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 Gal in Kalamazoo
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I got a gal in Kalamazoo
Don't want to boast, but I know
She's the toast of Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
Years have gone by
My, my, how she grew
When I carried her books in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
I'm gonna send a wire
Hoppin' on a flyer, leavin' today
Am I dreamin'?
I can hear her screamin', "Hiya, Mr. Jackson"
Everything's O.K., A-L-A-M-A-Z-O
Oh, what a gal, a real pipperoo
I'll make my bid
For that freckle-faced kid I'm hurryin' to
I'm goin' to Michigan
To see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo)
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, Kalamazoo)
K-(K)-A-(A)-L-A-M-A-Z-O
Oh, oh, oh, oh, what a gal, a real pipperoo
We're goin' to Michigan
To see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo
Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo
Kalamazoo
Louis Armstrong’s song, “I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo,” tells the story of a man who has a girlfriend in Kalamazoo, Michigan, whom he regards as the toast of the town. In the first stanza, he recites the alphabet and claims to have a girl in Kalamazoo who is the talk of the town. He brags about her in the second stanza, discussing how much she’s grown up and how he used to carry her books. The third stanza shows that the man is in love with this woman, as he sends a wire and flies out to see her, hearing her scream with joy when he arrives. He finally expresses his excitement to go see the “sweetest gal in Kalamazoo” in the last lines of the chorus.
Line by Line Meaning
I got a gal in Kalamazoo
I have a girlfriend in Kalamazoo
Don't want to boast, but I know
I don't want to brag, but I am proud of her
She's the toast of Kalamazoo (Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
She's very popular in Kalamazoo
Years have gone by, My, my, how she grew
It's been a while since I've seen her, but she has changed a lot
I liked her looks when I carried her books in Kalamazoo (Zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo, zoo)
I found her attractive when I used to carry her books in Kalamazoo
I'm gonna send a wire, Hoppin' on a flyer, leavin' today
I'm going to message her and catch the next flight to see her today
Am I dreamin'? I can hear her screamin', 'Hiya, Mr. Jackson'
I can hardly believe I'm going to see her, and I can even imagine her greeting me happily
Everything's O.K., A-L-A-M-A-Z-O
She reassured me that everything is okay in Kalamazoo
Oh, what a gal, a real pipperoo
She's a fantastic girl
I'll make my bid for that freckle-faced kid I'm hurryin' to
I'll pursue her romantically
I'm goin' to Michigan To see the sweetest gal in Kalamazoo (Zoo, zoo)
I'm going to Michigan to see my sweet girlfriend in Kalamazoo
(Zoo, zoo, zoo, Kalamazoo) K-(K)-A-(A)-L-A-M-A-Z-O
The song ends with a repetition of the word 'Zoo' and spelling out 'Kalamazoo'
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: HARRY WARREN, MACK GORDON
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