Why did Louis Armstrong sing what a wonderful world?

Answer 1

"What a Wonderful World" 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.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 the song down.[1] Thereafter, it was offered to Louis Armstrong. The song was not initially a hit in the United States, where it sold fewer than 1,000 copies because the head of ABC Records did not like the song and so did not promote it, but was a major success in the United Kingdom, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart. In the U.S. the song hit #116 on the Bubbling Under Charts. It was also the biggest-selling single of 1968 in the UK where it was also among the last pop singles issued by HMV Records before becoming an exclusive Classical Music label.[2] The song made Louis Armstrong the oldest male to top the charts, at sixty-six years and ten months old. Armstrong's record was broken in 2009 when the cover of Islands in the Stream recorded for Comic Relief reached number one.

Answer 2

Louis Armstrong first recorded the song in the year 1968. He was 66 at the time.