“What a Wonderful World”

On August 16, 1967, Louis Armstrong recorded this delightfully memorable song. As you listen to the song (link below), you will be calmed by his rich, sonorous voice, the slow-paced rhythm, and the simple but—as we will learn—deceptively spiritual lyrics.

Armstrong was encouraged to record it in the hope it would unite people during the tumultuous 1960s. It exudes optimism and its progeny, happiness, which some believe are spiritual shadows cast by our guardian angel.

That optimism is largely a matter of attitude is reflected in the cartoon that features two men holding large placards. One reads, “The World Will End Tomorrow,” the other, “The World Will Never End.” The caption reads, “One’s an optimist, the other’s a pessimist, but we don’t know which is which.” On we go to explore this joyous song.

What A Wonderful World – Louis Armstrong – Lyric Video

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 days, the dark sacred nights
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, saying, “How do you do?”
They’re really saying, “I love you.”
I hear babies cry, 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.

The first couplet of the initial verse draws us into a colorful tableau, observing the quiet delights of verdant trees and blooming roses. Being a part of the song, we recall our sensuous, uncluttered childhood memories when the world seemed so intimately inviting, without the over-layering of the adult landscape, “The weariness, the fever, and the fret” that the poet John Keats so poignantly described in Ode to a Nightingale. The second couplet lures us into a natural, childlike conclusion, that ours is indeed a “wonderful world.”

The first couplet of the second verse begins with lifting our eyes to the blue skies and white clouds above, which is where children point when they are asked about heaven. Of course it is not only children, but the priest as he recites the Eucharistic Prayer during Mass:

On the day before he was to suffer, he took bread in his holy and venerable hands, and with eyes raised to heaven to you, O God, his almighty Father…[Emphasis added]

This takes us to the second line of the first couplet, which begins, “The bright blessed days…”: this confirms for the faithful that the poet William Wordsworth’s “light of common day” (cf., Ode to Immortality), has been transformed by the light of the Lord:

The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. (Isaiah 60:19)

The “everlasting light” of the Lord is the spiritual spark that animates our soul, and our faith assures us that we no longer walk by the light of the sun, but rather, it is the Word of God that guides our every step:

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path. (Psalm 119:105)

We turn now to the counterpoint of the “bright blessed days,” i.e., “the dark sacred nights,” which, in turn, recalls St. John of the Cross’s poem, Dark Night of the Soul, written between 1577 and 1579. His commentary on the poem, together with the Ascent of Mount Carmel (Subida del Monte Carmelo), forms a treatise on the active and passive purification of the senses and the spirit, leading to mystical union. The excerpt below illuminates the paradox that the inky blackness of dark is, in truth, sacred.

In that happy night,
In secret, seen of none,
Seeing nought myself,
Without other light or guide
Save that which in my heart was burning.
That light guided me
More surely than the noonday sun
To the place where He was waiting for me,
Whom I knew well,
And where none appeared.

The first verses begin with the oxymoronic “happy night,” which sets the stage for the spiritual joy in the dark of night. The second line informs us that it is shrouded in secret, with no other observer. We learn the narrator himself sees nothing: a scene sans light or guidance, save an internal flame which burns within his heart.

We move to the next verses and witness the inner light which illuminates his path with greater certainty than the bright “noonday sun.” He is led to where the Lord was “waiting for me,” and he asserts, he knew Him “well,” and, meaningfully, that he was alone with the Lord. What a spiritually uplifting and mystically informed poem, one that brings a remarkable depth to the deceptively simple lyrics of this song.

The next verse surprises us with rainbow colors gracing people’s faces, and delightfully suggesting that our common greetings are in truth disguised conveniences for something far deeper and meaningful: a love for one another. The next time you exchange pleasantries with friends, let that comforting thought echo in your mind.

The song closes with the cry of infants and a timeless scriptural lesson for adults, which is to become like children:

Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:3)

It also calls to mind the lyrics of a song that dovetails well with Armstrong’s, which is If I Could See the World (Through the Eyes of a Child), recorded by American country singer Patsy Cline in 1958. In a welcome irony, it includes a refrain in the third line below, echoed years later in the Armstrong song. Here is Cline’s delightful rendition: “What a wonderful world this would be.”

If I could see the world
Thru the eyes of a child
What a wonderful world this would be
There’d be no trouble and no strife
Just a big happy life
With a bluebird in every tree.

Philip E. Mella