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.
Sweethearts on Parade
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
They go marching through
Oh sweethearts on parade
And how i cried
As they passed me by
Those sweethearts on parade
Well they wont even look
Cause it takes more than one to join the army of love
So how i pine
Just to fall in line
With those sweethearts on parade
Sweethearts on parade
Sweethearts on parade
Sweethearts on parade
Sweethearts on parade
Sweethearts on parade
The lyrics to Louis Armstrong & His Sebastian New Cotton Club Orchestra's song Sweethearts on Parade describe the singer's desire to join a group of couples who are parading through the street. He watches them march by two by two, and cries as they pass him because he longs to join their ranks. However, he knows that it takes more than one to join the "army of love" and the couples won't even look his way. The singer pines for the opportunity to join the parade and be a part of the group, but for now he can only watch from the sidelines.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh two by two
Pairs of people marching together
They go marching through
They parade through the streets
Oh sweethearts on parade
Couples in love taking part in the parade
And how i cried
The singer is emotional and affected by the sight of the couples
As they passed me by
The couples are moving past the singer's location
Those sweethearts on parade
The singer is describing the couples in love in the parade
I'd love to join them but
The singer wishes to be part of the parade but is unable to
Well they wont even look
The couples in the parade are not paying attention to anyone outside the parade
Cause it takes more than one to join the army of love
The singer is reflecting on how being in love requires more than just one person
So how i pine
The singer longs to be part of the parade
Just to fall in line
The singer wants to be part of the parade procession
With those sweethearts on parade
The singer is talking about the couples in the parade who are in love
Sweethearts on parade
Repetitive phrase emphasizing the couples in love taking part in the parade
Sweethearts on parade
Repetitive phrase emphasizing the couples in love taking part in the parade
Sweethearts on parade
Repetitive phrase emphasizing the couples in love taking part in the parade
Sweethearts on parade
Repetitive phrase emphasizing the couples in love taking part in the parade
Sweethearts on parade
Repetitive phrase emphasizing the couples in love taking part in the parade
Contributed by Andrew L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@Trombonology
My favorite version of this gem. The great Louis Armstrong had an unrivaled sense of architecture and balance in both his playing and singing. I don't know if that can be taught at Julliard; in his case, I think we must conclude that he was just born with it, as the waif's home at which he acquired his first musical tutelage most certainly didn't show him how to construct a solo or jazz vocal of such flawless timing and proportion, not to mention feeling. ... The most important musical figure of the 20th century.
@henridelagardere264
1% Gabriel, 1% Prometheus, 98% Pops.
@MrKlemps
Not at Juilliard but we should never forget when enjoying the qualities cited, that Pops began collecting and listening to opera recordings as early as 1920 or perhaps even earlier when he bought his first phonograph.
@Django44
Well said indeed. To add to your insightful remarks, Benny Green (jazz saxaphone, 1927-1998) commented "Anybody could learn what Louis Armstrong knows about music in a few weeks. Nobody could learn to play like him in a thousand years."
@Trombonology
@@Django44 So true! Sage words from one great musician about another.
@jeffreyberkin-ez3uh
Great sound!😊
@AnnieVanAuken
Recorded December 23, 1930
PERSONNEL: Louis Armstrong (trumpet, vocal); Leon Elkins (trumpet); Lawrence Brown (trombone); Leon Herriford, Willie Stark (alto sax); William Franz (tenor sax); L.Z. Cooper or Harvey Brooks (piano); Ceele Burke (banjo, steel guitar); Reggie Jones (upright bass); Lionel Hampton (drums).
Recorded for OKEH. (Source: The Smithsonian Collection of Classic Jazz)
@kafenwar
Reggie Jones is bowing an upright bass.
@AnnieVanAuken
@@kafenwar Thanks. Corrected.
@danielarick2105
People would certainly be surprised by the fact that Armstrong was a big Lombardo fan. When both bands were in Chicago in the twenties Armstrong played on the north side Lombardo the south, and Armstrong would race home to catch the end of Lombardos' radio program. In fact Armstrong had his own take on Lombardos' famous slogan ,saying his was "The hottest music this side of Hades", this is in Lombardos' autobiography Auld Acquaintance.