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.
The Music Goes Round And Around
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The music go down 'round all day
And it comes out here
Now you push the first valve down
The music goes down and 'round all day
And it comes out here
Oh, you push the middle valve down
Listen to the jazz come out
Push the other valve down
The music go down 'round all day
And it comes up here
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong's song "The Music Goes Round and Round" describes the cycle of music - how it is produced, travels around us all day, and comes back to us in a seamless loop. It begins with "you blow through here," which refers to blowing air through the instrument of the trumpet, setting off the cycle of music. From there, the lyrics go on to talk about how pushing the different valves on the trumpet creates different sounds which again go around us all day.
The repetition of the phrase "the music goes down 'round all day" emphasizes the continuous cycle of music that never stops. The last line of the song, "And it comes up here," indicates that the music comes back to the listener, bringing the cycle of music to full circle. The lyrics emphasize the joy of experiencing music in its purest form, as something that endlessly surrounds us.
Overall, "The Music Goes Round and Round" is a celebratory and playful song that captures the spirit of Jazz music – something that can only be experienced, not fully explained.
Line by Line Meaning
Now you blow through here
When you blow through this particular valve, the music starts its journey.
The music go down 'round all day
The journey of the music involves going around many bends for a long period of time.
And it comes out here
Finally, the music makes its way out of the instrument at this point.
Now you push the first valve down
By pushing this valve, the music's path is altered, leading it to flow in a different direction.
The music goes down and 'round all day
Once again, the music continues its journey by going around many turns, but this time in a different direction.
Oh, you push the middle valve down
When the middle valve is pushed down, the music's path changes again, this time to move in a downward trajectory.
The music goes down around below, below, below
Not only does the music continue to travel around many turns, but it also plunges further down, continuing its elongated journey.
Listen to the jazz come out
This is a call-to-action to listen to the beautiful jazz music being produced by this instrument.
Push the other valve down
By pushing another valve, the music's journey continues, but in yet another different direction than before.
And it comes up here
Finally, the music reaches its destination and emerges from the instrument, as this particular valve leads the music upward to the surface.
Writer(s): Farley Edward J, Hodgson William, Riley Mike
Contributed by Lillian G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Sterling Forrester
This recording holds a special significance for me. When I was a toddler, I would drag out my Father's collection of 78 rpm records and spread them around the floor. And, as I have been told by my Mother, I would proceed to dance on the records as one of them was played which was a big no-no. So they bought me a little yellow record player that would play 45 rpm records and gave me my own records when I was only about 3 to keep me away from their record collection. One of those 45 rpm records was this recording by Louis Armstrong. Just like that little record player, "The music goes round and round" in my head. So began my life with music which I have been composing for 55 years. I'm here on YouTube if you want to look me up.