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.
Unchained Melody
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much.
Are you still mine?
I need your love, I need your love.
God speed your love to me.
Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
To the open arms of the sea.
Lonely rivers sigh, "Wait for me, wait for me.
I'll be coming home, wait for me."
Oh, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much.
Are you still mine?
I need your love, I need your love.
God speed your love to me.
Louis Armstrong's version of Unchained Melody is a poignant and heart-wrenching love song that deeply expresses the longing and emptiness that comes with separation from a loved one. The introduction opens up with Armstrong's rich, soothing voice crooning "oh my love, my darling," immediately encompassing the listener in a tender and vulnerable atmosphere. The persona expresses their intense yearning for their significant other, conveying both the physical and emotional deprivation they feel, as if parched in the desert for an eternity. They plead for their partner's love with the refrain, "I need your love, God speed your love to me."
The second verse paints a vivid picture of a river that leads to the vast and open sea, a metaphor representing the persona's situation. They identify with the river that longs to flow towards the sea and embrace it with open arms. The river sighs, begging to be waited for, promising to come back and reunite with the sea, their home. The persona feels the same, broken, and incomplete without their love, and just like the river, they pledge to come back home to their lover's welcoming arms. The song's powerful and emotional message is reinforced by Armstrong's deep, soulful voice.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh, my love, my darling
The singer is addressing his beloved with a tender term of endearment.
I've hungered for your touch
The singer deeply desires physical closeness with his beloved.
A long, lonely time
The singer has been separated from his beloved for quite some time, which has been a source of loneliness.
And time goes by so slowly
In the singer's perception, time seems to be moving slowly, as if it's dragging on.
And time can do so much.
The passage of time has great power to affect one's emotions and circumstances.
Are you still mine?
The singer is expressing uncertainty about whether his beloved is still committed to their relationship.
I need your love, I need your love.
The singer is emphasizing his dependency on his beloved's love and affection.
God speed your love to me.
The singer is asking for divine intervention to bring his beloved's love back to him as soon as possible.
Lonely rivers flow to the sea, to the sea,
The singer is using a metaphor to describe the course of unrequited love, which inevitably leads to a dead end.
To the open arms of the sea.
The sea is portrayed as a welcoming entity that receives the lonely rivers.
Lonely rivers sigh, "Wait for me, wait for me.
The singer is personifying the rivers to express their yearning to be united with their source.
I'll be coming home, wait for me."
The singer is expressing hope that he will soon be reunited with his beloved, and he asks her to remain steadfast until that time.
Oh, my love, my darling
The singer repeats his affectionate address to his beloved.
I've hungered for your touch
The singer reiterates his deep desire for physical closeness with his beloved.
A long, lonely time
The singer emphasizes the extended period of time he has been without his beloved.
And time goes by so slowly
The singer repeats his perception that time seems to be moving slowly, indicating that his separation from his beloved has been emotionally difficult.
And time can do so much.
The singer reiterates the great influence that time can have on one's emotional state and circumstances.
Are you still mine?
The singer repeats his expression of uncertainty about the status of his relationship with his beloved.
I need your love, I need your love.
The singer again emphasizes his dependency on his beloved's love and affection.
God speed your love to me.
The song ends with the singer repeating his plea for divine intervention in reuniting him with his beloved.
Contributed by Eliana T. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@brookeevelyn4557
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
Lonely rivers flow
To the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea, yeah
Lonely rivers sigh
"Wait for me, wait for me"
I'll be coming home, wait for me
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered, hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
@raymondtimberlake515
Lyrics:
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
Lonely rivers flow
To the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea, yeah
Lonely rivers sigh
"Wait for me, wait for me"
I'll be coming home, wait for me
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered, hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
@bobbobing4299
Lyrics for those who searched:
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
Lonely rivers flow
To the sea, to the sea
To the open arms of the sea, yeah
Lonely rivers sigh
"Wait for me, wait for me"
I'll be coming home, wait for me
Woah, my love, my darling
I've hungered, hungered for your touch
A long, lonely time
And time goes by so slowly
And time can do so much
Are you still mine?
I need your love
I need your love
God speed your love to me
@johnbrady6276
The song is from a 1950s movie, Unchained, and tells about a convict closer to the end of his sentence than the beginning. He's pining for his wife so much that he's debating breaking out of prison even though getting caught means even longer not seeing her.
There are many beautiful performances of this song, including Elvis', some bass baritones, tenors, and. sopranos. You can hear a sample on another internet video named "History of Unchained Melody" or something like that.
Although this songs sounds wonderful sung in a lower register as well as by sopranos, this is my second favorite version.
My favorite performance of it was also by Bobby Hatfield. The Righteous Brothers made an appearance on the Andy Williams show in the mid-60. Bobby sung this song before a live audience with a live orchestra. The version is almost the same as on his hit single and in Ghost except he sang it with even more emotion and with a continuing rising falsetto at the end. His parents were in the audience and he must have been pumped to go all out in the performance.
There are multiple clips of that performance on You Tube. Look for Bobby wearing a light sport coat in the thumbnail. The complete clip has an introduction with Andy Williams asking Bill Medley why they didn't sing this as a duet. Bill jokes that he didn't think it would be a hit. But I suspect that Bobby's solo was so spectacular, they didn't think they could improve on it as a duet. Bill had his own moments in the spotlight as lead on some of their big hits, like "You've Lost that Loving Feeling." According to some comments, Bill was produce on this song. Phil Spector passed on producing it because it didn't fit his "Wall of Sound" motif.
@thehunterduo8492
“You said it yourself, flowers from 1970 couldn’t survive that long”
@ffxschl1335
IM SOBBING
@swag2653
i just finished reading the story for the first time and i am HEARTBROKEN
@gacha_kira1322
:(
@hi-lj8uu
screams
@user-rf6ph2vf8g
What’s story?
@qw1fy
i love it how everyone is like, "STOP IT IM CRYING" YOU came here to cry , and this is what YOU get.
@qw1fy
@maya I already have, 10 times 😫😆
@qw1fy
@maya no
@qw1fy
@princess I think I'm not sure if it's the real one, I've read it on Wattpad