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 Surrender Dear
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sworn enemy of love
Kept my lips from saying
Things I was thinking of.
But now my pride you've humbled,
I've cast it to the winds,
Broken, beaten, sick at heart
My confession begins.
We've played the game of stay away
But it cost more that I can pay.
Without you I can't make my way,
I surrender, dear.
I may seem proud, I may act gay,
It's just a pose, I'm not that way,
'Cause deep down in my heart I say
I surrender, dear.
Little mean things we were doing
Must have been part of the game,
Lending a spice to the wooing,
But I don't care who's to blame.
When stars appear and shadows fall,
Why then you'll hear My poor heart call,
To you my love, my life, my all
I surrender, dear.
We've played the game of stay away
But it cost more that I can pay.
Without you I can't make my way,
I surrender, dear.
I may seem proud, I may act gay,
It's just a pose, I'm not that way,
'Cause deep down in my heart I say
I surrender, dear.
Little mean things we were doing
Must have been part of the game,
Lending a spice to the wooing,
But I don't care who's to blame.
When stars appear And shadows fall,
Why then you'll hear My poor heart call,
To you my love, my life, my all
Louis Armstrong's song "I Surrender Dear" is a heartfelt confession from the singer who has realized his mistakes in love. The song begins with the singer, who has been prideful and a liar, as well as an enemy to love. He has been preventing himself from expressing the things he feels for the person he loves. However, his pride has been humbled, and now he confesses his true feelings.
The singer admits that he and his lover have played a game of stay away, but it has cost him more than he can bear. Without his loved one, he cannot find his way in life. Despite his outward appearance of pride and happiness, he admits that it is all a facade to hide his true emotions. The little mean things they have been doing may have been part of the game, but he no longer cares who is to blame.
The song ends with the singer's confession of love and the surrender of his heart and life to his loved one. Whenever the stars appear and shadows fall, his heart cries out for his loved one. The song conveys the message that it is better to surrender and surrender one's heart to love than to allow pride to prevent one from experiencing happiness.
Line by Line Meaning
Pride, sad, splendid liar,
My pride has caused me to be false and pretend to be happy, when really I have been sad.
Sworn enemy of love
My pride has kept me from being able to love fully.
Kept my lips from saying Things I was thinking of.
My pride has kept me from expressing my true feelings to my love.
But now my pride you've humbled, I've cast it to the winds, Broken, beaten, sick at heart My confession begins.
Finally, my love has humbled my pride and I am ready to confess all of my true feelings.
We've played the game of stay away But it cost more that I can pay. Without you I can't make my way, I surrender, dear.
Our game of trying to stay apart has been too painful and costly for me. I need you in my life and surrender to that love.
I may seem proud, I may act gay, It's just a pose, I'm not that way, 'Cause deep down in my heart I say I surrender, dear.
Although I may seem proud and carefree, deep down I know that I am not and I accept my love for you.
Little mean things we were doing Must have been part of the game, Lending a spice to the wooing, But I don't care who's to blame.
Our petty arguments were just part of our game of love. It added some excitement to our courtship, but in the end, it doesn't matter who is at fault.
When stars appear and shadows fall, Why then you'll hear My poor heart call, To you my love, my life, my all I surrender, dear.
When the night comes and I feel alone, my heart calls out to you. I give myself completely to you, my love and my everything.
Lyrics © Wixen Music Publishing, BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Capitol CMG Publishing, Integrity Music
Written by: GORDON CLIFFORD, HARRY BARRIS
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