NRR Project: 'Sittin' on Top of the World' (1930)

NRR Project: ‘Sitting on Top of the World’

The Mississippi Sheiks

1930

3:12

It’s interesting that a song I thought of as an upbeat bluegrass tune started off as a slowly paced blues song. Once again, the National Recording Registry holds an excellent explanatory essay on it by Edward Komara, which you can read here.

The Mississippi Sheiks were a duo that consisted of Walter Vinson on violin and Lonnie Chatmon on guitar. They played in central Mississippi, and probably would have been forgotten if not for the success of this unique song. It was recorded when Polk Brockman of Okeh Records caught them at a remote recording session in Shreveport, Louisiana in 1930. The song was a hit, and sustained the duo through their career together.

The lyrics are counterintuitive. Instead of lamenting the loss of a lover, the singer declares, “Now she’s gone, and I don’t worry/For I’m sittin’ on top of the world.” This defiant, proud statement overcomes the sorrow that the singer is feeling. (The title may have come from the 1925 pop song, “I’m Sitting on Top of the World,” made popular by Al Jolson.)

Almost immediately, others began to cover the tune, in all kinds of styles. Among those artists were Milton Brown and His Musical Brownies, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, bluegrass creator Bill Monroe, Howlin’ Wolf, Cream, and the Grateful Dead. Each brought their unique perspective to the song, bending it into many shapes, generally with a faster tempo, until the song became a rollicking, happy one.

The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next up: the Modesto High School Band plays Beethoven’s Egmont Overture.