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 Gotta Right To Sing The Blu
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I gotta right to feel low-down
I gotta right to hang around
Down around the river
A certain gal in this old town
Keeps draggin' my poor (old) heart around
All I see for me is misery
I gotta right to sing the blues
I gotta right to moan and sigh
I gotta right to sit and cry
Down around the river
I know the deep blue sea
Will soon be callin' me
It must be love; say what you choose
I gotta right to sing the blues
Louis Armstrong’s “I Gotta Right To Sing The Blues” is a lament of someone who feels they have the right to express their sadness through song. The first verse establishes this idea, “I gotta right to sing the blues, I gotta right to feel low-down, I gotta right to hang around, Down around the river.” The singer is declaring that they have the right to feel the way they do and express it through music. The second verse introduces a particular person who is causing the singer's misery, “A certain gal in this old town, Keeps draggin' my poor (old) heart around, All I see for me is misery.” Despite this sorrow, the singer continues to argue that they have the right to express this sadness. The chorus repeats this message, “I gotta right to moan and sigh, I gotta right to sit and cry, Down around the river,” before concluding with, “I gotta right to sing the blues.”
The final verse concludes with the inevitability of the singer's heartbreak, “I know the deep blue sea, Will soon be callin' me, It must be love; say what you choose, I gotta right to sing the blues.” The singer knows that their pain is only temporary and soon, they too will be called away. However, despite this knowledge, they will continue to sing, as it is their right to do so. The song ultimately is about the power of music, and the importance of the blues in particular, to help people express their emotions when words are not enough.
Line by Line Meaning
I gotta right to sing the blues
I have the freedom and justification to express my sorrow through music.
I gotta right to feel low-down
I am allowed to experience feelings of sadness and depression.
I gotta right to hang around / Down around the river
I have the right to spend time in the places where I feel the most comfortable, even if that is a desolate place like the river.
A certain gal in this old town / Keeps draggin' my poor (old) heart around / All I see for me is misery
Unfortunately, there is a woman in town who continually brings me heartache and misery.
I gotta right to moan and sigh
It is permitted for me to release my negative emotions vocally through moaning and sighing.
I gotta right to sit and cry / Down around the river
I have the right to express my sadness through tears, especially in a place where I feel connected to and comforted by, like the river.
I know the deep blue sea / Will soon be callin' me / It must be love; say what you choose
My emotional turmoil has become so great that I feel like eventually it will lead me to my death, but through it all, I believe I am experiencing true love, whether others believe it or not.
I gotta right to sing the blues
Once again, I want to emphasize that I have the inherent right to express and convey my unhappiness through music.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., S.A. MUSIC
Written by: HAROLD ARLEN, TED KOEHLER
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