Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World (Spoken Intro Version) ABC Records 1970
"
What a Wonderful World" [
1970 Spoken Introduction Version] along with
Oliver Nelson's
Orchestra is a song written by
Bob Thiele (as
George Douglas) and
George David Weiss. It was first recorded by
Louis Armstrong and released as a single in
1968.
Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world (Thiele as a producer and Weiss as a composer/performer).
Armstrong's recording was inducted in the
Grammy Hall of Fame in
1999. Intended as an antidote for the increasingly racially and politically charged climate of everyday life in the
United States, the song also has a hopeful, optimistic tone with regard to the future, with reference to babies being born into the world and having much to look forward to. The song was initially offered to
Tony Bennett, who turned it down. Thereafter, it was offered to Louis Armstrong.
Louis Armstrong (August 4,
1901 -- July 6,
1971), nicknamed
Satchmo or
Pops, was an
American jazz trumpeter and singer from
New Orleans, Louisiana.
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 died of a heart attack in his sleep on July 6, 1971 at the age of 69, 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's
Empire Room. He was residing in
Corona, Queens,
New York City, at the time of his death. He was interred in
Flushing Cemetery,
Flushing, in
Queens, New York City. His honorary pallbearers included
Bing Crosby,
Ella Fitzgerald,
Dizzy Gillespie,
Pearl Bailey,
Count Basie,
Harry James,
Frank Sinatra,
Ed Sullivan,
Earl Wilson,
Alan King,
Johnny Carson and
David Frost.
Peggy Lee sang
The Lord's Prayer at the services while
Al Hibbler sang "
Nobody Knows the
Trouble I've Seen" and
Fred Robbins, a long-time friend, gave the eulogy.
Armstrong was posthumously awarded the
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in
1972 by the
Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This
Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the
Recording Academy's
National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording.
Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special
Grammy award established in
1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance."
"Some of you young folks been saying to me
"
Hey Pops, what you mean '
What a wonderful world'?
How about all them wars all over the place?
You call them wonderful?
And how about hunger and pollution?
That ain't so wonderful either."
Well how about listening to old Pops for a minute.
Seems to me, it aint the world that's so bad
but what we're doin' to it.
And all I'm saying is see what a wonderful world
It would be if only we'd give it a chance.
Love baby, love. That's the secret, yeah.
If lots more of us loved each other
we'd solve lots more problems.
And then this world would be gasser.
That's wha' ol' Pops keeps saying."
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, 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, sayin', "How do you do?"
They're really sayin', "
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
Oh yeah!