What A Wonderful World

A younger Louis Armstrong Singing “What A Wonderful World.” I have always loved this song, and Armstrong’s rendition is the standard.

Louis was from New Orleans. He was from a very poor family and was sent to reform school when he was twelve after firing a gun in the air on New Year’s Eve. At the school he learned to play coronet. After being released at age fourteen, he worked selling papers, unloading boats, and selling coal from a cart. He didn’t own an instrument at this time, but continued to listen to bands at clubs like the Funky Butt Hall. Joe “King” Oliver was his favorite and the older man acted as a father to Louis, even giving him his first real coronet, and instructing him on the instrument.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnRqYMTpXHc]

“I see friends shaking hands, saying how do you do. They’re really saying, I love you.”