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.
Swing That Music
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My heart gives a chil,
I feel such a thrill,
My feet won't keep still,
When they swing that music.
Rythm like that puts me in a trance,
Oh you can't blame me for wanting to dance.
It must be just grand,
To play in a band,
When they swing that music.
Oh I'm as happy as can be,
When they swing that music for me.
With my eyes I can see,
All of the glee,
The bees in the knees,
When they swing that music.
Rythm like that don't do nothing but make me smile,
Oh you can't blame me if I'm gone for a while.
From what has been said,
I'm getting ahead,
I'll swing you to bed,
Once they've swung that music.
Oh I'm as happy as can be,
When you swing that music with me.
My head feels a buzz,
A reason there was,
I feel buzz because,
They're swinging that music.
Rythm like that sends me up the wall,
Oh you can't blame me if I don't wanna fall.
From what I have heard,
It must mean the world,
To dance with that girl,
When they swing that music.
Oh I'm happy as can be,
When you swing that music with me.
The song "Swing That Music" by Louis Armstrong is an upbeat and lively tune about the joy of swing music. The lyrics express the excitement and energy that the music brings to the singer, making them want to dance and feel happy. The inescapable rhythm of the music is compared to a trance-like state that the singer finds themselves in, unable to resist the urge to move and be part of the experience.
One interesting aspect of the lyrics is the way the singer talks about the music as if it has a life of its own. It is not just something that people create or play, but something that can move on its own and affect people in a powerful way. The singer even suggests that the music might be capable of sending them to sleep, making it sound almost magical in its properties.
Line by Line Meaning
My heart gives a chil,
I feel a chill in my heart
I feel such a thrill,
I feel excited
My feet won't keep still,
I can't stop moving my feet
When they swing that music.
When I hear that style of music.
Rhythm like that puts me in a trance,
That style of rhythm can mesmerize me
Oh you can't blame me for wanting to dance.
I can't resist dancing to that rhythm
From what I understand,
As far as I know,
It must be just grand,
It must be wonderful,
To play in a band,
To perform in a musical group,
When they swing that music.
When playing that particular type of music.
Oh I'm as happy as can be,
I'm extremely happy
When they swing that music for me.
When that style of music is played for me.
With my eyes I can see,
I can clearly see,
All of the glee,
All of the joy,
The bees in the knees,
The feeling of excitement in my knees,
When they swing that music.
When that style of music is played.
Rhythm like that don't do nothing but make me smile,
That kind of rhythm only makes me smile.
Oh you can't blame me if I'm gone for a while.
You can't judge me for losing track of time and getting caught up in the music.
From what has been said,
According to what I've heard,
I'm getting ahead,
I'm jumping to conclusions,
I'll swing you to bed,
I'll dance you to sleep,
Once they've swung that music.
When that style of music has been played.
Oh I'm as happy as can be,
I'm extremely happy
When you swing that music with me.
When we both dance to that style of music together.
My head feels a buzz,
I feel a buzzing sensation in my head
A reason there was,
There was a reason for that buzz
I feel buzz because,
I feel that buzz because
They're swinging that music.
That particular style of music is being played.
Rhythm like that sends me up the wall,
That kind of rhythm drives me crazy with excitement.
Oh you can't blame me if I don't wanna fall.
You can't judge me for getting carried away and not wanting to stop.
From what I have heard,
Based on what I've been told,
It must mean the world,
It must be incredibly important,
To dance with that girl,
To have the chance to dance with that woman,
When they swing that music.
When that particular style of music is being played.
Oh I'm happy as can be,
I'm extremely happy
When you swing that music with me.
When we both dance to that style of music together.
Contributed by Natalie I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Oskar
Louis Armstrong's music just makes me feel so at home and warm. I really don't know how to explain it, it just has such a "swingy" vibe. Thumbs up for people who know what i mean. : )
Dave Hunter
This song always brings tears to my eyes... Louis is playing his heart out, and the groove just overwhelms me, This is music that speaks to the heart. Fantastic.
Dave Hunter
I don't think that there's anyone in today's music scene who can groove as hard as these guys. Pops played those high C's like it was nothin'. He is amazing. This is one of my Top Five songs of all time.
Bryan Stillman
I feel that a lot of modern recordings and bands are just as technically admirable, but are a little too "correct" if that makes any sense? Still love 'em, but I find myself falling into the groove a lot easier with older recordings. Just my personal taste, though.
Marek Zamazal
@MiniMakuta I know.
MiniMakuta
@Marek Zamazal people can play them, but I don't think anyone has actually matched Louis' unique sound in the upper register.
Marek Zamazal
Wilclyffe Gordon :)
Max Fab
Wynton Marsalis
tasogare82
One of the greatest trumpet solos ever!
RatPfink66
0:49 That thing there...the thing the sax section and the bass do together...I have never heard anything quite like it. It is amazing. It is very nearly synesthetic. It could be the soundtrack to some herky-jerky German Expressionist Art Deco whirligig with flashing glyphs and whirling clock hands and crazily spinning springs. And yet it is virtually "filler" compared to the rest of the performance.