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.
Short But Sweet
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
hoy que mas triste me siento
me abandona me abandona
el amor que yo mas quiero
el amor que me decias
las cosas que me ofrecias
fue mentira fue mentira
en verdad no me querias
que mala estrella me guia
voy llorando mi desgracia
las noches las hago dias
voy llorando mi deagracia
la noches las hago dias
si las copas traen consuelo
trae mas vino cantinero
ya no es mia ya no es mia
pero yo aun la quiero
he tratado de olvidarla
entre copas y parrandas
mas no puedo mas no puedo
mi castigo es recordarla
que mala suerte la mia
que mala estrella me guia
voy llorando mi desgracia
las noches las hago dias
voy llorando mi desgracia
las noches las hago dias
The lyrics to Louis Armstrong's song Short But Sweet embody the feeling of heartbreak and abandonment. The singer says that they feel lonelier and sadder than ever before as they lament the loss of the love they once held dear. They recall the promises that were made to them, the things that were offered, and the words of affection that were spoken. But now, they realize that it was all a lie, and their love was never truly reciprocated. The singer is left alone and heartbroken, unable to forget or move on from their pain.
Throughout the song, there is a sense of hopelessness and despair. The singer is stuck in a cycle of drinking and partying, trying to forget their sorrow but ultimately failing. They know that their love is lost to them, but they still cling to the memory of it, unable to let go. The phrase "que mala suerte la mia, que mala estrella me guia" (what bad luck I have, what bad star guides me) repeats throughout the song, emphasizing the singer's sense of hopelessness and their belief that their fate is sealed.
Overall, the lyrics of Short But Sweet encapsulate the pain and sorrow that can accompany lost love, and the difficulty of moving on from that pain.
Line by Line Meaning
hoy que mas solo me encuentro
Today I feel more alone than ever
hoy que mas triste me siento
Today I feel sadder than ever
me abandona me abandona
She abandons me, she abandons me
el amor que yo mas quiero
The love that I most cherish
el amor que me decias
The love that you told me about
las cosas que me ofrecias
The things that you promised me
fue mentira fue mentira
It was a lie, it was a lie
en verdad no me querias
You truly didn't love me
que mala suerte la mia
What a bad luck I have
que mala estrella me guia
What a bad star guides me
voy llorando mi desgracia
I am crying over my misfortune
las noches las hago dias
I turn nights into days
si las copas traen consuelo
If drinks bring consolation
trae mas vino cantinero
Bring more wine, bartender
ya no es mia ya no es mia
She's not mine, she's not mine anymore
pero yo aun la quiero
But I still love her
he tratado de olvidarla
I have tried to forget her
entre copas y parrandas
Between drinking and partying
mas no puedo mas no puedo
But I can't, I can't
mi castigo es recordarla
My punishment is to remember her
Contributed by Lila P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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