On My Way (Louis Armstrong song) explained

On My Way
Border:	yes
Type:	single
Artist:	Louis Armstrong
Album:	Louis and the Good Book
Released:	1959
Recorded:	1958
Genre:	Jazz

"On My Way" is a Louis Armstrong song that appeared on the album Louis and the Good Book in 1958 and was issued with "I'll String Along with You" as a single in 1959.^[1] It features a solo section with Louis and Trummy Young.^[2]

A variant of I'm on My Way (traditional song), Armstrong's version starts with "On My Way" or "I'm on My Way" (or similar phrases in various versions) and then goes into a chorus "On my way now, got on my traveling shoes...".

The song is no relation to "Oh, Lawd, I'm on My Way!", a song sung by Ella Fitzgerald the previous year (1957) on the Porgy and Bess album by Fitzgerald and Armstrong. That song begins: "Porgy and all, I'm on my way to a heav'nly lan.^[3]

Notes and References

1. Popoff, Martin, Goldmine Standard Catalog of American Records 1948-1991, 2010, p. 61, "I'll String Along with You / On My Way (Out on My Traveling Shoes) 1959".
2. Nollen, Scott Allen, Louis Armstrong: The Life, Music, and Screen Career, 2004, Page 142, "On My Way" is a blues with a train-like locomotion and a smokin' solo section featuring Louis and Trummy".
3. Wojcik, Pamela Robertson and Knight, Arthur, Soundtrack Available: Essays on Film and Popular Music, 2001 p. 329, "... At the time they recorded Porgy and Bess, neither Louis Armstrong nor Ella Fitzgerald was much seen as an oppositional, ... namely with "Summertime" and "Oh Lawd, I'm On My Way" — and thus strongly suggesting the show's narrative arc."