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 Turned the Tables on Me -
Louis Armstrong Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I had you with me every day
But now whenever you are passing by
You're always looking the other way
It's little things like this
That prompt me to say
You turned the tables on me
You turned the tables on me
I can't believe that it's true
I always thought when you brought
The lovely presents you bought
Why hadn't you brought me more?
But now if you'd come
I'd welcome anything from
The five-and-ten-cent store
You used to call me the top
You put me up on a throne
You let me fall with a drop
And now I'm out on my own
But after thinking it over and over
I got what was coming to me
Just like the sting of a bee
You turned the tables on me
Louis Armstrong's song, "You Turned the Tables on Me," is about a man who was the apple of someone's eye, but now feels rejected because that person now looks away whenever they pass by. The man reflects on how much he meant to that person before, but now he has fallen for them and can't believe it. The person used to buy them lovely gifts, but now they would welcome even a gift from a five-and-ten-cent store. The man was once put on a pedestal, but now he has fallen and is out on his own. He realizes that he got what was coming to him, and it feels like a sting of a bee.
The song is about the reversal of fortunes in a romantic relationship. The person who was once adored is now the one doing the adoring, and they can't believe how much they have fallen for the other person. The song talks about how little things can change everything in a relationship, and how easy it is to fall in love.
Line by Line Meaning
I used to be the apple of your eye
You used to care about me deeply and I had your full attention.
I had you with me every day
We used to spend every day together and you were always there for me.
But now whenever you are passing by
Whenever you see me now, you seem to avoid me.
You're always looking the other way
You're actively ignoring me or trying to avoid any interaction with me.
It's little things like this
These small details and changes in your behavior towards me...
That prompt me to say
...lead me to speak up about how I feel.
You turned the tables on me
Our roles have reversed unexpectedly and now I am the one falling for you.
And now I'm falling for you
I am unexpectedly drawn to you and falling in love with you.
I can't believe that it's true
This change in our relationship is so surprising that I can hardly believe it's actually happening.
I always thought when you brought
Before, I assumed that when you gave me gifts...
The lovely presents you bought
...the beautiful and thoughtful gifts you bought for me...
Why hadn't you brought me more?
...but I was always left wanting more from you.
But now if you'd come
However, now that things have changed between us...
I'd welcome anything from
...I would appreciate anything you brought me, no matter how big or small,
The five-and-ten-cent store
Even if it was just something from the cheapest store in town.
You used to call me the top
You used to think very highly of me and believe that I was at the top of my game.
You put me up on a throne
You believed I had everything going for me and treated me like royalty.
You let me fall with a drop
But then you allowed me to fail suddenly...
And now I'm out on my own
...and now I'm left to fend for myself, without your support or attention.
But after thinking it over and over
But upon reflection and much consideration...
I got what was coming to me
...I realized that I deserved what happened to me.
Just like the sting of a bee
It's like I received a wake-up call or a harsh reminder that my actions have consequences.
You turned the tables on me
And now our roles have switched, leaving me in the position that you used to be in.
Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., CARLIN AMERICA INC
Written by: LOUIS ALTER, SIDNEY D. MITCHELL
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