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.
Now Do You Call That a Buddy
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Now, I don't dig you
Took you for my friend, thought you were my pal
But now I found out you're tryin' to jive my gal
All shut eyes ain't 'sleep and all goodbyes ain't gone
I'm help to myself; you're tryin' to do me wrong
(No, no)
Could that be your buddy?
(No, no)
I'm gonna shoot my buddy
(Yeah, yeah)
He's just a dirty guy
(Shoot him in the foot, shoot him in the foot)
Treated you like a friend, what more could I do?
I had an idea I could trust in you
You ate up all my rice and my stew beef
And tried to help me cut off the home beneath
Do you call that a buddy?
(No, no)
Could that be your buddy?
(No, no)
I'm gonna kill my buddy
(Yeah, yeah)
He's just a dirty guy
(Yeah, terminate him, terminate him)
I wish you were dead and under the ground
'Cause a man like you just shouldn't be around
You's loathe as a temple and slick as grease
I'm gonna turn you over to the chief of police
Do you call that a buddy?
(No, no)
Could that be your buddy?
(No, no)
I'm gonna part with my buddy
(Yeah, yeah)
He's just a dirty guy
The song "Do You Call That A Buddy" by Louis Armstrong is a lamentation about a friend who betrayed the singer by trying to steal his girlfriend. The lyrics express a deep sense of betrayal as the singer reflects on how he took his friend for granted and treated him well. He feels let down, and that the trust he placed in his friend has been abused.
The song's title, "Do You Call That A Buddy," reflects the central theme of the song - questioning the nature of friendship and loyalty. The lyrics criticize the friend for eating the singer's food and then later trying to steal his girlfriend. Armstrong uses direct words to convey his anger and frustration, "I'm gonna shoot my buddy, he's just a dirty guy" and "I wish you were dead and under the ground".
Through this song, Armstrong presents a raw and emotional expression of the common human experience of betrayal by a friend, and how that can shatter trust and cause emotional trauma.
Line by Line Meaning
I live here, boy
I am present and attentive, and I see what you're doing
Now, I don't dig you
I don't like what you're doing and I don't trust you
Took you for my friend, thought you were my pal
I assumed we were close and trustworthy friends
But now I found out you're tryin' to jive my gal
I've discovered you're attempting to deceive my girlfriend
All shut eyes ain't 'sleep and all goodbyes ain't gone
Just because something appears to be over or hidden, doesn't mean it is
I'm help to myself; you're tryin' to do me wrong
I am self-sufficient and don't need your help or deception
Do you call that a buddy?
Do you consider that to be friendship?
(No, no)
No, it's not friendship
Could that be your buddy?
Is that really the behavior of a friend?
(No, no)
No, it's not the behavior of a friend
I'm gonna shoot my buddy
I'm going to end this friendship violently
(Yeah, yeah)
Yes, I'm serious
He's just a dirty guy
He's an untrustworthy, unpleasant person
(Shoot him in the foot, shoot him in the foot)
I want to harm him but not fatally
Treated you like a friend, what more could I do?
I was kind and loyal to you as a friend, and I don't understand why you betrayed me
I had an idea I could trust in you
I expected you to be trustworthy
You ate up all my rice and my stew beef
You took advantage of my generosity and hospitality
And tried to help me cut off the home beneath
You attempted to undermine and harm me
I'm gonna kill my buddy
I'm going to end this friendship violently
(Yeah, yeah)
Yes, I'm serious
He's just a dirty guy
He's an untrustworthy, unpleasant person
(Yeah, terminate him, terminate him)
I want to end this relationship completely
I wish you were dead and under the ground
I dislike you so much that I wish you were no longer alive
'Cause a man like you just shouldn't be around
Your behavior is so unacceptable that you shouldn't be in society
You's loathe as a temple and slick as grease
You are hateful and deceptive
I'm gonna turn you over to the chief of police
I'm going to inform the authorities of your behavior
I'm gonna part with my buddy
I'm going to end this friendship
(Yeah, yeah)
Yes, I'm serious
He's just a dirty guy
He's an untrustworthy, unpleasant person
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: D. RAYE, W. WILSON
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