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.
My heart
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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High on a hill it calls to me
to be where little cable cars
climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air,
I don't care!
My love waits there in San Francisco,
above the blue and windy sea.
your golden sun will shine for me!
I left my heart in San Francisco.
High on a hill it calls to me
to be where little cable cars
climb halfway to the stars!
The morning fog may chill the air,
I don't care!
My love waits there in San Francisco,
above the blue and windy sea.
When I come home to you, San Francisco,
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong and His Hot Five's song My Heart in San Francisco express a deep love for the city of San Francisco, where the singer has left their heart. The lyrics describe the city as being on a hill, where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars. The morning fog is mentioned in the song, but the singer does not care because their love waits for them in San Francisco, above the blue and windy sea. The singer looks forward to coming home to San Francisco, where the golden sun will shine for them.
This song is a tribute to the city of San Francisco, which has become an American icon. The lyrics are simple and straightforward, but they capture the essence of the city and its beauty. The singer's love for the city is evident throughout the song, as they long to return to the place where their heart remains.
The song was written in 1954 by George Cory and Douglass Cross. It was originally written as an instrumental piece, but the lyrics were added later. The song was first recorded by Tony Bennett in 1962, and it became his signature song. Since then, the song has been covered by many artists and has become a classic.
Line by Line Meaning
I left my heart in San Francisco.
San Francisco left an indelible mark on me, a deep and abiding feeling that has taken root and can't be shaken.
High on a hill it calls to me
The city is beautiful from above and it beckons me, whispering of the wonders to be found there.
To be where little cable cars climb halfway to the stars!
There's something almost magical about these cable cars, slowly ascending up the steep hills, like they're reaching for the heavens themselves.
The morning fog may chill the air, I don't care!
Even the weather can't dampen my enthusiasm or love for this place, it's always worth it to me.
My love waits there in San Francisco, above the blue and windy sea.
There's someone special in my life, someone that makes it even more important to always keep San Francisco close to my heart.
When I come home to you, San Francisco, your golden sun will shine for me!
There's a sense of coming home, of being welcomed back into the embrace of the city, and it always feels like the sun shines just for me.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DOUGLAS CROSS, GEORGE CORY
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