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.
Oops
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The moment that we met my heart went oops
I never will forget my heart turned hoops
The moment that I met you
Oops, my feet went oops
I nearly took a spill--my knees went oops
They shook up it until my head went oops
I was going for a very
Choo'd call a solitary sorta stroll
Just a twiddle of my thumb
When I heard a lot of drums begun to pound and roar
And, oops, my heart went oops
It went into a spin of loop-di-loops
You must've thought me kin to nincompoops
The silly way I acted
Of course you wouldn't know
That you were so a-glow
And I was so attracted
But, baby, take a bow
My heart is going oops right now
Pops, you are the tops
The moment that my eyes behold your chops
You lift me to the skies, my heart flip-flops
You shouldn't make it make like that
Bell, my buxom bell
I'm still in love with you 'cause truth tell
You always kinda knew that we would gel
'Cause jam could never shake like that
I was going for a frantic
But completely unromantic sorta drive
But I knew you wouldn't quit
When I dug you and you hit me with that old time jive
(Sing it, Ella)
Then, oops, my heart went oops
Sitting on the stoops, the local droops
They nearly flipped their tops, I mean, in groups
The silly way we acted
Of course they couldn't know
That you were so a-glow
And I was so attracted
Yes, baby, take a bow
My heart is going oops, oops, oops, oops, oops, right now
Oops, oops, then
Louis Armstrong’s song “Oops!” is about the feeling of love at first sight. The singer expresses the moment of meeting his love interest and how his heart and feet both reacted, saying “my heart went oops” and “my feet went oops”. His heart is in a spin of “loop-di-loops” and he nearly takes a spill as his knees and head also react. He, then, mentions how he was just walking alone, when he heard “drums begun to pound and roar” which made his heart race.
He describes his love interest as someone who always knew they would gel and describes his feeling of still being in love with her being true. He mentions how they both acted silly in front of others (local droops) but he was too attracted to his love interest, unaware of others around them. He ends the song by stating that his heart is “going oops right now,” indicating that he is still very much in love with her.
Line by Line Meaning
Oops, my heart went oops
The moment I saw you, my heart skipped a beat
The moment that we met my heart went oops
My heart skipped a beat as soon as we met
I never will forget my heart turned hoops
I will always remember how my heart was racing
The moment that I met you
Since we met, I can't stop thinking about you
Oops, my feet went oops
I stumbled and nearly fell because of you
I nearly took a spill--my knees went oops
I stumbled so badly that my knees gave out
They shook up it until my head went oops
I was so nervous that I couldn't think straight
You must'nt let it get you
You can't let your nerves get the best of you
I was going for a very
I was just trying to take a casual walk
Choo'd call a solitary sorta stroll
I was taking a lonely walk by myself
Just a twiddle of my thumb
I was just twiddling my thumbs, feeling bored
When I heard a lot of drums begun to pound and roar
Then suddenly, I heard the sound of music
And, oops, my heart went oops
And that's when my heart skipped a beat
It went into a spin of loop-di-loops
My heart was racing so fast that I felt dizzy
You must've thought me kin to nincompoops
You probably thought I was acting silly
The silly way I acted
I was acting like a fool because of you
Of course you wouldn't know
You didn't realize what your impact on me was
That you were so a-glow
You were glowing and shining, looking beautiful
And I was so attracted
I was so smitten with you
But, baby, take a bow
But, you deserve to be congratulated for your impact
My heart is going oops right now
I still get butterflies in my stomach thinking about you
Pops, you are the tops
Pops, you are amazing
The moment that my eyes behold your chops
As soon as I saw you perform, I was blown away
You lift me to the skies, my heart flip-flops
Your performance makes me feel like I'm flying
You shouldn't make it make like that
You shouldn't be such a great performer and make me feel this way
Bell, my buxom bell
Bell, you beautiful and curvy woman
I'm still in love with you 'cause truth tell
I'm still in love with you because I can't help it
You always kinda knew that we would gel
You always knew that we would make a great match
'Cause jam could never shake like that
We have a special connection that can't be broken
I was going for a frantic
I was trying to drive in a fast and chaotic way
But completely unromantic sorta drive
I was driving in a way that was not ideal for a date
But I knew you wouldn't quit
But I knew that you would stick with me no matter what
When I dug you and you hit me with that old time jive
When I found out that we had a shared love for old music
Then, oops, my heart went oops
Then, my heart skipped a beat once again
Sitting on the stoops, the local droops
Sitting on the stairs with the locals who were feeling down
They nearly flipped their tops, I mean, in groups
They were even more excited than I was
Yes, baby, take a bow
Yes, you deserve to be congratulated
My heart is going oops, oops, oops, oops, oops, right now
I'm still head-over-heels in love with you
Oops, oops, then
My heart is still racing
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Peermusic Publishing
Written by: JOHNNY MERCER, HARRY WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@constantinestavrakov4034
Soo good 🫠 loving it ❣️
@ajrockinshockin2893
I love this tune. 😀
@kylehancock1458
Expand the description on this page and you will see the publisher calls the song subpar. Hmmm. I would call "Oops" delightful, bubbly, joyful, playful and effervescent... but not subpar.
@tripdownmemorylane
That's true, Not sure why I wrote that way back when. All I can say is Oops! LOL
@tripdownmemorylane
I added a version on my channel by Margaret Whiting. The song is growing on me!
@dwannbrown280
@A Trip Down Memory Lane 😂😂
@marthagezahane6880
Wow
@bogdanm251
Some lyrics would be awesome on this video
@tripdownmemorylane
They should be available elsewhere on the internet