Mississippi Sheiks – Sitting 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. It became a popular crossover hit, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.
“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 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.”
Mississippi Sheiks – Sitting on Top of the World
B-side “Lovely One in This Town”
Released 1930
Recorded February 17, 1930
Genre Country blues
Length 3:10
Label Okeh
Songwriter(s) Walter Vinson, Lonnie Chatmon
TOP 100 COUNTRY SONG
Mississippi Sheiks – Sitting on Top of the World Lyrics
Worked all the summer, and all the fall
Just tryin’ to find my, little Lenore
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
‘Cause I’m sitting on top of the world
Was in the spring, one summer day
Just when she left me, she’s gone to stay
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
I’m sitting on top of the world
Then you come here runnin’
Holdin’ up your hand
Can get me a woman
Quick as you can get a man
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
I’m sitting on top of the world
It have been days
I didn’t know your name
Why should I worry and prayer in vain?
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
I’m sitting on top of the world
Goin’ to the station, down in the yard
Gon’ get me a freight train
Worked some, got hard
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
I’m sitting on top of the world
The lonesome days, they have gone by
Why should you beg me and say goodbye?
But now she’s gone, I don’t worry
I’m sitting on top of the world
GENIUS
