"Sitting on Top of the World"
Single by Mississippi Sheiks
B-side"Lovely One in This Town"
Released1930 (1930)
RecordedFebruary 17, 1930
GenreCountry blues
Length3:10
LabelOkeh
Songwriter(s)Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon

"Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a country blues song written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon. They were core members of the Mississippi Sheiks, who first recorded it in 1930. Vinson claimed to have composed the song one morning after playing at a white dance in Greenwood, Mississippi.[1] It became a popular crossover hit, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.[2]

"Sitting on Top of the World" has become a standard of traditional American music.[3] The song has been widely recorded in a variety of different styles – folk, blues, country, bluegrass, rock – often with considerable variations and/or additions to the original verses. The lyrics of the original song convey a stoic optimism in the face of emotional setbacks, and the song has been described as a "simple, elegant distillation of the Blues". In 2018, it was selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or artistically significant."[4]

Background and composition

The title line of "Sitting on Top of the World" is similar to a well-known popular song of the 1920s, "I'm Sitting on Top of the World", written by Ray Henderson, Sam Lewis and Joe Young (popularized by Al Jolson in 1926). However, the two songs are distinct, both musically and lyrically. Similarities have also been noted between "Sitting on Top of the World" and an earlier song by Tampa Red.[5]

Lyrically, "Sitting on Top of the World" has a simple structure consisting of a series of rhyming couplets, each followed by the two-line chorus. The structural economy of the song seems to be conducive to creative invention, giving the song a dynamic flexibility exemplified by the numerous and diverse versions that exist. The song has a strophic nine-bar blues structure. Bar nine provides rhythmic separation between stanzas, the end of one stanza and the relatively large pickup at the beginning of the next.[6]

Renditions

After the Mississippi Sheiks original, renditions of "Sitting on Top of the World" were recorded by a number of artists.[3] Following a recording for Bluebird Records by Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, the song became a staple in the repertoire of country and bluegrass artists, such as Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys and Bill Monroe.[1]

Howlin' Wolf reworked the song as a Chicago blues, which Chess Records issued as a single in 1957 and later included on the popular compilation series The Real Folk Blues (1966).[7] For the recording, he was backed by a typical blues ensemble consisting of electric guitar (Hubert Sumlin), piano (Hosea Lee Kennard), bass (Alfred Elkins), and drums (Earl Phillips).[7] During performances later in his career, Howlin' Wolf often closed his sets with "Sitting on Top of the World".[8] As with several of his songs, it was adapted by rock groups during the 1960s.[8] Some rock-oriented versions showed considerable variation: a version by the Grateful Dead was played at a very fast tempo of 252 beats per minute (bpm), while Cream performed it at a very slow 44 bpm.[9]

Jack White recorded an acoustic version for the soundtrack to the 2003 film Cold Mountain. An AllMusic review included "For the most part, the White Stripes frontman successfully transplants himself into the [traditional country and Americana] genre, utilizing his throaty warble on Howlin' Wolf's 'Sittin' on Top of the World' like a dust-bowl carny."[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Ginell, Cary; Brown, Roy Lee (1994). Milton Brown and the Founding of Western Swing. Champaign, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. p. 284. ISBN 0-252-02041-3.
  2. ^ "Grammy Hall of Fame: "Sittin' on Top of the World" – The Mississippi Sheiks, Okeh (1930)". The Recording Academy. 2008. Retrieved February 19, 2021.
  3. ^ a b Herzhaft, Gerard (1992). "Sitting on Top of the World". Encyclopedia of the Blues. Fayetteville, Arkansas: University of Arkansas Press. p. 470. ISBN 1-55728-252-8.
  4. ^ "National Recording Registry Reaches 500". Library of Congress. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
  5. ^ Calt, Stephen; Kent, Don; Stewart, Michael (1992). Stop and Listen (Album notes). Mississippi Sheiks. Yazoo Records. p. 5. 2006. the composition of the song is problematic (the melody was first recorded by Tampa Red).
  6. ^ Stoia, Nicholas (2008). The Musical Frameworks of Five Blues Schemes (PhD). City University of New York. pp. 155, 159, 160.
  7. ^ a b Fancourt, Les; Morris, Chris; Shurman, Dick (1991). Howlin' Wolf: The Chess Box (Box set booklet). Howlin' Wolf. Universal City, California: MCA Records/Chess Records. pp. 27, 28. CHD3-9332.
  8. ^ a b Koda, Cub (1996). "The Real Folk Blues". In Erlewine, Michael; Bogdanov, Vladimir; Woodstra, Chris; Koda, Cub (eds.). All Music Guide to the Blues. San Francisco: Miller Freeman Books. pp. 124, 716. ISBN 0-87930-424-3.
  9. ^ Everett, Walter (2009). The Foundations of Rock. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. p. 322. ISBN 978-0-19-531023-8.
  10. ^ Monger, James Christopher. "Original Soundtrack: Cold Mountain – Review". AllMusic. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
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