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.
Undecided
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And then you won't
And then you say you do
And then you don't
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
First you want to play
And when you say you'll stay
That's when you go
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
I've been sitting on a fence
And it doesn't make much sense
You keep me in suspense
And you know it
Then you promise to return
When you don't
I really burn
I guess I'll never learn
And I show it
If you've got a heart
And if you're kind
Then don't keep us apart
Make up your mind
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
I've been sitting on a fence
And it doesn't make much sense
You keep me in suspense
And know it
You promise to return
And when you don't
I really burn
I guess I'll never learn
And I show it
If you've got a heart
And if you're kind
Then don't keep us apart
Make up your mind
You're undecided now
So what are you gonna do?
Louis Armstrong's Undecided is a song about being in love with someone who can't seem to make up their mind. The lyrics talk about how the person is constantly changing their mind about what they want, and the confusion and frustration that causes the singer. The song opens with the person saying they will do something, but then they change their mind and decide not to do it. They keep going back and forth, unable to make a decision about anything. The chorus of the song is a plea for the person to make up their mind and stop leaving the singer in limbo.
The second verse continues with the same theme of indecisiveness. The person says they want to do something but then changes their mind and doesn't want to do it anymore. They say they'll stay, but then they leave. Once again, the chorus asks the person to make up their mind and stop playing with the singer's emotions. The bridge of the song talks about how the singer has been sitting on a fence, waiting for the person to make a decision. They feel like they're being kept in suspense and wish the person would just make a choice already. They also mention how when the person promises to return and then doesn't, it hurts them deeply.
Overall, the song is a commentary on the frustration of being in a relationship with someone who can't commit. It's about the pain of waiting for someone to make a decision and the toll it takes on the person left in the dark. It's a simple but powerful message that still resonates with listeners today.
Line by Line Meaning
First you say you will
At first you seem willing to commit
And then you won't
But then you change your mind
And then you say you do
And now you act like you want to again
And then you don't
But then you become indecisive once more
You're undecided now
You don't know what you want
So what are you gonna do?
What actions will you take?
I've been sitting on a fence
I'm stuck in limbo
And it doesn't make much sense
This confusion is difficult to understand
You keep me in suspense
Your indecisiveness leaves me hanging
And you know it
You're aware that your actions affect me
Then you promise to return
You offer me hope once again
When you don't
But then you let me down
I really burn
Your inconsistency frustrates and hurts me
I guess I'll never learn
I'm not sure how to deal with this situation
And I show it
My emotions are clearly visible
If you've got a heart
If you truly care
And if you're kind
And if you're considerate
Then don't keep us apart
Please don't let your indecisiveness ruin things
Make up your mind
Please make a decision and stick to it
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Charles Shavers, Sydney Robin, Zbigniew Jacek Namyslowski
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