Songoftheday 12/11/15 - I see trees of green red roses too, I see them bloom for me and you...

"What A Wonderful World" - Louis Armstrong
from the album Good Morning, Vietnam (Original Soundtrack) (1987) and What A Wonderful World (1968)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #32 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 3

Today's song of the day is by far from the earliest-born artist that I've featured so far in my SOTD parade. Jazz great Louis Armstrong, born in 1901, grew up poor in money but rich in culture in New Orleans, where exposure to the up and coming jazz movement affected him greatly, and with help with benefactors like the Karnofsky family whom he worked for as a child and musicians like Joe Oliver and Hoagy Carmichael, he started getting noticed, moving to Chicago in the early 20s.

Striking out on his own, he eventually grew to be one of the biggest, if not the biggest, personalities in jazz music, with popular "records" selling and clubs filling to see him. In 1945, he appeared on Billboard magazine's R&B chart (then called the "Juke Box Race Records")  with "I Wonder" at #3. A year later, he teamed up with Ella Fitzgerald for "You Won't Be Satisfied (Until You Break My Heart)", a top ten hit on the all-inclusive Juke Box chart. Louis returned to the pop top ten in 1951 with "(Where We Are Dancing) I Get Ideas", further ensconcing him into a more 'easy listening' and 'mainstream friendly' niche. But as Elvis and rock and roll kicked things up a notch, Armstrong had to 'compete', with more lively releases, and his take on "A Theme from The Threepenny Opera (Mack The Knife)" reached #20 on the new Top 100 singles chart.

In 1964, Louis accomplished the amazing feat of scoring his first #1 single at the age of 62 with "Hello Dolly" (kicking out the Beatles in the process). The song also spent nine weeks atop Billboard's Adult Contemporary (then called "middle-road singles") chart, and won him the Grammy for best male performance. He would continue to have success on that older-skewing chart, with three more top-10 hits in the mid-60s. In 1967 he released what would be his most remembered song; written by the team of George Weiss and Bob Thiele, the over-positive anthem originally stiffed in the States (though it climbed to #12 on Billboard's easy-listening list), but went all the way to #1 in the United Kingdom. However, record label troubles kept the classic relatively unnoticed in America for over a decade.

"What A Wonderful World" was included in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam starring comedian Robin Williams, even though the song wasn't recorded at the time the film was set in 1965. Based on the life of DJ Adrian Cronauer, the movie was Robin's big breakthrough as a legitimate actor, though still keeping his frenetic comedic wit about him, earning him a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination. Eleven classic songs from the 60s were included in the soundtrack, with "What A Wonderful World" getting a re-release as a proper promoted single in the States. It returned Armstrong to the chart seventeen years after his death in 1971. There is not a more peaceful, soul-soothing song as this one...

"What A Wonderful World" reached the American Top-40 in April of 1988. The single also re-entered Billboard's Adult Contemporary radio chart, climbing to #7 this time around.

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Even though vocal great Tony Bennett passed on the song before Louis, contemporary singer Robert Goulet did release the song, reaching #26 on the easy listening chart...

 
Country star and Hee Haw lead Roy Clark went to #73 on the country chart with his version...

In 1999, lite-jazz giant Kenny G re-recorded "What A Wonderful World" using Armstrong's original vocals, and climbed to #22 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart...

Rod Stewart hooked up with Stevie Wonder to cover the song in 2005 for his Songbook series, and the result peaked at #13 on the AC list...

Katie Melua and the late great Eva Cassidy topped the British chart in 2007 with a beautiful take on the song, my favorite after Louis'...

Lastly, here's Louis performing the song live...