Sitting on Top of the World

DESCRIPTION: Singer's woman leaves him, then says "Come back... I need you so". He spurns her: "If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree...." He'll find another woman. Ch.: "But now she's gone, and I don't worry/Because I'm sitting on top of the world"
AUTHOR: Probably Walter Vincson (Digital Tradition lists Lonnie Carter and Walter Jacobs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Mississippi Sheiks)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness love travel abandonment floatingverses lover
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, STTNTOP*
Roud #7689
RECORDINGS:
Alabama Sheiks "Sittin' On Top of the World" (Victor 23261, 1931)
Beale St. Rounders, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (Vocalion 1555, 1930)
(Joe) Evans & (Arthur) McClain, "Sitting On Top of the World" (Banner 32211/Oriole 8079/Perfect 180/Romeo 5079, 1931)
Shelton Brothers, "I'm Sittin' On Top of the World" (Decca 5190, 1936)
Mississippi Sheiks, "Sitting on Top of the World" (OKeh 8784, 1930; OKeh 45506, 1931)
Scottdale String Band, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (OKeh 45509, 1931; rec. 1930)
Hobart Smith, "Sitting on Top of the World," (1969, on Hobart Smith, "The Old Timey Rap," Topic 12T187)
Doc Watson, "Sitting On Top of the World" (on WatsonAshley1)
Clarence Williams Jug Band, "Sitting On Top of the World" (OKeh 8826, 1930)
Moses Williams, "Sitting on Top of the World" (on USFlorida01)
Bob Wills, "Sittin' On Top of the World" (Vocalion 03139, 1936 [rec. 1935])
SAME TUNE:
Mississippi Sheiks, "Sitting On Top of the World #2" (OKeh 8854, 1931; rec. 1930)
NOTES [147 words]: This song should not be confused with the Tin Pan Alley song, "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (which goes on, "Just rollin' along, just rollin' along"), although the Mississippi Sheiks may have been ironically quoting from it. - PJS
That the Mississippi Sheiks were alluding to it seems likely, since "I'm Sitting on Top of the World" (words by Sam Lewis and Joe Young, music by Ray Henderson; recorded by Al Jolson) was published in 1925 and became a hit in 1926; Edward Foote Gardner, Popular Songs of the Twentieth Century: Volume I -- Chart Detail & Encyclopedia 1900-1949, Paragon House, 2000, p. 358, estimates that this was it fifth most popular song in America in 1926, peaking at #2 in February 1926 (#1 for the year being Irving Berlin's "Always"). Since the Sheiks recorded their song in 1930, it was very likely written shortly after the pop song was widely known. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.5
File: dtSTTNTO

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