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.
Love Me or Leave Me
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
You won't believe me and I love you only
I'd rather be lonely
Than happy with somebody else
You might find the night time
The right time for kissin'
But night time is my time for just reminiscin'
There'll be no one unless
That someone is you
I intend to be independently blue
I want your love, but I don't want to borrow
To have it today and you give back tomorrow
For my love is your love
There's no love for nobody else
There'll be no one unless
That someone is you
I intend to be independently blue
I want your love, but I don't want to borrow
To have it today and you give back tomorrow
For my love is your love
There's no love for nobody else
Nobody else, nobody else
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong's "Love Me or Leave Me" express a sense of desperation and longing for someone who is not fully committing to the relationship. The singer acknowledges that their love interest may not believe in their affections, but insists that they truly love them and would rather be alone than with anyone else. The singer even regrets the idea of moving on and being with somebody else, preferring to hold onto the possibility of being with their true love.
The lines, "There'll be no one unless/That someone is you" highlight the singer's unwavering devotion to their love interest. They want to be "independently blue," which implies that they are willing to live their own life and be content with their own company if they cannot have the one they love. The singer also emphasizes that their love is not something that can be borrowed and returned, but rather something that must be reciprocated fully.
The repetition of "nobody else" at the end of the song underscores the singer's insistence that their love is focused on one person, and one person only. They are unwilling to settle for less and would rather be alone than compromise their feelings.
Overall, Armstrong's "Love Me or Leave Me" is a song about the heights of love and the depths of longing. The singer expresses their devotion but also their independence, insisting that their love is unique and not something that can be easily fulfilled.
Line by Line Meaning
Love me or leave me or let me be lonely
Either love me or go away and let me be alone
You won't believe me and I love you only
Even though you might not believe me, I only love you
I'd rather be lonely
I prefer being alone
Than happy with somebody else
Rather than being with someone else and being happy
You might find the night time
Perhaps you find night time
The right time for kissin'
A suitable time for kissing
But night time is my time for just reminiscin'
I prefer to use night time to reminisce about things
Regrettin' instead of forgettin' with somebody else
I would rather regret or miss you than forget you while being with someone else
There'll be no one unless
I won't be with anyone else unless
That someone is you
That someone is you
I intend to be independently blue
I plan to be content and independent without your love
I want your love, but I don't want to borrow
I desire your love, but I don't want to obtain it temporarily
To have it today and you give back tomorrow
To receive it today and have you take it away tomorrow
For my love is your love
My love belongs to you
There's no love for nobody else
No one else receives my love; it's only for you
Nobody else, nobody else
No one else, absolutely no one else
Lyrics © DONALDSON PUBLISHING CO, TOBAGO MUSIC COMPANY, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Gus Kahn, Walter Donaldson
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