Sitting on Top of the World
Encyclopedia
"Sitting on Top of the World" (also rendered as "Sittin' on Top of the World") is a folk-blues song written by Walter Vinson
and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks
, a popular country blues
band of the 1930s. Walter Vinson claimed to have composed “Sitting on Top of the World” one morning after playing a white dance in Greenwood, Mississippi
.
The song was first recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks
in 1930 (on the Okeh
label, No. 8784), became a popular cross-over hit for the band, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
In May 1930 Charlie Patton
recorded a version of the song (with altered lyrics) called “Some Summer Day” During the next few years cover-versions of "Sitting on Top of the World" were recorded by a number of artists: The Two Poor Boys
, Big Bill Broonzy
, Sam Collins
, Milton Brown
and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
. After Milton Brown recorded it for Bluebird Records the song became a staple in the repertoire of western swing bands.
"Sitting on Top of the World" has become a standard
of traditional American music. 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 convey a stoic optimism in the face of emotional setbacks, and the song has been described as a “simple, elegant distillation of the Blues”.
", written by Ray Henderson
, Sam Lewis
and Joe Young (popularised by Al Jolson
in 1926). However the two songs are distinct, both musically and lyrically (apart from the title).
Claims are made that "Sitting on Top of the World" was derived from the earlier songs: "How Long, How Long
" by Leroy Carr
and Scrapper Blackwell
, a blues hit recorded in 1928, and Carr & Blackwell's follow-up song "You Got To Reap What You Sow" (1929), with Tampa Red on bottleneck guitar. It has also been suggested that Tampa Red
composed the melody of "Sitting on Top of the World".
This article previously stated that "the melody was almost certainly taken from Tommy Johnson. Victor Records, the copyright holders of Johnson's 'Big Road Blues', sued OKeh Records
and settled out of court." If there was a lawsuit it would have been over the Sheik's "Stop and Listen" which is very similar to "Big Road."
, 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.
Harmonically the song differs from a standard 12 bar blues, and though the original has a clearly bluesy harmonic feeling, including blue notes in the melody, there is some disagreement about whether it is really a blues.
“Sittin’ on Top of the World”, recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1957 (and published under his birth-name Chester Burnett), is a well-known and widely-used version of this song. This was the version recorded by Cream
in 1968.
Howlin’ Wolf shortened the song to just three verses. The first and third verses are similar to the second and fifth verses of the Mississippi Sheiks’ song. The middle verse of Howlin’ Wolf's version – “Worked all the summer, worked all the fall / Had to take Christmas, in my overalls” – was an addition to the 1930 original, but had previously appeared in a version recorded by Ray Charles
in 1949.
The ‘peaches’ verse has a long history in popular music. It appears as the chorus of an unpublished song composed by Irving Berlin
in May 1914: “If you don't want my peaches / You'd better stop shaking my tree”. The song "Mamma's Got the Blues", written by Clarence Williams and S. Martin and recorded by Bessie Smith
in 1923, has the line: "If you don't like my peaches then let my orchard be". In her version of "St. Louis Blues", Ella Fitzgerald
sang, "If you don't like my peaches, why do you shake my tree? / Stay out of my orchard, and let my peach tree be". In 1929 Blind Lemon Jefferson
recorded “Peach Orchard Mama” ("... you swore nobody’d pick your fruit but me / I found three kid men shaking down your peaches free"). In later years lines using similar imagery were used in "Matchbox
" by Carl Perkins
and Jerry Lee Lewis
; "The Joker
" by the Steve Miller Band
; an early version of "Pipeliner Blues" by Moon Mullican
; and, most directly, "If You Don't Want My Peaches, Don't Shake My Tree" by Fox
. Ahmet Ertegun
was able to convince Miller to pay him US$50,000, claiming authorship of the line in his song "Lovey Dovey
". This verse and its ubiquitous usage is an example of the tradition of floating lyrics
(also called 'maverick stanzas') in folk-music tradition. ‘Floating lyrics’ have been described as “lines that have circulated so long in folk communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to suit their personal and community aesthetics”.
Walter Vinson
Walter Vinson was an American Memphis blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He was a member of the Mississippi Sheiks, worked with Bo Chatmon and his brothers, and co-wrote the blues standard, "Sitting on Top of the World"...
and Lonnie Chatmon, core members of the Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
, a popular country blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
band of the 1930s. Walter Vinson claimed to have composed “Sitting on Top of the World” one morning after playing a white dance in Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood, Mississippi
Greenwood is a city in and the county seat of Leflore County, Mississippi, United States, located at the eastern edge of the Mississippi Delta approximately 96 miles north of Jackson, Mississippi, and 130 miles south of Memphis, Tennessee. The population was 15,205 at the 2010 census. It is the...
.
The song was first recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks
Mississippi Sheiks
The Mississippi Sheiks were a popular and influential guitar and fiddle group of the 1930s. They were notable mostly for playing country blues, but were adept at many styles of United States popular music of the time, and their records were bought by both black and white audiences.In 2004, they...
in 1930 (on the Okeh
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
label, No. 8784), became a popular cross-over hit for the band, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
In May 1930 Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton
Charlie Patton , better known as Charley Patton, was an American Delta blues musician. He is considered by many to be the "Father of the Delta Blues", and is credited with creating an enduring body of American music and personally inspiring just about every Delta blues man...
recorded a version of the song (with altered lyrics) called “Some Summer Day” During the next few years cover-versions of "Sitting on Top of the World" were recorded by a number of artists: The Two Poor Boys
The Two Poor Boys
The Two Poor Boys were an American folk-blues duo, composed of Joe Evans and Arthur McLain . Evans and McLain were performers, based in Tennessee. The Two Poor Boys recorded between 1927 to 1931. Their songs typically featured Evans' laid-back vocals, with a musical approach based on...
, Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy
Big Bill Broonzy was a prolific American blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. His career began in the 1920s when he played country blues to mostly black audiences. Through the ‘30s and ‘40s he successfully navigated a transition in style to a more urban blues sound popular with white audiences...
, Sam Collins
Sam Collins (musician)
Sam Collins who was sometimes known as Crying Sam Collins and also, according to one authoritative website, as Jim Foster, Jelly Roll Hunter, Big Boy Woods, Bunny Carter, and Salty Dog Sam, was an early American blues singer and guitarist.-Biography:He was born in Louisiana, United States, and...
, Milton Brown
Milton Brown
Milton Brown was an American band leader and vocalist who co-founded the genre of Western swing. His band was the first to fuse hillbilly hokum, jazz, and pop together into a unique, distinctly American hybrid, thus giving him the nickname, "Father of Western Swing"...
and Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
. After Milton Brown recorded it for Bluebird Records the song became a staple in the repertoire of western swing bands.
"Sitting on Top of the World" has become a standard
Blues standard
A blues standard is a blues song that is widely known, performed, and recorded by blues artists. The following list identifies blues standards and some of the blues artists that have recorded them...
of traditional American music. 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 convey a stoic optimism in the face of emotional setbacks, and the song has been described as a “simple, elegant distillation of the Blues”.
Antecedents
The title line of "Sitting on Top of the World" was probably borrowed from a well-known popular song of the 1920s, "I'm Sitting on Top of the WorldI'm Sitting on Top of the World
"I'm Sitting on Top of the World" is a popular song.The music was written by Ray Henderson, the lyrics by Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young. The song was published in 1925.The song was first recorded by either Art Gillham or Al Jolson...
", written by Ray Henderson
Ray Henderson
Ray Henderson , was an American songwriter.Born Raymond Brost in Buffalo, New York, Henderson moved to New York City and became a popular composer in Tin Pan Alley...
, Sam Lewis
Sam M. Lewis
Sam M. Lewis was a Jewish-American singer and lyricist, born in New York City, New York as Samuel Levine-Biography:...
and Joe Young (popularised by Al Jolson
Al Jolson
Al Jolson was an American singer, comedian and actor. In his heyday, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer"....
in 1926). However the two songs are distinct, both musically and lyrically (apart from the title).
Claims are made that "Sitting on Top of the World" was derived from the earlier songs: "How Long, How Long
How Long, How Long Blues
"How Long, How Long Blues" is a traditional eight bar blues song, made famous by Leroy Carr on his 1928 Vocalion Records recording with the guitarist Scrapper Blackwell...
" by Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr
Leroy Carr was an American blues singer, songwriter and pianist, who developed a laid-back, crooning technique and whose popularity and style influenced such artists as Nat King Cole and Ray Charles. He first became famous for "How Long, How Long Blues" on Vocalion Records in 1928.-Life and...
and Scrapper Blackwell
Scrapper Blackwell
Francis Hillman "Scrapper" Blackwell was an American blues guitarist and singer; best known as half of the guitar-piano duo he formed with Leroy Carr in the late 1920s and early 1930s, he was an acoustic single-note picker in the Chicago blues and Piedmont blues style, with some critics noting...
, a blues hit recorded in 1928, and Carr & Blackwell's follow-up song "You Got To Reap What You Sow" (1929), with Tampa Red on bottleneck guitar. It has also been suggested that Tampa Red
Tampa Red
Tampa Red , born Hudson Woodbridge but known from childhood as Hudson Whittaker, was an American Chicago blues musician....
composed the melody of "Sitting on Top of the World".
This article previously stated that "the melody was almost certainly taken from Tommy Johnson. Victor Records, the copyright holders of Johnson's 'Big Road Blues', sued OKeh Records
Okeh Records
Okeh Records began as an independent record label based in the United States of America in 1918. From 1926 on, it was a subsidiary of Columbia Records.-History:...
and settled out of court." If there was a lawsuit it would have been over the Sheik's "Stop and Listen" which is very similar to "Big Road."
Structure
Lyrically “Sitting Top of the World” has a simple structure consisting of a series of rhyming coupletsCouplet
A couplet is a pair of lines of meter in poetry. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter.While traditionally couplets rhyme, not all do. A poem may use white space to mark out couplets if they do not rhyme. Couplets with a meter of iambic pentameter are called heroic...
, 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.
Harmonically the song differs from a standard 12 bar blues, and though the original has a clearly bluesy harmonic feeling, including blue notes in the melody, there is some disagreement about whether it is really a blues.
Lyrics
The numerous versions of “Sitting Top of the World” recorded since 1930 have been characterized by variations to the original lyrics, as recorded by the Mississippi Sheiks in 1930.“Sittin’ on Top of the World”, recorded by Howlin’ Wolf in 1957 (and published under his birth-name Chester Burnett), is a well-known and widely-used version of this song. This was the version recorded by Cream
Cream (band)
Cream were a 1960s British rock supergroup consisting of bassist/vocalist Jack Bruce, guitarist/vocalist Eric Clapton, and drummer Ginger Baker...
in 1968.
Howlin’ Wolf shortened the song to just three verses. The first and third verses are similar to the second and fifth verses of the Mississippi Sheiks’ song. The middle verse of Howlin’ Wolf's version – “Worked all the summer, worked all the fall / Had to take Christmas, in my overalls” – was an addition to the 1930 original, but had previously appeared in a version recorded by Ray Charles
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson , known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm and blues, gospel, and blues styles into his early recordings with Atlantic Records...
in 1949.
The ‘peaches’ verse has a long history in popular music. It appears as the chorus of an unpublished song composed by Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin was an American composer and lyricist of Jewish heritage, widely considered one of the greatest songwriters in American history.His first hit song, "Alexander's Ragtime Band", became world famous...
in May 1914: “If you don't want my peaches / You'd better stop shaking my tree”. The song "Mamma's Got the Blues", written by Clarence Williams and S. Martin and recorded by Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith
Bessie Smith was an American blues singer.Sometimes referred to as The Empress of the Blues, Smith was the most popular female blues singer of the 1920s and 1930s...
in 1923, has the line: "If you don't like my peaches then let my orchard be". In her version of "St. Louis Blues", Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
sang, "If you don't like my peaches, why do you shake my tree? / Stay out of my orchard, and let my peach tree be". In 1929 Blind Lemon Jefferson
Blind Lemon Jefferson
"Blind" Lemon Jefferson was an American blues singer and guitarist from Texas. He was one of the most popular blues singers of the 1920s, and has been titled "Father of the Texas Blues"....
recorded “Peach Orchard Mama” ("... you swore nobody’d pick your fruit but me / I found three kid men shaking down your peaches free"). In later years lines using similar imagery were used in "Matchbox
Matchbox (song)
"Matchbox" is a rock and roll and rockabilly song written by Carl Perkins and first recorded by him at Sun Records in December 1956 and released on February 11, 1957 as a 45 single on Sun Records. It has become one of Perkins' best-known recordings...
" by Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
and Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis is an American rock and roll and country music singer-songwriter and pianist. An early pioneer of rock and roll music, Lewis's career faltered after he married his young cousin, and he afterwards made a career extension to country and western music. He is known by the nickname 'The...
; "The Joker
The Joker (song)
"The Joker" is a song by the Steve Miller Band from their 1973 album The Joker. The song is one of two Steve Miller Band songs that feature the neologism "pompatus". The song topped the US Billboard Hot 100 in early 1974. It draws heavy influence from the Allen Toussaint's song Soul Sister featured...
" by the Steve Miller Band
Steve Miller Band
The Steve Miller Band is an American rock band formed in 1967 in San Francisco, California. The band is managed by Steve Miller on guitar and lead vocals, and is known for a string of mid-1970s hit singles that are staples of the classic rock radio format.-History:In 1965, Steve Miller and...
; an early version of "Pipeliner Blues" by Moon Mullican
Moon Mullican
Aubrey Wilson Mullican , known as Moon Mullican, was an American country and western singer, songwriter, and pianist. However, he also sang and played jazz, rock 'n' roll and the blues...
; and, most directly, "If You Don't Want My Peaches, Don't Shake My Tree" by Fox
Fox (band)
Fox was a British-based pop band popular in the mid 1970s. Led by American songwriter and record producer Kenny Young, the band was perhaps best known for its charismatic Australian lead singer Susan Traynor, who performed under the name Noosha Fox....
. Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegun
Ahmet Ertegün was a Turkish American musician and businessman, best known as the founder and president of Atlantic Records. He also wrote classic blues and pop songs and served as Chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and museum...
was able to convince Miller to pay him US$50,000, claiming authorship of the line in his song "Lovey Dovey
Lovey Dovey (song)
"Lovey Dovey" is a popular American rhythm and blues song originating in the 1950s and written by Memphis Edward Curtis and Ahmet Ertegun . The record, which deals with the singer's relationship with women, is done in a light-hearted style .Numerous artists have recorded the song...
". This verse and its ubiquitous usage is an example of the tradition of floating lyrics
Traditional blues verses
In the folk tradition, there are many traditional blues verses that have been sung over and over by many artists. Blues singers, which includes many country and folk artists as well as those commonly identified with blues singers, use these traditional lyrics to fill out their blues performances...
(also called 'maverick stanzas') in folk-music tradition. ‘Floating lyrics’ have been described as “lines that have circulated so long in folk communities that tradition-steeped singers call them instantly to mind and rearrange them constantly, and often unconsciously, to suit their personal and community aesthetics”.
Notable cover versions
- Bob WillsBob WillsJames Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
(Vocalion 03139, 1935) (78 RPM) - Les PaulLes PaulLester William Polsfuss —known as Les Paul—was an American jazz and country guitarist, songwriter and inventor. He was a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible. He is credited with many recording innovations...
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(2008 album) - Jeff HealeyJeff HealeyNorman Jeffrey "Jeff" Healey was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock vocalist and guitarist who attained musical and personal popularity, particularly in the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
from Mess of BluesMess of BluesMess of Blues is an album by Jeff Healey. It was released in 2008 less than two months after his death and just three weeks shy of his 42nd birthday. Four of the albums tracks were recorded live in front of audiences, two of the live tracks at the Islington Academy in London, and the other two...
(2008 album) - Willie NelsonWillie NelsonWillie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
from Willie and the WheelWillie and the WheelWillie and the Wheel is an album from American country music artists Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel. This album was released on February 3, 2009, on the Bismeaux Records label and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Americana Album....
(2009 album)