Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, … Read Full Bio ↴Louis Armstrong (August 4, 1901 - July 6, 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
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.

Mop Mop
Louis Armstrong Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Mop mop! A thousand years ago
Mop mop! A guy named Jungle Joe
Was a drummer man in a Zulu band
That made swing history

Mop mop! One day the king said "Gate!
Why Gate, you old reprobate
I commission you, find a riff that's new

Or your wig belongs to me."

Joe's knees started knockin'
So scared he was stiff
'Til he noticed the tribe was rockin'
As his knees beat out this mellow riff

Mop mop! From the tropic's heat
Mop mop! Came this jungle beat
Though old Joe is gone, his jive lives on
And it still is making history.

Joe's knees started knockin'
So scared he was stiff
'Til he noticed the tribe was rockin'
As his knees beat out this mellow riff

Mop mop! From the tropic's heat
Mop mop! Came this jungle beat

Though old Joe is gone, his jive lives on
And it still is making history.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Louis Armstrong's "Mop Mop" tell the story of a drummer named Jungle Joe who played in a Zulu band that made swing history in Africa. One day, their king told Joe that he needed to find a new riff or else he would lose his wig. Joe was scared, but as he started to play, he noticed that the tribe was rocking to his mellow riff. The song celebrates the rhythm and energy of Joe's playing, and the way it transformed the music of his time.

The use of the phrase "mop mop" throughout the song serves as a sort of chant, underscoring the tribal roots of the music. Louis Armstrong's delivery is energetic and playful, and the song has a lively swing feel that is characteristic of Armstrong's style. The lyrics also pay tribute to the enduring legacy of Joe's playing, even though he has long since passed away.

Overall, "Mop Mop" celebrates the power of music and highlights the way that individual contributions can shape the course of history. By telling the story of Jungle Joe, Armstrong reinforces the idea that every musician has the capacity to create something new and groundbreaking.

Line by Line Meaning

Mop mop! A thousand years ago
Many years ago, far in the past

Mop mop! A guy named Jungle Joe
Introducing Jungle Joe, a man in the story

Was a drummer man in a Zulu band
Joe was a drummer playing in a Zulu band

That made swing history
The Zulu band that Joe was a part of made history with their music

Mop mop! One day the king said "Gate!
The King gave an order to Joe

Why Gate, you old reprobate
The King used a playful insult to address Joe

I commission you, find a riff that's new
The King ordered Joe to come up with a new musical rhythm

Or your wig belongs to me."
The King threatened Joe with punishment if he failed to come up with a new rhythm

Joe's knees started knockin'
Joe was intimidated and afraid

So scared he was stiff
Joe was so scared that he couldn't move

'Til he noticed the tribe was rockin'
Joe realized that the tribe was enjoying the music and dancing