Marc Botenga ranks Louis Armstrong songs — Transcript

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1. 0:00[Music]
2. 0:00Yeah, this one's good. This one I like.
3. 0:02Good one. Yeah, it's really good. I'm
4. 0:03here with Mark Potena, member of the
5. 0:05European Parliament, and today we're
6. 0:06ranking the songs performed by Louisie
7. 0:08Armstrong, who the CIA used as a Trojan
8. 0:10horse to get intel in the Congo and
9. 0:12ultimately work with Belgian authorities
10. 0:14to assassinate the democratically
11. 0:15elected leader, Patrice Lamumba. Tiger
12. 0:18Rag is good. I mean, Tiger Rags, it's a
13. 0:20really good song. It's very Yeah, it's
14. 0:22brilliant. Like, instrumentally, it's
15. 0:24perfect. So, how would you rate it? I'd
16. 0:26rate it pretty high. I mean, let's see
17. 0:27what else we've got on the list, but
18. 0:29this is a this is like top song. Yeah.
19. 0:30Yeah. Top two. In 1960, the United
20. 0:33States responded to Soviet allegations
21. 0:35of racism by sending black jazz
22. 0:37musicians around the planet, which of
23. 0:39course is the equivalent of saying, "I
24. 0:40can't be racist. I have a black friend."
25. 0:42You know, society has this thing of of
26. 0:44like the kind of very personal, very
27. 0:46social thing. I like the lyrics on this
28. 0:48one to be honest. Like it's it's pretty
29. 0:51good. Like it's got good lyrics. Um, I
30. 0:53still prefer Tiger Rag because Tiger Rag
31. 0:55is like just instrumentally so strong.
32. 0:57It really fills you up. Uh, but this is
33. 1:00pretty good as well. I mean, we can go,
34. 1:02let's say, just below Tiger Rag. Does it
35. 1:05Does it give you the energy that you
36. 1:06want to like overthrow a democratically
37. 1:07elected leader? No, but I don't think
38. 1:10Louis Armstrong would have been in favor
39. 1:12of that. I think if he would have known,
40. 1:13he'd be outraged. The CIA saw this as
41. 1:15the perfect Trojan horse to get into the
42. 1:17state of Katanga in the Congo. Even
43. 1:19though the United States didn't formally
44. 1:20recognize this region, they knew it was
45. 1:22filled with vast mineral wealth, which
46. 1:24is actually where they mined the uranium
47. 1:26to use in the two nuclear bombs they
48. 1:27dropped on Japan. Ah, it's very, very
49. 1:30good. Very, very good. Like all this,
50. 1:32but I mean the guy is just all over
51. 1:34brilliant. Like, I'm like realizing
52. 1:37right now I don't spend enough time
53. 1:38listening to it. It's like because you
54. 1:40you you hear about the politics, how
55. 1:42they they use him, but like the music of
56. 1:44it, it's so rich.
57. 1:46and uh so yeah it's also very it's very
58. 1:49tough to to give a place but I mean
59. 1:51perhaps this it's one of the best ones I
60. 1:53mean it's one of the best ones
61. 1:54definitely
62. 1:57uh maybe I I'll put Tiger Rag on number
63. 1:59one and then I'll put put this one
64. 2:00number two number two in October 1960
65. 2:02Louis Armstrong was flown to Katanga to
66. 2:04perform in front of a roaring crowd in
67. 2:06the shadows his CIA handlers struck
68. 2:08deals and gathered intel that would
69. 2:10ultimately lead to the coordination and
70. 2:12the eventual assassination of Patrice
71. 2:14Lamumba I mean the absolute The best one
72. 2:16is Tiger Rag. The ones amongst the ones
73. 2:19we listen. I really like it. I mean, but
74. 2:21they're all brilliant. So, I'm I'm I'm
75. 2:22I'm really uncomfortable actually doing
76. 2:23this to be honest. No, because I mean
77. 2:26I'm not like music-wise I'm I'm I
78. 2:29haven't got like great I mean there's so
79. 2:31much good stuff here. Um so I go for
80. 2:34that. Uh and then the Parido Street
81. 2:36Blues as as a solid uh third. Solid
82. 2:39third. All right. Nice.