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.
Tomorrow Night
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's nothing I can do
Baby, after the night, I can't make you stay
After you telling me you're through
Now after the night, there'll be somebody new
Loving these gone red
Tomorrow'll be another idle day for me
Now you hold your life
Having your fun
Oh, baby, I'll be the lonely one
I'll be
After night, you'll go your way
Thinking you've done right
Oh, baby, I'll be here left all alone
Mama, after the night
Louis Armstrong's song Tomorrow Night is a melancholic tune about lost love and heartbreak. The first two lines set the solemn tone for the rest of the song as Armstrong sings about a lover who has gone away leaving him with nothing he can do to bring her back. The third line implies resignation to fate, as he accepts that he cannot make her stay, no matter what he does. The final line of the first verse references the heart-wrenching moment when she told him she was through, driving home the fact that their love has irretrievably ended.
In the second verse, Armstrong sings about the aftermath of the night when she left. He imagines her moving on to somebody new, while he is left to idle away with a broken heart. He is angst-ridden with thoughts of her having fun, while he is left to feel lonely and dejected. The chorus repeats the sentiments of the first verse, expressing how the night has passed, but he is still left to deal with his heartbreak.
Several interpretations of the song exist, but one common explanation is that it is about a man dealing with a breakup. The lyrics suggest that the woman has left him feeling heartbroken, and he now must face the challenges of living without her. The song's somber tone and melancholic rhythm encapsulate the feelings of sadness and loneliness experienced in the aftermath of a breakup.
Line by Line Meaning
After night, you've gone away
Once the night ends, you leave my life
There's nothing I can do
I'm powerless to keep you here
Baby, after the night, I can't make you stay
Even if I wanted to, I can't make you stay after we spend the night together
After you telling me you're through
I know you're finished with me
Now after the night, there'll be somebody new
After our romantic night, someone else will take your place
Loving these gone red
My face will be flushed with the memories of the past love
Tomorrow'll be another idle day for me
Every day without you is empty and lacking meaning
After you've gone away
Your absence in my life is felt deeply
Now you hold your life
You have control over your own life and your decisions
Having your fun
You're out having a good time without me
Oh, baby, I'll be the lonely one
Despite you having fun, I am left alone and filled with loneliness
I'll be
I will remain in this state of sadness and loneliness
After night, you'll go your way
After our night together, you will continue with your life
Thinking you've done right
You believe that leaving me is the right choice
Oh, baby, I'll be here left all alone
Despite your departure, I will be left behind, feeling lonely and abandoned
Mama, after the night
Even after our night together, I am still left with a sense of emptiness
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CLARENCE WILLIAMS, LILLIAN HARDIN ARMSTRONG, RALPH MATTHEWS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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