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.
When Did You Leave Heaven
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
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That I'd ever meet one And such a sweet one
Till I met you
When did you leave heaven? How could they let you go?
How's ev'ry thing in Heaven? I'd like to know
Why did you trade Heaven for all these earthly things
Where di you hide your Halo?
Where did you lose your wings?
Have they missed you?
Can you get back in?
If Ikissed you would it be a sin?
I amonly human but you are so divine
When did you leave Heave, angel mine?
When did you leave heaven? How could they let you go?
How's ev'ry thing in Heaven? I'd like to know
Why did you trade Heaven for all these earthly things
Where di you hide your Halo?
Where did you lose your wings?
Have they missed you?
Can you get back in?
If Ikissed you would it be a sin?
I amonly human but you are so divine
When did you leave Heave, angel mine?
The lyrics of Louis Armstrong's song "When Did You Leave Heaven?" express the singer's amazement at encountering someone so angelic and divine. The singer reflects on the idea that they used to dream about angels but never imagined they would actually meet one, let alone such a sweet and special one like the person they are addressing in the song. The questions posed throughout the song express curiosity about the person's departure from heaven, wondering how and why they left such a heavenly place. The lyrics also contemplate the loss of their angelic attributes, such as wings and a halo, and raise the question of whether they can return to heaven or if they are forever confined to earthly existence.
The song's lyrics capture the awe and wonder of encountering someone who seems out of this world, emphasizing the contrast between the singer's humanity and the angel's divine presence. The singer acknowledges their own flaws and limitations as a human being, while acknowledging and appreciating the ethereal qualities possessed by the person they are singing to.
Line by Line Meaning
I used to dream about angels
In the past, I often envisioned celestial beings
But then I never knew
However, I had no idea that it would become a reality
That I'd ever meet one
That I would actually encounter an angelic being
And such a sweet one
And an exceptionally kind and pleasant one at that
Till I met you
Until the moment I encountered you
When did you leave heaven?
At what point did you depart from paradise?
How could they let you go?
Why did the powers that be allow your departure?
How's every thing in Heaven? I'd like to know
I am keen to be enlightened on the current state of affairs in Heaven
Why did you trade Heaven for all these earthly things
What compelled you to exchange the bliss of Heaven for mundane earthly possessions?
Where did you hide your Halo?
In what place did you conceal your divine halo?
Where did you lose your wings?
When and where did you misplace your angelic wings?
Have they missed you?
Do the other inhabitants of Heaven long for your presence?
Can you get back in?
Is it possible for you to return to the realm of paradise?
If I kissed you would it be a sin?
Would it be considered sinful if I were to share a kiss with you?
I am only human but you are so divine
As a mere mortal, I cannot compare to your heavenly nature
When did you leave Heaven, angel mine?
Please enlighten me on the specific moment you departed from Heaven, my beloved angel
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Spirit Music Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: RICHARD A. WHITING, WALTER BULLOCK
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