Sitting on Top of the World — Mississippi Sheiks (Okeh, 1930)

One of most enduring songs of pre-World War II blues, ‘Sitting on Top of the World’ was recorded by the duo of singer-guitarist Walter Vinson and fiddler Lonnie Chatmon, who performed as the Mississippi Sheiks. The song’s classic declaration of survival through hard times and lost love has inspired many others, from Howlin’ Wolf and Ray Charles through Cream and Bob Dylan, to sing the lines, ‘But now she’s gone, I don’t worry, I’m sitting on top of the world.’ The Mississippi Sheiks’ version was recorded on February 17, 1930, in Shreveport, Louisiana, for OKeh Records.