Louis Armstrong
Louis Armstrong described his view of life when he spoke in the introduction to his 1970 recording It’s A Wonderful World. He said, “And all I’m saying is, see what a wonderful world it would be if only we would give it a chance. Love, baby, love. That’s the secret. Yeah.” Written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss, It’s a Wonderful World was recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. This song was written to calm racial and political tensions in the United States. It is a song which is hopeful and optimistic in regards to the future. It talks about babies being born and looking forward to life.
Tony Bennett was offered to record this song at first, but he turned it down. It was than offered to Louis Armstrong. Having an African American singer record this song was important because it helped to calm racial tensions, and Armstrong’s unique, deep, scratchy voice made this an attention-grabbing and memorable song. At first, this song was not very popular in the United States. In fact, it actually sold less than 1000 copies because the head of ABC Records did not like the song and did not promote it. It was #116 on the charts. However, the song was number one in the United Kingdom and the single that sold the most copies in 1968.
Eventually, this song became popular and was released again in America a short time after Louis Armstrong died in 1971.
I really like his music and the way he played because it seems so happy and relaxing. I feel that somehow the music is telling me a story. I also like how it’s so different from the music of today’s era.
Song 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 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.
Sources:
Wikipedia. “What a Wonderful World”, April 2, 2010. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_a_Wonderful_World (accessed April 5, 2010).
Links to Love. “What a Wonderful World”. http://www.links2love.com/love_lyrics_128.htm (accessed April 5, 2010).
Llvonborstel1989's Blog 
Yes! I did my blog assignment on Louis Armstrong too, but on a different song. Anyways, I’m glad you chose this song because I also find it to be a very important song. It was meant to be a sort of unifying song, and the way Armstrong sings it, to me at least, sounds like a beloved grandfather singing to his grandchildren. I like how you went into the history of the song itself, and I think you did a good job of connecting it to the racial and tensions of that era. The information you provided about the popularity of the song surprised me because I always thought that this was a hit. One thing that I would have liked to see was maybe a little bit of info on Jazz and how the song and Armstrong are connected to it.
Jazz music has always been a bit elusive to me. I do really enjoy this song, and others by Armstrong, though it was hard for me to appreciate jazz as art for many years. It was only after I had a proper introduction to the history of jazz that I really appreciated it. A very nice sentiment in this song.