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.
I’ve Got A Pocketful Of Dreams
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
'Cause I've got a pocketful of dreams
It's my universe, even with an empty purse
'Cause I've got a pocketful of dreams
Wouldn't take the wealth on Wall Street
For the road where nature trades
And I calculate I'm worth my weight in golden roads
'Cause I've got a pocketful of dreams
Louis Armstrong's song "I’ve Got A Pocketful Of Dreams" is a song about hope and joy despite the lack of material wealth. The song highlights the power of a person’s imagination to create their own world even when they are financially challenged. The first verse conveys the message that one does not need to be rich to be happy. The second verse places more emphasis on the singer’s appreciation of nature and the luxuries it provides quashing the desire for material wealth. Louis is telling the listener that the self-made worlds we create for ourselves are often more rewarding than any monetary gain. He asserts that dreams are the most powerful tools that humans possess and they can be used to create the life we want.
Furthermore, in the chorus, the singer talks about how valuable these dreams are, how they can provide us with a sense of luxury when it is hard to come by in the material world. This perspective is vital because the song's message implies that the things that matter the most in life are not necessarily the material possessions we own, but the experiences and memories we create. It emphasizes that the human spirit can triumph over the realities of the everyday world.
Some interesting facts about the song include:
Line by Line Meaning
Now, I'm no millionaire, but I'm not the type to care
I may not have a lot of money, but I'm content with what I have
'Cause I've got a pocketful of dreams
I have hopeful aspirations that keep me happy
It's my universe, even with an empty purse
I feel like I can conquer the world, even if I don't have much money
Wouldn't take the wealth on Wall Street
I don't need extreme wealth to be happy
For the road where nature trades
I would rather have the beauty of nature than material possessions
And I calculate I'm worth my weight in golden roads
I am grateful for the experiences and growth in my life, regardless of my financial status
Oh, lucky, lucky me, I can live in luxury
I feel fortunate with the simple things in life and find joy in the little moments
'Cause I've got a pocketful of dreams
My hopeful aspirations keep me happy and feeling wealthy
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: JOHNNY BURKE, JAMES V. MONACO
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Thien Di Pham
Sounds so fun to listen