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.
Perdidi Street Blues
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To the Mississippi?
We'll take a trip to the land of dreams
Blowing down the river, down to New Orleans
The band is there to meet us
Old friends to greet us
That's where the line and the dark folks meet
I said, Basin Street, Basin Street
Where the elite always meet
Down in New Orleans, the land of dreams
You'll never know how nice it seems
Or just how much it really means
Just to be, yes, siree, in New Orleans
The land of dreams where I can lose
My Basin Street blues
Now, you're glad you came with me
Down the Mississippi
We took a trip in a land of dreams
And floated down the river down to New Orleans
Where to, Basin Street, Basin Street
Where the elite always meet
Down in New Orleans, the land of dreams
You'll never know how, how much it seems
Or just how much it really means
Just to be, yes, siree, yeah, New Orleans
The land of dreams where I can lose
My Basin Street blues
The song Basin Street Blues by Louis Armstrong and His Savoy Ballroom Five is a classic and enduring jazz tune that transports the listener on a journey down the Mississippi to New Orleans. The song is a celebration of the vibrant and diverse culture of New Orleans, referring to it as the "land of dreams" where people of all backgrounds and races come together and experience a kind of utopia. The song imagines a place where people can escape their worries and "lose" their "Basin Street blues." Basin Street, which is now a tourist destination, was historically a hub of nightlife, with jazz clubs and bars lining the street.
As the song progresses, Armstrong invokes the image of the band waiting on the other end of the journey to greet and play for the travelers. The references to "dark folks" and "elite" suggest the song is speaking to a time of segregation in the United States, but also implies that in New Orleans, these lines are blurred in a way that may not have been typical for the era. The song's joyful chorus, "Basin Street, where the elite always meet, Down in New Orleans, the land of dreams," speaks to the excitement and possibility of the city, especially for those who may not have had access to luxury or privilege elsewhere.
Line by Line Meaning
Now won't you come along with me
Let's go on an adventure together
To the Mississippi?
We're heading to the Mississippi River
We'll take a trip to the land of dreams
We're going to New Orleans, a place of wonder and excitement
Blowing down the river, down to New Orleans
We'll take a relaxing boat ride down the river to get there
The band is there to meet us
Our friends and the local band are waiting for us in New Orleans
Old friends to greet us
We have friends in New Orleans who we haven't seen in a while
That's where the line and the dark folks meet
New Orleans is a place of diverse cultures where people come together
A heaven on earth, they call it Basin Street
Basin Street is a magical place - a paradise on earth
I said, Basin Street, Basin Street
I keep repeating the name of this amazing place
Where the elite always meet
It's where the cool, distinguished people hang out
You'll never know how nice it seems
It's hard to describe how wonderful Basin Street really is
Or just how much it really means
It's impossible to comprehend just how much this place really matters to me
Just to be, yes, siree, in New Orleans
Being in New Orleans makes me feel alive and happy
The land of dreams where I can lose
New Orleans is the place where I can forget all my worries
My Basin Street blues
My sadness and problems associated with leaving this incredible place
Now, you're glad you came with me
I'm sure you're happy you decided to come with me on this adventure
Where to, Basin Street, Basin Street
We're headed back to Basin Street, the best place in New Orleans
You'll never know how, how much it seems
It's almost impossible to describe how much Basin Street means to me!
Just to be, yes, siree, yeah, New Orleans
Just being in New Orleans is wonderful - and I mean it!
The land of dreams where I can lose
New Orleans is still the place where I can forget all my worries
My Basin Street blues
But now I'm sad again because I'm leaving
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Spencer Williams
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
SkunkBunk
The clarinet solo in the beginning is the most amazing thing I've ever heard.
Tenzin Khan
That clarinet makes me think about Sidney Bechet.
Tom Detroit01
@Tenzin Khan it is Sidney Bechet
emilianoturazzi
you should have to listen to Johnny Dodds' Perdido Street Blues
Vern Marshall
A great recording, and as Bluesgerd and Telfer have pointed out, make sure you're aware original Johnny Dodds recording - 2 very different approaches and both of them wonderful. Amongst the many highlights, maybe the highest for me is the way Bechet comes growling in at the end with a 'let's close this out!'
Antonio Fernando Lendini
Sensacional, espetacular
Elvis Falconi
this song is so great... is my life!!!! the sound is excepcional....
amparo ospina
Fabuloso
AK cristo
best song ever!! After "perdido" you can´t find track like this again
Bluesgerd47 Wauker
I recommend you to listen to the original version of Johnny Dodds! As many musicians throughout the world I`ve tried in my young years to cover it originally: As far as I know no one ever succeeded. It is absolutely unbelievable how Johnny could play!