so cruelly treated that they found it challenging to live.
So the Lord said "Go down, Moses
God spoke to Moses and told him to go to Egypt to rescue His people.
He made old pharaoh understand
Moses communicated to the Pharaoh and encouraged him to free the people of Israel.
Thus spoke the lord, bold Moses said
Moses conveyed the message of God that if Pharaoh did not allow people of Israel to leave, God would take severe measures.
"Let my people go
If not I'll smite, your firstborn dead"
God would execute His judgment to Pharaohs through plagues and death of the firstborns of many Egyptians.
Oh
Way down in Egypt land
Tell old pharaoh to
Let my people go
The repeated lyrics depict the plea to the Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go back to their homeland.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Sy Oliver
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@nataliel6805
Louis Armstrong was such a wonderful singer!!! His singing is beautiful, esp. singing spirituals.
@onebackzach
I've heard this song many times before, but the connection between the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and Africans in America just clicked for me. It's no wonder that this song was and still is so important to the African American community
@esther3479
Hidden Hebrews shows there is a connection between the original Israelites and the Negros freed in America. Their ancestors were enslaved during the Spanish inquistion and sent to West Africa, the Caribbean islands and the American continent according to ancient books written between the 1400's - 1700's.
Research Hidden Hebrews by Benayah Israel on YouTube.💜💛💜
@jonahs92
@Carrie Clay You're delusional. Black people are not, nor have they ever been Jews. Jews are Jews, and black people are black people. Your historical revisionism is absurd and no one takes it seriously.
@oscarherr4198
@Jonah S the beta Israel is literally a group of black jews hailing from Africa, there has been black people in Africa that are jews for thousands of years at this point
@Qumayopotatosalad
@Jonah S Ethiopian Jews?
@iiyyktei1077
Yes bro
@dave327ful
One of Louis Armstrong's most potent songs!
@askaed9300
Ok, i'm totally not religious and stuff, but GOD, that's GOOD !!!!
@xereshephaistos3206
great joke, man but ...