“Singing Was My Life”

Abstract

This chapter describes Armstrong’s boyhood spent singing in a street quartet. One of the songs that he sang was “Swanee River”: a song that was a staple with barbershop singers. This chapter discusses the differences between barbershop arranging, as described by Sigmund Spaeth, and conventional quartet arranging using “Swanee River” as the principle example. This chapter also discusses the relationship between barbershop cadences – or “cracking up a chord” in the vernacular – and “blue notes.”