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.
Last Night I Dreamed You Kissed Me
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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Of your dear smile and eyes all blue
If only my dreams come true
I'll be so glad my whole life through
Last night I was dreaming
I dreamed that that you kissed me
While bright stars were beaming
When I awoke with the break of dawn
Oh, I longed to go dreaming on
You had gone far while I was dreaming
I dreamed that you kissed me
And I awoke with the break of dawn
Oh, I longed to go dreaming on
You had gone far while I was dreaming
I dreamed that you kissed me
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong's song "Last Night I Dreamed You Kissed Me" describe a dream that the singer had of a loved one's smile and blue eyes. The dream continues with the loved one kissing the singer under a starry sky as the singer longs to stay in the dream forever. However, the dream ends with the loved one leaving, leaving the singer to awake alone in the early morning.
The dream sequence in the lyrics symbolizes the singer's desire to be with his loved one, and how such thoughts can fill one's mind even while asleep. The mention of stars is also significant as they are a symbol of hope, representing the possibility of achieving love and companionship. However, the ending of the dream and its sudden disappearance at the break of dawn represents the stark reality that one cannot hold onto such dreams forever.
Overall, the song's lyrics display a mixture of longing and hope, and the yearning for someone special to be with.
Line by Line Meaning
Last night I dreamed of you
I went to sleep and had a dream about you
Of your dear smile and eyes all blue
In my dream, I saw you smiling at me with your beautiful blue eyes
If only my dreams come true
I hope that what I dreamt about will come true in reality
I'll be so glad my whole life through
If my dream comes true, I will be happy for the rest of my life
Last night I was dreaming
I had a dream last night
I dreamed that that you kissed me
In my dream, you gave me a kiss
While bright stars were beaming
In my dream, the sky was bright with stars
When I awoke with the break of dawn
As the sun was rising, I woke up
Oh, I longed to go dreaming on
I wanted to go back to sleep and continue dreaming
You had gone far while I was dreaming
When I woke up, you weren't there
I dreamed that you kissed me
The dream I had was about you kissing me
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: GUS KAHN, CARMEN LOMBARDO
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