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 Love Walked In
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Love walked right in and brought my sunniest day
One magic moment and my heart seemed to know that love said hello
Though not a word was spoken
One look, and I forgot the gloom of the past
One look and I had found my future at last
One look and I had found a world completely new
One magic moment and my heart seemed to know that love said hello
Though not a word was spoken
One look and I had found a world completely new
When love walked in with you
Louis Armstrong’s song “Love Walked In” is a romantic tune celebrating the beauty and power of love. The song begins with Armstrong mentioning how love has the ability to dispel darkness and bring joy into one's life. With just a magical moment, love can say hello without even a spoken word. This could be interpreted as the ability of love to transcend language and impress itself onto one's heart without the need for explanation or rationale.
The following stanza builds on the idea of love’s transformative potential. In one look, the gloomy past is forgotten, and the future is shaped in a positive manner. Armstrong's lyrics suggest that love has the power to change one's perspective and approach towards life entirely. As he sings “when love walks in with you,” it is apparent that he has found a new world, one that is full of possibility and optimism.
The song’s lyrics can be interpreted in different ways. Some may hear it as a personal story of finding love, while others may see it as a song that celebrates the beauty of the world and everything in it. Nevertheless, the themes of optimism, transformation, and the beauty of love are evident in the song, making it a classic.
Line by Line Meaning
Love walked right in and drove the shadows away
Love came into my life and eliminated all the darkness and pain.
Love walked right in and brought my sunniest day
Love came into my life and made every day brighter and happier.
One magic moment and my heart seemed to know that love said hello
In an instant, I felt the presence of love in my heart, even though no words were spoken.
Though not a word was spoken
Despite the lack of words, love was still felt and acknowledged.
One look, and I forgot the gloom of the past
One glance from the person I love made me forget all the sadness and pain of my past.
One look and I had found my future at last
In one glance, I knew that I had found the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.
One look and I had found a world completely new
After seeing the one I love, my whole perspective on life changed for the better.
When love walked in with you
My life changed for the better when I met the person I love and who loves me back.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Universal Music Publishing Group, Royalty Network, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin
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