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.
Moments to Remember
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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The New Year's Eve we did the town
The day we tore the goal post down
We'll have these moments to remember
The quiet walks, the noisy fun
The ballroom prize we almost won
Though summer turns to winter
And the present disappears
The laughter we were glad to share
Will echo through the years
When other nights and other days
May find us gone our separate ways
We will have these moments to remember
The drive in movie where we'd go
And somehow never watched the show
We will have these moments to remember
When other nights and other days
May find us gone our separate ways
We will have these moments to remember
The drive in movie where we'd go
And somehow never watched the show
We will have these moments to remember
Louis Armstrong's song, "Moments to Remember," is a kind of reflective ode to past memories. The first line of the song sets the mood, promising that every moment of the year will be one to remember, suggesting that we should cherish all moments of our lives. Armstrong then goes on to list out some of the memories that he and his loved ones have created, some of which are joyful, and some which are more bittersweet. The New Year's Eve they went out on the town, and the day they tore the goal post down are both moments that suggest a kind of youthful energy and exuberance. There is also, though, the more ordinary memory of quiet walks and noisy fun, which suggests a contentedness with the simple pleasures of life.
The final stanza of the song brings about a sense of nostalgia for moments that have passed us by. Armstrong reminds us that time marches forward, and we cannot turn back the clock. Summer turns into winter, and things change. But, the laughter we shared, the memories we made together, will resonate through those years that come and go. Armstrong's song reinforces the importance of cherishing our happy moments when they come, and cherishing the people with whom we make those memories.
Line by Line Meaning
January to December, we'll have moments to remember
Throughout the year, we will experience memorable moments that we will cherish
The New Year's Eve we did the town
We had a great time celebrating on New Year's Eve
The day we tore the goal post down
We had a thrilling moment when we tore down a goal post
We'll have these moments to remember
We will always remember these exciting moments
The quiet walks, the noisy fun
We enjoyed both peaceful walks and rowdy, lively fun
The ballroom prize we almost won
We came close to winning a prize at a ballroom competition
Though summer turns to winter
And the present disappears
The laughter we were glad to share
Will echo through the years
Although time passes and things change, the joy we shared will continue to resonate with us throughout our lives
When other nights and other days
May find us gone our separate ways
We will have these moments to remember
Even when we are apart, we will have these special memories that bring us together
The drive in movie where we'd go
And somehow never watched the show
We will have these moments to remember
Even if we didn't get to watch the movie, we still had a great time and will always remember it
Lyrics © CHARLIE DEITCHER PROD INC
Written by: AL STILLMAN, ROBERT ALLEN
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