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.
Where Did You Stay Last Night
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Hey baby, where did you stay last night?
I got rocks in my bed and my pillow ain’t sleeping just right
Say, I cried last night and I cried all the night before
Yes, I cried last night, all the night before
Come on home, baby, so I don’t have to cry no more
No, I ain’t mad at you, tell me what you want poor me to do
I’ll steal, beg, borrow, do any ol’ thing for you
Yes, I love that man, he’s built up from the ground
Yeah, he’s long and tall, stacked up from the ground
I get so weak, whenever he comes to town
Got a man over here, got a man over there, but the man over here
Baba-re-bob, baba-re-bob
Baba-re-baba-re-baba-re-baba-re-bob
Hey baby, get your basket, let’s truck down to the woods
Baby, go get your basket, truck down to the woods
Say we may not pick no berries
But we both sure will come back feeling good
Say, I ain’t good looking, I ain’t built so fine
But all of us like me cause I take my time
Louis Armstrong's song, "Where Did You Stay Last Night," is a blues song that tells the story of a woman who is in love with a man who is not faithful to her. The woman is left alone pondering where her man has been the previous night, and she even finds rocks in her bed and cannot sleep. The lyrics suggest that the man is not reliable and that the woman is still in love with him regardless.
The song starts as a plea to the man to explain where he was the previous night, with the woman asking, "Big daddy, big daddy, where did you stay last night?" She admits to crying all night and asks the man to come home so she does not have to cry anymore. The woman expresses her love for the man and admits that she is not mad at him, even though he is dishonest.
The woman admits that she loves the man even though she knows he has other women, saying "Got a man over here, got a man over there, but the man over here." She tempers her words with a "baba-re-bob" refrain, which suggests resignation or acceptance of the man's infidelity. Later in the song, the woman invites the man to go to the woods together, saying, "Baby, go get your basket, truck down to the woods / Say we may not pick no berries / But we both sure will come back feeling good."
Overall, "Where Did You Stay Last Night" captures the essence of the blues genre, conveying a sense of melancholy and heartache. The woman in question is left feeling hurt and disappointed, but still willing to love and do anything for her unfaithful partner. The song continues to be an influential piece of music, inspiring musicians and listeners to this day.
Line by Line Meaning
Big daddy, big daddy, where did you stay last night?
Asking a man who left her last night where he spent it
Hey baby, where did you stay last night?
Questioning a lover about where they spent their previous night
I got rocks in my bed and my pillow ain’t sleeping just right
Feeling uncomfortable without her lover beside her
Say, I cried last night and I cried all the night before
Crying all night long two nights in a row without her lover by her side
Yes, I cried last night, all the night before
Confirming that she cried all night two nights in a row
Come on home, baby, so I don’t have to cry no more
Asking her lover to come back home to avoid crying again
'Cause, I ain’t mad at you, pretty baby, I ain’t mad at you
Assuring her lover that she is not angry at him
No, I ain’t mad at you, tell me what you want poor me to do
Asking her lover what she can do to make him happy
I’ll steal, beg, borrow, do any ol’ thing for you
Willing to do anything to please her lover
Yes, I love that man, he’s built up from the ground
Expressing love for her tall and strong lover
Yeah, he’s long and tall, stacked up from the ground
Describing how her lover is tall and well-built
I get so weak, whenever he comes to town
Feeling weak in the knees when she sees her lover in town
Got a man over here, got a man over there, but the man over here
Having multiple men in her life, but referring to the one closest to her
Baba-re-bob, baba-re-bob
Nonsensical lyrics used as filler
Baba-re-baba-re-baba-re-baba-re-bob
Nonsensical lyrics used as filler
Hey baby, get your basket, let’s truck down to the woods
Inviting her lover to go to the woods with her
Baby, go get your basket, truck down to the woods
Telling her lover to bring a basket and go with her to the woods
Say we may not pick no berries
Acknowledging that they may not pick any berries on their trip
But we both sure will come back feeling good
Assuming that they will both feel good after their trip to the woods
Say, I ain’t good looking, I ain’t built so fine
Admitting that she may not be physically attractive
But all of us like me cause I take my time
Explaining that people like her because she takes her time in everything she does
Contributed by Hudson M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
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