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.
Salt Lake City Blues
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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Oh, why did I go there
I should have stayed down in New Orleans
And never gone nowhere
A girl with sweet talk from Kansas City
Her words were sweet like wine
She bought him diamonds and limousines
When night comes a-creepin'
For me there's no sleeping
What she sews, she'll be reapin'
'Cause she done me wrong
I cried my heart out in Salt Lake City
The day I heard the news
He left me deep in my solitude
With a Salt Lake City blues
With a Salt Lake City blues
The song "I lost my sugar in Salt Lake City" is a jazz classic performed by Louis Armstrong in the 1940s. The lyrics depict the sorrow and regret a man feels after losing his lover to someone else in Salt Lake City. The first verse sets the stage for the story as the singer wishes he never left New Orleans, where his lover wouldn't have been stolen away from him. The second verse introduces the woman from Kansas City whose sweet talk wins the heart of the singer's lover. As a result, she becomes the target of the singer's anger as he sings, "What she sews, she'll be reapin' 'cause she done me wrong."
The chorus of the song reveals the depth of the singer's despair. He sings, "When night comes a-creepin', For me there's no sleeping," signifying his sadness and heartbreak. The final verse tells us how much the singer misses his lover and how the Salt Lake City blues have taken hold of him, leaving him in deep solitude.
The lyrics accentuate the pain of loss and the futility of trying to move on when one's heart is broken. The simple yet soulful lyrics, when combined with Louis Armstrong's exceptional vocal range and trumpet playing, make this song a classic in the jazz world.
Line by Line Meaning
I lost my sugar in Salt Lake City
I lost my beloved partner in Salt Lake City
Oh, why did I go there
I regret traveling to Salt Lake City
I should have stayed down in New Orleans
I should have remained in New Orleans
And never gone nowhere
And avoided traveling around aimlessly
A girl with sweet talk from Kansas City
A woman from Kansas City with a charming speech
Her words were sweet like wine
Her words were flattering and enjoyable to hear
She bought him diamonds and limousines
She lavished him with expensive gifts
She stole that man o' mine
She took away my love
When night comes a-creepin'
When nightfall is approaching
For me there's no sleeping
I cannot sleep
What she sews, she'll be reapin'
What goes around, comes around
'Cause she done me wrong
Because she betrayed me
I cried my heart out in Salt Lake City
I was inconsolable when I heard the news in Salt Lake City
The day I heard the news
When I received the news about my lost love
He left me deep in my solitude
He left me lonely and isolated
With a Salt Lake City blues
Feeling dejected and heartbroken in Salt Lake City
Lyrics © SHAPIRO BERNSTEIN & CO. INC., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: JOHNNY LANGE, LEON RENE
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