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.

Old Man Mose
Louis Armstrong Lyrics

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Now once there lived an old man with a very crooked nose
He lived in log hut and they called him old man Mose, yeah
Early one mornin' I knocked at his door
Didn't hear a single sound, I ain't gonna do it no more

'Cause I believe old man, I believe old man
I believe old man, that old man Mose is dead
I'm tellin' you, I believe old man, I believe old man

I do believe old man, that old man Mose is dead

Now, we believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe he's dead, oh we believe

We believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe Mose kicked the bucket
We believe he's dead, I'm lookin' here

I went around to the side and I peeped through the crack
I saw an old man layin' flat on his back, yeah
If old man Mose was dead asleep, I did not know
But after lookin' through that window, I ain't gonna do that no more

'Cause I found out old man, I found out old man
I found out old man, that old man Mose is dead
I'm tellin' you, I found out old man, what it's all about, old man
I found out old man, that old man Mose is dead

Now, we found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out he's dead, oh

We found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out Mose kicked the bucket
We found out he's dead

Old man Mose is dead

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of "Old Man Mose" by Louis Armstrong tells a story of a man with a crooked nose who lived in a log hut and was known as "Old Man Mose". The singer of the song visits the old man early one morning but doesn't get a response from him. He then goes around to the side of the hut and peeps through a crack and sees the old man lying flat on his back. The singer isn't sure if the old man is dead or just asleep, but after looking through the window, he concludes that Old Man Mose is dead. The chorus repeats the phrase "We believe Mose kicked the bucket" to emphasize this point.

The song utilizes several idiomatic expressions that take on a different meaning in the context of the story. The phrase "kick the bucket" is a popular idiom that means "to die", and this phrase is repeated several times in the chorus to emphasize the rumor that Old Man Mose has passed away. In the second verse, the singer finds that Old Man Mose is "dead asleep", which serves as a double entendre that reinforces the idea that Old Man Mose is dead.

Overall, "Old Man Mose" is a lighthearted song that uses humor and exaggeration to explore the theme of death. The lyrics play with idioms and expressions to create a playful and catchy tune that has endured as a classic in the jazz genre.

Line by Line Meaning

Now once there lived an old man with a very crooked nose
There used to be an elderly person with a notably bent nose.

He lived in log hut and they called him old man Mose, yeah
He lived in a small, humble dwelling and people referred to him informally as Old Man Mose.

Early one mornin' I knocked at his door
At dawn, I approached his abode and rapped on the entrance.

Didn't hear a single sound, I ain't gonna do it no more
Since nobody answered, I won't attempt it again.

'Cause I believe old man, I believe old man I believe old man, that old man Mose is dead I'm tellin' you, I believe old man, I believe old man I do believe old man, that old man Mose is dead
I'm convinced that Old Man Mose has died

Now, we believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe he's dead, oh we believe We believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe Mose kicked the bucket We believe he's dead, I'm lookin' here
We all think Mose has passed away.

I went around to the side and I peeped through the crack I saw an old man layin' flat on his back, yeah If old man Mose was dead asleep, I did not know But after lookin' through that window, I ain't gonna do that no more
Curiosity led me to spy on him through an opening in the wall, whereupon I spied him reclining. Although I couldn't discern whether he was actually dead or just snoozing, I won't be doing so again.

'Cause I found out old man, I found out old man I found out old man, that old man Mose is dead I'm tellin' you, I found out old man, what it's all about, old man I found out old man, that old man Mose is dead
I've figured out that Mose has truly passed away.

Now, we found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out he's dead, oh We found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out Mose kicked the bucket We found out he's dead
Through investigation, we determined that Mose is no more.

Old man Mose is dead
Old Man Mose has departed this life.

Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: LOUIS ARMSTRONG, LOUIS ZILNER RANDOLPH

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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