What a Wonderful World
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 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 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 saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shaking hands saying how do you do
They're really saying I love you
I hear babies crying, I watch them grow
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
They'll learn much more than I'll never know
And I think to myself what a wonderful world
Yes I think to myself what a wonderful world
(George Douglas / George David Weiss / Bob Thiele)
Louis Armstrong is regarded as a seminal influence on the development of jazz. He became prominent in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, shifting the focus fr0m collective improvisation to solo performance. He was one of the first to create significant variations based on the chord harmonies of the songs instead of merely on the melodies, and his playing technique extended the trumpet's range, tone, and capabilities. He performed a similar function as a vocalist who demonstrated dexterity as an improviser, bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes, shortening and lengthening phrases, interjecting improvisations. He was also a gifted composer, though his own songs made up a relatively small percentage of his repertoire. He was a popular performer through the 1960s. His last hit recording was "What a Wonderful World" in 1967. Though it has become a familiar standard in the US, it was not especially popular when it was released, selling fewer than 1,000 copies and only reaching #116 on the Billboard Bubbling Under chart which tracked singles that had not yet broken the top 100. The president of ABC Records, Larry Newton, disliked the song and tried to dissuade Armstrong from recording it (even though it had been written specifically for him), and the song's producer/composer Bob Thiele locked Newton out of the studio after an argument in the studio. But Newton refused to promote it. However, in the UK, where it was issued by EMI, it went to #1. By 2014, after it was released digitally, Armstrong's version had sold 2,173,000 downloads in the US alone.
ReplyDelete