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 Left My Heart In San Francisco
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
High on a hill it calls to me
to be where little cable cars
climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air,
I don't care!
My love waits there in San Francisco,
above the blue and windy sea.
your golden sun will shine for me!
I left my heart in San Francisco.
High on a hill it calls to me
to be where little cable cars
climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air,
I don't care!
My love waits there in San Francisco,
above the blue and windy sea.
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
your golden sun will shine for me!
The lyrics of "I Left My Heart In San Francisco" describe the deep feelings of the singer towards the city of San Francisco. From the very start of the song, the singer admits to leaving his heart behind in the city. This is further emphasized by the powerful image painted in the second line, which describes the city as being high on a hill, calling out to the singer. The use of the term 'little cable cars' further emphasizes the city's scenic and idyllic beauty.
The singer then acknowledges that the city's weather can be unpredictable and cold, but this does not dissuade him from his love for it. The song implies that the singer has to leave San Francisco to go home, but he knows that the sun will shine for him when he comes back. This line demonstrates his unyielding faith and love for the city, and how he sees it as a home away from home.
"I Left My Heart In San Francisco" was written by George Cory and Douglass Cross in 1954. The song was originally written as an instrumental and was intended for a show at the Hotel St. Francis in San Francisco. The song was performed and enjoyed by Tony Bennett, who went on to record it in 1962. The song was an immediate success, quickly rising to become a hit song that was well received by critics and audiences alike.
Line by Line Meaning
I left my heart in San Francisco.
San Francisco is so special to me that I can't forget it even though I'm not there anymore.
High on a hill it calls to me
The beautiful scenery of San Francisco always remains in my heart and whenever I think about it, I'm attracted towards it.
to be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars!
The beautiful view of San Francisco from the cable cars is so beautiful, it feels like you're almost in the sky.
The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care!
Even though it can get cold there with the morning fog, it's worth it because of how much I love San Francisco.
My love waits there in San Francisco, above the blue and windy sea.
My love is in San Francisco, in the midst of all the beauty, the ocean and wind, and it makes me feel like it's still my home.
When I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me!
When I'm finally able to go back to San Francisco, everything will be perfect and beautiful, with the golden sun shining over it all.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DOUGLAS CROSS, GEORGE CORY
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