Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, … Read Full Bio ↴Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
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 the World on a String -
Louis Armstrong Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I've got the world on a string, sittin' on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
What a world, what a life, I'm in love!
I've got a song that I sing

I can make the rain go, anytime I move my finger
Lucky me, can't you see, I'm in love
Life is a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string

I'd be a silly so and so, if I should ever let go

I've got the world on a string, sittin' on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
What a world, what a life, I'm in love

Life is a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string
I'd be a silly so and so, if I should ever let go
I've got the world on a string, sittin' on a rainbow
Got the string around my finger
What a world

Man this is the life
And now I'm so in love!

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "I've Got The World On A String" by Louis Armstrong & His Orchestra express a sense of great contentment and joy. The song's narrator describes how he feels as though he has the whole world under control, as if he can make anything happen just by snapping his fingers. This powerful sense of control and confidence is further emphasized by the analogy of him having the world on a string.

In addition to this feeling of control, the singer expresses a sense of love and happiness, singing about how life is a beautiful thing as long as he holds onto the string. The use of the phrase "silly so and so" suggests a playful, lighthearted tone, further emphasizing the singer's sense of joy and contentment.

Line by Line Meaning

I've got the world on a string, sittin' on a rainbow
I feel like I have everything I need and everything is going right for me.

Got the string around my finger
I am in complete control of my life and everything that happens in it.

What a world, what a life, I'm in love!
I feel incredibly lucky and happy with my life and everything in it.

I've got a song that I sing
I have a positive outlook on life and always try to look for the good in every situation.

I can make the rain go, anytime I move my finger
I have the power to control anything I want and shape my life according to my will.

Lucky me, can't you see, I'm in love
I am happy and grateful for everything I have and don't take any of it for granted.

Life is a beautiful thing, as long as I hold the string
Life can be wonderful as long as I stay in control and don't let anything or anyone take that control away from me.

I'd be a silly so and so, if I should ever let go
It would be foolish of me to give up my control and let someone or something else take the reins of my life.

Man this is the life
I am really enjoying and appreciating everything that life has to offer me right now.

And now I'm so in love!
I am deeply in love with my life and all that it has to offer me.

Lyrics © S.A. MUSIC
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, TED KOEHLER

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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