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.
Introduction To See See Rider
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Made me love you; now your man has come
You made me love you; now your man has come
I'm goin' away, baby; I won't be back till fall, Lord, Lord, Lord
Goin' away, baby; won't be back till fall
If I find me a good gal, won't be back at all
Shoot my gal and catch a cannonball
If she won't have me, she won't have no man at all
See See Rider, where did you stay last night? Lord, Lord, Lord
Your shoes ain't buttoned and your clothes don't fit you right
You didn't come home till the sun was shining bright
"See See Rider", also known as "C.C. Rider", is a blues song that was first recorded by Ma Rainey in 1924. The song features a story of a man who has fallen in love with a woman, but she doesn't return his feelings. The man threatens to leave town and find a new lover.
The opening lines of the song, "See what you have done, Lord, Lord, Lord; Made me love you; now your man has come; You made me love you; now your man has come" suggest that the man is blaming the woman for his feelings of love towards her. He feels that he has been fooled by her, and is now ready to move on. The lines "I'm goin' away, baby; I won't be back till fall, Lord, Lord, Lord; Goin' away, baby; won't be back till fall; If I find me a good gal, won't be back at all" suggest that he is serious about leaving her behind and moving on with his life, and is even willing to find someone new.
The lines "I'm gonna buy me a pistol, just as long as I am tall, Lord, Lord, Lord; Shoot my gal and catch a cannonball; If she won't have me, she won't have no man at all" suggest that the man is feeling desperate and defeated. He is so hurt by the woman's rejection that he is contemplating taking drastic measures, even if it means resorting to violence.
Overall, "See See Rider" is a song that explores the theme of unrequited love and the pain it can cause. The man is so heartbroken by the woman's rejection that he is willing to do almost anything to move on.
Line by Line Meaning
See what you have done, Lord, Lord, Lord
I have fallen deeply in love with you and it seems like it's all your doing
Made me love you; now your man has come
You made me love you and now I am here as your man
I'm goin' away, baby; I won't be back till fall, Lord, Lord, Lord
I'm leaving for a while and won't be back until the fall
Goin' away, baby; won't be back till fall
I'm leaving and won't be back until the fall
If I find me a good gal, won't be back at all
If I find a good woman, I may not come back at all
I'm gonna buy me a pistol, just as long as I am tall, Lord, Lord, Lord
I'm planning to get a gun that is as tall as I am
Shoot my gal and catch a cannonball
I will shoot my woman and then leave town quickly
If she won't have me, she won't have no man at all
If she rejects me, then she won't be able to find anyone else either
See See Rider, where did you stay last night? Lord, Lord, Lord
Hey, See See Rider, where did you spend the night yesterday?
Your shoes ain't buttoned and your clothes don't fit you right
Your shoes are not laced up and your clothes don't seem to fit properly
You didn't come home till the sun was shining bright
You were out all night and didn't come home until it was morning
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Ma Rainey, David Rowberry
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