(In the mood for a little Louie music tonight. Yeah, I know it’s on the rec list, but what the hell…the art alone deserves a front page display.
“The bright blessed day, the dark sacred night
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world”
– promoted by exmearden)
(Promoted at 12:11 AM PDT on Sunday, September 16, 2007)
(Originally posted at Truth & Progress)
If you’ve come by for politics today, I hope you’re not disappointed. Perhaps it’s the weather. In fact, it probably is the weather, but not in the way you might think. The never-ending war built on a pile of lies combined with the F’d-up-state of our government and poltiical discourse are also under my skin a so if these are things you’re looking to fix today, perhaps you should go elsewhere. It’s just my mood. Today, if you’d like to stay, lets enjoy a song together instead.
Growing up in a very musical household with mom a pianist and dad a clarinet/saxophone playing band leader, music is tightly woven though my DNA. Louis Armstrong would have been a household name there anyhow but before I even came along, “Satchmo” was the name of our resident stray cat; a scat-cat, if you will. ‘spose I should count my blessings that I wasn’t named Dolly.
While reticent to admit that I was also weaned on Ed Sullivan and that pukey-pastel-tiny-bubble-guy,the wunerful, wunderful Lawrence Welk, who single-handedly put Geritol on the map, I suppose things could have been worse. As a little kid, I would sometimes even listen to other jazz greats and even swing to Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass. If you knew me anytime shortly after and even now, this is when you scratch your head, wrinkle your nose and say, “no kidding.”
Thankfully, music moved on and so did I. I gravitated ran to The Beatles, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Grateful Dead, Stones, Talking Heads, and the like. Currently I’m even exploring alternative rock groups like Paramore, The Shins, Modest Mouse and Blaqk Audio with my teenage daughter and it’s great fun. But every once in a while, it’s okay to throw in some ole Satchmo to bridge the generations.
Satchmo, so called because of his infamous “satchel mouth” cheeks was a jazz musician before literally inventing jazz vocals. His music was so emblematic of the culture of New Orleans they named the International Airport after him. If his classic song “What a Wonderful World” makes you think Saigon and you don’t know why perhaps you’ll be interested to know that rumors are swirling that Robin Williams is considering a sequel. But for me this song is sort of an anthem–or more appropriately a requiem–for the way things could/should be.
Alright now, my long-windedness here isn’t quite worthy of the sacred wind of Louis Armstrong, so I’m going to let him take it from here.
Below are two pieces from Youtube. The first is the incomprable Louis Armstrong himself singing his classic and the second is more contemporarily visual featuring an amazing shadow puppet show from the 2007 7th Annual Helpmann Awards. lyrics follow.
- WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD by Louis Armstrong
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 colours of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky
Are also on the faces of people going by
I see friends shakin’ hands, sayin’ “How do you do?”
They’re really saying “I love you”
I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow
They’ll learn much more than I’ll ever know
And I think to myself, what a wonderful world
Yes, I think to myself, what a wonderful world.
Indeed.
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Just my mood. Felt like writing, listening, feeling, sharing today. Thanks for dropping by.
Sick dog and trying to decide on a vet run.
And a sick kid, oy, that isn’t cooperating with the program.
It needs to get wonderfuller, quick.
I absorbed WAY too much Lawrence Welk and Sing along with Mitch.
I’m amazed I survived!
Accordians should be classified as Weapons of Mass Destruction…at least in the wrong hands!
takes the edge off
huge jazz fan (and saxophone player) myself.
louis armstrong was the shit. i’m just old enough to recall having seen him on tv as a real young kid. sullivan, flip wilson, variety shows, etc.
his were arguably the most important contributions to the launch and development of improvisation as fundamental to what makes jazz jazz. incredible approach to the trumpet.
and that voice. good lord, that voice.
invented rock ‘n roll imo. Listen to some of his early solos (first jazz soloist as well), particularly on Hoagy Carmichael’s Down The Sleepy River. They could easily be transferred to current electric guitar type solos.
It’s so good to see a music diary.
This new BudhyPad is nuts, a smorgasbord (careful B, the bong’s filling up the house).
And a music diary. !!!!
I heard an anecdote on Satchmo, that hearing him was the turning point for Django Reinhart. He just played the record over and over and over for roughly a full waking day. And jazz guitar was never the same again.
Music… and for some of the most extraordinary modalities ever known, for those who love Chopin’s mazurkas, here you go…
version of that which made me jiggle about a bit.
Speaking of jazz – I was looking for something else involving a concertina at YT and typically came back with something else – it changes entirely after 30 seconds or so.
Petreaussian Success!!!!
where’s Buhdy?
urged everyone to see Louis Armstrong when he was in town because “we will not see his like again.” I remember the review because we had already been to the wonderful performance. I think Armstrong died not long after that.
The music I was exposed to as the child of older parents…
the video is not overly exciting (!) visually, but it’s serene, and strangely mesmerizing.
The quality of the sound is great. Imagine that you can see Satchmo as he played, horn pointed diagonally up, dropping his horn in his left hand to his side and smiling up to the microphone to sing…
Note that he doesn’t enunciate the “s” in rose when he phrases “la vie en rose”. Trademark Louie.
artistic interlude. Finally found my way over here to docudharma and I’m liking what I see.
http://www.youtube.c…
I think my ’embed ‘ is broke…….musta sprained it last night.
if he comes around today….(I didn’t watch it, yuch.)
I rubbed some linament on my embed and it seems to be better.