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 Nearness of You
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, ooh no
It's just the nearness of you
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
Yes, just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight, yeah baby
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
In Louis Armstrong's song "The Nearness of You," the singer expresses that it is not objects or things that excite him, but rather it is the presence and closeness of his lover that thrills and delights him. He explains that when he holds his lover close to him, all of his wildest dreams come true. The lyrics convey a sense of desire, passion, and intimacy that can be found in a romantic relationship. The singer emphasizes that it is not the materialistic things that make him happy but the emotional connection he has with his lover.
The lyrics are filled with metaphors that symbolize the emotions and sensations that the singer is feeling. The moon is used as a symbol of beauty, but it is not the only thing that can excite the singer. The sweet conversation between the lovers is not the only thing that brings him sensations. The singer's love is not based on superficial traits but rather on a deeper connection.
"The Nearness of You" is a classic love standard that has been covered by many artists, including Ella Fitzgerald, Norah Jones, and Rod Stewart. The song was written in 1938 by Hoagy Carmichael and Ned Washington and has become a timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
It's not the pale moon that excites me
I am not thrilled by the sight of the pale moon in the sky
That thrills and delights me, oh no
I do not find any excitement or joy in the pale moon
It's just the nearness of you
The only thing that brings me joy and excitement is being near to you
It isn't your sweet conversation
I am not moved by your words or what you say to me
That brings this sensation, oh no
Your words do not cause this feeling inside of me
Yes, just the nearness of you
It's only when I am close to you that I experience this feeling
When you're in my arms
When I am holding you close
And I feel you so close to me
When I can feel your body and your breath right next to me
All my wildest dreams come true
At that moment, everything feels perfect and all my dreams have come true
I need no soft lights
I don't require any additional lighting to set the mood
To enchant me
To attract or captivate me
If you'll only grant me
If you would allow me
The right to hold you ever so tight
The permission to hold you tightly
Yeah baby
An affectionate term used to show endearment
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
And to experience the feeling of being close to you even in the darkness of the night
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Hoagy Carmichael, Ned Washington
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@kpr21c
Its not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
Its just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
Its just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
and I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights to enchant me
If you'll only grant me the right
To hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night
the nearness of you.
@adindabhadrika
It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
It's not the pale moon that excites me
That thrills and delights me, oh no
It's just the nearness of you
It isn't your sweet conversation
That brings this sensation, oh no
Yes, just the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight, yeah baby
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
When you're in my arms
And I feel you so close to me
All my wildest dreams come true
I need no soft lights
To enchant me
If you'll only grant me
The right to hold you ever so tight
And to feel in the night the nearness of you
@Poopaloo55
Our first dance at our wedding in '88. The song said it all then and it still works...24 years this month and counting...
@theanimalproject5011
How is 34 years going?
@nosotrosyeas8949
@@theanimalproject5011 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺
@erikxs
Congratiulation! 🎉
@cyrillefrei8656
@@theanimalproject5011 rgfgk0d
@cyrillefrei8656
@@erikxs t
@stanmans
She’s in heaven now and teaching the angels how to sing.
Ella is the definition of perfection. The greatest
musical thrill for me was watching and listening to her in concert many years ago.
@olebirgerpedersen
I heard her in Nizza many years ago and still to day I listen to her with great plesure.
@leonarddonald2093
I saw her at the Fairmont in San Francisco
@lalarandela
This is very good, too: https://youtu.be/dG7wbUhKENM?si=7lCP4eijOPhEs-Ax