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.
Honey
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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There's nothing I can do
Baby, after the night, I can't make you stay
After you telling me you're through
Now after the night there'll be somebody new
Loving these gone red
Tomorrow'll be another idle day for me
Now you hold your life
Having your fun
Oh, baby, I'll be the lonely one
I'll be
After night you'll go your way
Thinking you've done right
Oh baby, I'll be here left all alone
Mama, after the night
Louis Armstrong’s song “Honey” is a classic blues tune that explores heartbreak and loss. The lyrics depict a narrator grappling with the end of a relationship, struggling to come to terms with the fact that their partner has chosen to leave. The opening lines, “After night, you've gone away, there's nothing I can do,” immediately establish a sense of helplessness in the face of this loss. The singer goes on to lament that they “can’t make you stay” even though they still love their partner.
As the song progresses, the singer explains that they understand their partner is “having [their] fun” without them. In response, they resign themselves to a life of loneliness, singing “Oh, baby, I'll be the lonely one, I'll be.” The chorus repeats the sentiment that “after night you'll go your way, thinking you've done right” while the singer remains behind, feeling abandoned and heartbroken.
While the lyrics are simple and straightforward, they convey a complex range of emotions. The singer is simultaneously angry, sad, and resigned to their fate. Their partner’s departure has left them feeling helpless and alone, unsure of how to move on. Overall, “Honey” is a poignant and relatable song that captures the pain of lost love.
Line by Line Meaning
After night, you've gone away
After our time together has ended for the night and you have left, I'm left with nothing but memories of you.
There's nothing I can do
No matter how I feel, I cannot change the fact that you have chosen to leave me.
Baby, after the night, I can't make you stay
I cannot force you to stay with me, no matter how much I may want to keep you.
After you telling me you're through
After you have told me that you are done with our relationship and want to move on.
Now after the night there'll be somebody new
In the future, there will be someone else in your life, and they will be loved just as I once was.
Loving these gone red
Loving someone who is no longer interested in me, which is causing me pain and heartbreak.
Tomorrow'll be another idle day for me
Tomorrow will be just another day without the person I love, and I will be stuck with the same feelings of loneliness and sadness.
After you've gone away
After you have left my life and my heart, I am left with nothing but emptiness.
Now you hold your life
Now you are free to live your life without me in it, and I cannot do anything about it.
Having your fun
You are enjoying your life without me, and I have to accept that and move on.
Oh, baby, I'll be the lonely one
Even though you may be happy without me, I am the one who will be alone and missing you.
After night you'll go your way
After our time together has ended, you will continue on with your life without me, and I will be left behind.
Thinking you've done right
Believing that leaving me was the right thing to do, even though it has caused me pain and heartbreak.
Oh baby, I'll be here left all alone
I will be here, alone and missing you, even though you have moved on with your life without me.
Mama, after the night
After our time together has ended, after the night has passed, I will still be here, missing you.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: FRED MEADOWS, TERRY SHAND
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
León Blum
LOUIS ARMSTRONG EL GRAN ''SATCHMO''QUE MÁS AGREGAR.-