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.
Rockin
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Fetch me that gin, son, 'fore I tan your hide
Can't get from this cabin, goin' nowhere
Just set me here grabbin' at the flies 'round this rockin' chair
My dear old aunt Harriet--in Heaven she be
Send me, sweet chariot, for the end of the trouble I see
Old rockin' chair gets it--Judgement Day is here
Old rockin' chair's got me, son, (rocking chair got you, father)
My cane by my side, (Yes, your cane by your side)
Now fetch me a little gin, son (ain't got no gin, father)
What? 'Fore I tan your hide, now, (you're gonna tan my hide)
You know I can't get from this old cabin (What cabin? Joking)
I ain't goin' nowhere (Why ain't you goin' nowhere?)
Just sittin' me here grabbin' (grabbin')
At the flies round this old rockin' chair (rockin' chair)
Now you remember dear old aunt Harriet (aunt Harriet)
How long in Heaven she be? (She's up in Heaven)
Send me down, send me down, sweet (sweet chariot) chariot
End of this trouble I see (I see, daddy)
Old rockin' chair gets it, son (rocking chair get it, father)
Judgement Day is here too (your Judgement Day is here)
Chained to my rockin', old rockin' chair
The song "Rockin' Chair" painted a picture of old age and the weariness that comes with it. It starts with the singer expressing how stuck he is in his cabin; he can't go anywhere, he's just grabbing flies around his rocking chair. The singer asks for some gin, but the son responds that there's no gin available. The singer threatens to tan the son's hide if he doesn't get him some gin. The second verse implies that the singer is aware of the end of his life. He asks for a sweet chariot to be sent down from Heaven to take him away from his troubles. Finally, in the last verse, the singer realizes that his judgment day is coming, and he is chained to his rocking chair, stuck and waiting for his inevitable end.
The song is a reflection of the struggles that come with old age. The singer's weariness is palpable, and his request for a drink indicates a desire to numb the pain, to escape his physical and emotional limitations. However, it's interesting to note that the singer is aware of his mortality and is ready for his "sweet chariot" to take him away. The song is a poignant reminder of the inevitability of aging and the importance of cherishing the time we have.
Line by Line Meaning
Old rockin' chair's got me, son,
The father is stuck in this old rocking chair
My cane by my side,
The father has his cane next to him
Now fetch me a little gin, son
The father wants his son to bring him some gin, or else he'll get angry
What? 'Fore I tan your hide, now,
The father is threatening to hit his son if he doesn't get the gin
You know I can't get from this old cabin
The father is trapped in this cabin, unable to leave
I ain't goin' nowhere
The father has resigned himself to his situation
Just sittin' me here grabbin'
The father is swatting at the flies around him
At the flies round this old rockin' chair
The father is annoyed by the flies that keep bothering him
Now you remember dear old aunt Harriet
The father is reminding his son of his dead aunt Harriet
How long in Heaven she be?
The father is wondering how long his aunt has been in heaven
Send me down, send me down, sweet chariot
The father is asking God to take him to heaven
End of this trouble I see
The father is ready for his pain and suffering to end
Old rockin' chair gets it, son
The father knows his time is running out
Judgement Day is here too
The father knows that he's going to face judgement for his life
Chained to my rockin', old rockin' chair
The father feels trapped and stuck in his old rocking chair
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing
Written by: HOAGY CARMICHAEL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Born on South Side
First recording of an integrated duet.
Shirley Mears
Fantastic!
Bruce R
Thank you! Thank you!
I thank you for posting this.
David Todora
Hoagy ain’t singing it. But he wrote the song. He also graduated from law school in 1899. But, he wanted to write songs instead. Hundreds of them. He is no Harry Mills on this Song. I still love this song. Thanks 🙏
Swing Blues Jazz 78 RPM
Thank you very much for your comment. You are correct that this is a wonderful recording. However, Hoagy Carmichael is the vocalist here in this recording. In "The Discography of American Historical Recordings," he is listed as the vocalist on this recording, along with Louis Armstrong. [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/index.php/matrix/detail/2000212339/W403496-Rockin_chair]
Another reference is found on Wikipedia: "Louis Armstrong recorded it with Hoagy Carmichael on vocals on December 13, 1929 at Okeh studios" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockin%27_Chair_(1929_song)]
Claude
And the law firm he worked at fired him, so he might as well go to New York and try his hand at music.
He was actually born in 1899 and got his law degree in 1926.
Bayadere
Wow! Just two lines and so much wrong.