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.
High Society Calypso
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We're now approaching Newport, Rhode I.
We've been, for years, In Variety,
But, Cholly Knickerbocker, now we're going to be
In High, High So-
High So-ci-,
High So-ci-ety.
I want to play for my former pal-
He runs the local jazz festival.
His name is Dexter and he's good news,
But sumping kind of tells me that he's nursing the blues
In High, High So-,
High So-ci-,
High So-ci-ety.
He's got the blues 'cause his wife, alas,
Thought writing songs was beneath his class,
But writing songs he'd not stop, of course,
And so she flew to Vegas for a quickie divorce
In High, High So-,
High So-ci-,
High So-ci-ety.
To make him sadder, his former wife
begins tomorrow a brand-new life.
She started lately a new affair
And now the silly chick is gonna marry a square
In High So-,
High So-ci-,
High So-ci-ety.
But, Brother Dexter, just trust your Satch,
To stop that wedding and kill that match.
I'll toot my trumpet to start the fun,
And play in such a way that she'll come back to you, son,
In High, High So-
High So-ci-,
High So-ci-ety.
Louis Armstrong's High Society Calypso is a lively and upbeat song that tells the story of a group of people traveling to Newport, Rhode Island in style. The opening lines of the song convey the excitement of the travelers as they watch the beautiful scenery float by. They have been in the entertainment industry for years, but now they are heading for high society.
The lyrics also introduce the character of Dexter, a former friend of the singer who now runs a local jazz festival. Dexter is nursing the blues, and the singer suspects that it might have something to do with his wife. As it turns out, Dexter's wife left him because she thought that songwriting was beneath his class. Dexter didn't stop writing songs, though, and his wife ultimately divorced him and started a new life with someone else.
Line by Line Meaning
Just dig that scenery floating by,
Take a look at the beautiful landscape floating by
We're now approaching Newport, Rhode I.
We're getting closer to Newport, Rhode Island
We've been, for years, In Variety,
We've been playing different types of music for years
But, Cholly Knickerbocker, now we're going to be
But now we're going to be in the upper class society with Cholly Knickerbocker
In High, High So-
In the high society
High So-ci-,
High Society
High So-ci-ety.
High Society
I want to play for my former pal-
I want to play for my old friend
He runs the local jazz festival.
He organizes the local jazz festival.
His name is Dexter and he's good news,
His name is Dexter and he's a great guy
But sumping kind of tells me that he's nursing the blues
But I have a feeling that he's feeling sad
He's got the blues 'cause his wife, alas,
He's feeling sad because his wife
Thought writing songs was beneath his class,
Believed that writing songs was not good enough for him
But writing songs he'd not stop, of course,
But he couldn't stop writing songs
And so she flew to Vegas for a quickie divorce
So she went to Las Vegas to quickly get a divorce
To make him sadder, his former wife
To make things worse, his ex-wife
begins tomorrow a brand-new life.
Will start a new life tomorrow.
She started lately a new affair
She recently started a new relationship
And now the silly chick is gonna marry a square
And now she's going to marry an uninteresting guy
But, Brother Dexter, just trust your Satch,
But, my brother Dexter, trust me
To stop that wedding and kill that match.
I'll stop the wedding and end that relationship.
I'll toot my trumpet to start the fun,
I'll play my trumpet to get things going
And play in such a way that she'll come back to you, son,
And play so beautifully that she'll come back to you, my friend.
In High, High So-
In the high society
High So-ci-,
High Society
High So-ci-ety.
High Society
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: COLE PORTER
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