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.
You Made Me Love You
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I didn't wanna do it
I didn't wanna do it
You made me want you
And all the time you knew it
I guess you always knew it
You made me happy sometimes
But there were times
You made me feel so bad
You made me cry for
I didn't wanna tell you
I didn't wanna tell you
I want some love that's true
Yes, I do, 'deed I do
You know I do
Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, gimmie what I cry for
You know you've got the brand of kisses
That I'd die for
You know you made me love you
You made me cry for
I didn't wanna tell you
I didn't wanna tell you
I want some love that's true
Yes, I do, 'deed I do
You know I do
Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, gimmie what I cry for
You know you've got the brand of kisses
That I'd die for
You know you made me love you
Louis Armstrong's "You Made Me Love You" is a song about a person who has been convinced to love someone despite their initial reluctance to do so. The lyrics express the singer's conflicting emotions about the person who has made them love them. The song starts off with the singer stating that they "didn't wanna do it" and "didn't wanna tell you" that they cry for love that is true. But the person they love had the brand of kisses they'd die for and knew how to make them happy, even though there were times they made them feel bad.
The song expresses the internal struggle of someone who has been swayed by another person's love, despite their own reservations. It's apparent that the singer has been hurt in the past and is wary of being hurt again, but their love for the other person is too strong to ignore. The repetition of the phrase "you made me" emphasizes the sense of being forced or manipulated into loving the other person, while the desire for true love is a plea for sincerity and honesty.
In conclusion, "You Made Me Love You" is a song that explores the complexities of human emotion and the conflicts that arise when one's heart is pulled in opposite directions. The song's melody is upbeat, contrasting with the serious, reflective lyrics, making it a perfect example of the way music can communicate feelings that are difficult to express in words.
Line by Line Meaning
You made me love you
You caused me to fall in love with you
I didn't wanna do it
I didn't intend to fall in love with you
I didn't wanna do it
I didn't intend to fall in love with you
You made me want you
You made me desire you
And all the time you knew it
You were aware of my feelings for you
I guess you always knew it
I think you knew all along
You made me happy sometimes
You brought me joy on occasion
You made me glad
You brought me happiness
But there were times
However, occasionally
You made me feel so bad
You made me experience negative emotions
You made me cry for
You caused me to shed tears
I didn't wanna tell you
I didn't want to confess this to you
I didn't wanna tell you
I didn't want to confess this to you
I want some love that's true
I desire genuine love
Yes, I do, 'deed I do
Yes, indeed, I do
You know I do
You are aware that I want genuine love
Gimmie, gimmie, gimmie, gimmie what I cry for
Give me what I am asking for
You know you've got the brand of kisses
You possess the type of kisses
That I'd die for
That I would sacrifice everything for
You know you made me love you
You are aware that you were the cause of my love for you
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, Royalty Network, BROADWAY MUSIC CORPORATION, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Joseph Mccarthy, James Monaco
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