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'm Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She got the keys, what's she gonna do with the keys?
I'm gonna lock my heart and throw away the key
I'm wise to all those tricks you played on me
I'm gonna turn my back on love, gonna snub the moon above
Seal all my windows up with tin so the love bug can't get in
Hang a sign upon my heart, ''Please don't disturb''
And if I never fall in love again that's soon enough for me
I'm gonna lock my heart and throw the key
She's gonna lock her heart and throw away the key
(Gonna lock my heart)
I'm wise to all those tricks you've played on me
She's gonna turn her back on love, gonna snub the moon above
Seal all my windows up with tin so the love bug can't get in
I'm gonna park my romance right alone the curb
Hang a sign upon my heart, "Please don't disturb"
And if I never fall in love again that's soon enough for me
(Don't make it too soon)
I'm gonna lock my heart
(She's gonna lock her heart)
And throw away the key
(She's gonna lock her heart and throw away the key)
Louis Armstrong's song "I'm Gonna Lock My Heart And Throw Away The Key" speaks about a person who has been hurt and deceived in the past by someone they loved. They have decided that they are no longer going to be vulnerable to love, and they will be locking up their heart and throwing away the key. The lyrics talk about the tricks that were played on them, and the decision to turn their back on love and snub the moon above.
The character in the song has decided to seal all their windows up with tin so the love bug cannot get in. They want to park their romance along the curb and hang a sign upon their heart that says, "Please don't disturb". If they never fall in love again, that is soon enough for them, and they will be locking up their heart and throwing away the key. These lyrics carry a message of vulnerability, resilience, and protection.
Line by Line Meaning
She got the keys, she's got the keys
What will she do now that she possesses the means to unlock my heart?
I'm gonna lock my heart and throw away the key
I won't let you hurt me again, I'm closing myself off to love.
I'm wise to all those tricks you played on me
I'm no longer naive, I see through your deceitful ways.
I'm gonna turn my back on love, gonna snub the moon above
I'm renouncing relationships altogether and ignoring the romantic ideals.
Seal all my windows up with tin so the love bug can't get in
I'm taking every measure to prevent love from entering my life again.
I'm gonna park my romance right alone the curb
I'm going to abandon my pursuit of love altogether and leave it behind.
Hang a sign upon my heart, ''Please don't disturb''
I want to avoid any kind of emotional involvement, so others should stay away from me.
And if I never fall in love again that's soon enough for me
I don't want to take any risks with love anymore and am content staying single forever.
She's gonna lock her heart and throw away the key
She's not going to let anyone hurt her again and is shutting off from love.
I'm wise to all those tricks you've played on me
She's no longer innocent and is aware of the other's deceit.
She's gonna turn her back on love, gonna snub the moon above
She's giving up on love and ignoring the ideas of romance.
Don't make it too soon
She wants to take her time and make sure she doesn't fall for the wrong person again.
She's gonna lock her heart and throw away the key
She's going to protect her heart and not allow anyone to break it again.
Lyrics © SHAPIRO BERNSTEIN & CO. INC.
Written by: JIMMY EATON, TERRY SHAND
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