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 The Blues Were Born In New Orleans
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To miss New Orleans
I miss it each night and day
The longer I stay away
Miss the moist covered vines
The tall sugar pines
Where mocking birds use to sing
And I like to see the lazy Mississippi
The Mardi Gras memories
Of Creol Tunes that fill the air
I dream of Orleanders in June
And soon I'm wishing that I was there
Do you know what is means
To miss New Orleans
And there is something more
I miss the one I care for
More than I miss New Orleans
Louis Armstrong’s song “Where The Blues were Born In New Orleans” is a tribute to the city of New Orleans and all the memories associated with it. The lyrics, “Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? I miss it each night and day. The longer I stay away,” highlight the intense longing the singer feels for the city. The verses that follow capture the essence of the city and its famous landmarks, from the mossy vines and tall sugar pines to the Mississippi River, which the singer likes to see lazily hurrying to spring.
Armstrong sings about the memories of Mardi Gras and the “Creole tunes that fill the air,” which evoke the sounds and spirits of the people and the music that make New Orleans so unique. The singer dreams of “Orleanders in June” and wishes he were there. However, there is something even more personal that he misses – someone he cares for. The juxtaposition of the singer’s love for New Orleans and his longing for this particular person creates a poignant story of loss and yearning.
Overall, “Where The Blues Were Born In New Orleans” is a love letter to a city that is deeply ingrained in the singer’s heart and soul. His reminiscences about the lush flora and fauna, the sounds and rhythms of the people, and the memories of Mardi Gras create a vivid picture of a world that he desperately misses. Even more profound is his feeling of emptiness without the person he loves, which reminds us that the places we love are made all the more precious by the people we share them with.
Line by Line Meaning
Do you know what is means
Do you understand the profound emotional impact of
To miss New Orleans
craving for the city of New Orleans
I miss it each night and day
I pine for it constantly
The longer I stay away
As I am further away from it
Miss the moist covered vines
Enthusiastic about the damp-covered vines
The tall sugar pines
Towering sugar pines
Where mocking birds use to sing
Remembering the sound of mockingbirds singing
And I like to see the lazy Mississippi
Admiring the calm sight of the Mississippi River
Are hurrying to spring
Flooding into the spring season
The Mardi Gras memories
Recalling memories from the Mardi Gras festival
Of Creol Tunes that fill the air
Musical notes with a Creole flair resounding
I dream of Orleanders in June
Yearning for oleanders during June
And soon I'm wishing that I was there
Feeling the urge to go back there soon
Do you know what is means
Do you grasp the genuine depth of
To miss New Orleans
Yearning for the city of New Orleans
And there is something more
In addition to that
I miss the one I care for
I miss the person I adore
More than I miss New Orleans
Even more than longing for New Orleans
Contributed by Zoe N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@capitano111
@0rleans I'm from New Orleans,, I'm a purple night,, I'm born in Charity hospital on the 10th floor... You would have to dig deeper to make such statements when you say a particular person invented rap.... If you look at nursery rhymes that's rapping... I don't think you can trace rap back to a particular person... Indeed New Orleans is super influential... But to say one man invented rap.. just dig deeper into the archives...
Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the Cupboard,
To give the poor Dog a bone;
When she came there,
The Cupboard was bare,...
This was first published in 1805....
Bro that's rhyming that's rapping
@TheBillieHolidayExperience
I have never seen Billie Holiday smile so much. Just marvelous!
@BigAssTuba
Louis looked like he was having more than his usual fun!
@EmilianoLoconsolo
She was radiant, want she? ♥️
@georgesember9069
I felt the same, seeing Billie Holliday smile!!
@302indian
So beautiful
@302indian
So beautiful
@hiltonyoung3066
Where rapping and freestyling originated. Shout out to the late great Satchmo Armstrong
@acappellaification
My Dad is on Bass... Red Callender!!! I miss you Daddy ~ . ~
@jasonbohen4142
April! Your dad left an incredible musical legacy. He helped bring the greatest music in history to life! You must be honored to be a Callender.
@SELMER1947
Great bassist