Saturday Song Open Thread - Sitting on Top of the World

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 5:00am

Hey, it's songday. I pick a song that I believe warrants it and publish an assortment of the covers of that song by various persons and or groups. Pick a few that are new to you and have a listen. It is also, of course, an open thread to talk about anything you feel like.

Today's song is: Sitting on Top of the World

Mississippi Sheiks

Salty Dog Sam

Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Red Murrell

Ray Charles Trio

Curtis Gordon

Howlin' Wolf

Carl Perkins

Doc Watson

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

Grateful Dead

Cream

Jerry Reed

The Blue Velvet Band

Sam Chatmon

Totta's Bluesband

Johnny Shines

Taj Mahal

The Asylum Street Spankers

Ellen McIlwaine

Mock Duck

Van Morrison & Carl Perkins

Jack White

Ana Popovic

Bill Flagg

Jeff Healey

B.B. King

The Robert Cray Band

The Clinton Gregory Bluegrass Band

Pat Travers

Chris Goss & The Forest Rangers

Ronnie Earl

So, the thread is open, the floor is yours'.

Tags:

Open Thread

Sitting on Top of the World

Ronnie Earl

Howlin' Wolf

BB King

Van Morrison and Carl Perkins

Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee

Vote

Comments

Submitted by jbob on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 7:10am

Thanks for the music EL, RIP Jack Bruce........

I was just a young pup working for a sound company out of New York when they sent me to work on the tour this video came from. I worked the show this video came from. The Capitol Theater in NJ was home turf and I will never forget "crazy eights" there. That was when eight guys would chip in $10 each for an $80 gram of cocaine and snort the entire thing at once just before doing the load out. Working with that band turned into lots and lots of work for me with both Billy Cobham and David Sancious on some of their other projects. I'll add a song that is perhaps apropos for today's political climate.

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 8:37am

Sounds like good times. Thanks for the video.

@jbob

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 10:57am

The Capitol Theater in Jersey

@jbob

Where in Jersey?

Submitted by Mark from Queens on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 11:57am

Think the Capitol Theater was in Passaic.

@HenryAWallace Though I'm like most NYers and don't commit a lot of brain space to the geography of New Jersey for some reason.

Saw a great raucous show there in the late 80's of friends on the LA scene, Fishbone and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, in what was sadly one of original guitarist Hillel Slovak's last shows before he was found decaying for a few days from a heroin overdose in his L.A. apartment.

If it's gone now it wouldn't surprise me, in this age of Wall St plunder, corporate hijacking and austerity economics razing our town squares and especially all those places that house any kind of art. Hey, they don't want people gathering together and questioning what's going on. Probably a CVS or a bank now. Criminal bastards.

Wasn't there also a Capitol Theater in Port Chester, NY, or am I mixing them up?

—

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Sun, 02/05/2017 - 8:32am

Sorry! I have no idea.

@Mark from Queens @Mark from Queens

I've never been in Passaic or Port Chester. However, family members have spoken of the Lincoln and Capitol Theaters in Union City, NJ.

Submitted by Lookout on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 10:42am

good morning el

Funny how I always think of a song or tune based on where (and from whom) I learned it. I still have this record where I originally learned this song (2 min)...
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9X3JCTinGMg]

Lost of other interesting versions you've posted. Hope you all have a great day!

—

“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 12:48pm

Thanks, Lookout, I never heard that one before.

@Lookout

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Arrow on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 10:48am

I tweeted this

Dave Archer ‏@Arrowdavida 24h24 hours ago

@HISTORY Episode suggestion for 'SIX' -- Seal team 6 evacuate wounded /dead members leaving this 8yo Yemeni girl to lay there 2 hrs to die.

—

I want a Pony!

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 12:59pm

You forget the Obama doctrine: Anybody we kill is a terrorist.

@Arrow

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by Arrow on Sun, 02/05/2017 - 12:54pm

Silly me...

@enhydra lutris How could I forget.

—

I want a Pony!

Submitted by PhilK on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 10:52am

One more version

Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys (1958)

[video:https://youtu.be/x5ErZGtaww4]

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 11:28am

Thanks. I love tracing a song this way!

I appreciate these threads very much.

My comments.

Great song. I love the image of a pair of legs dangling off the top of the planet. Blues in the US is the musical version of aboriginal people. (I have no idea why I thought that.)

Mississippi Sheiks I really liked this version, although it may have been helped by being first. In addition to the interpretation of the song, I loved the idea of sheiks in Mississippi. I like to imagine that they got their name from Rudolph Valentino films.

Sam Chatmon-It's 1930-1940-ish. I'm sitting on the porch somewhere in the South on a hot day, staring at a dirt road and hoping for love--and I've never sat on a porch in the South in my life. IOW, this version is very evocative. Same for Jeff Healy's version, which may have the best piano of the lot. Totta's Bluesband-similar comment, but I'm in a "honky tonk" (in which I've never been, either).

Liked Johnny Shines' version a lot. Pure and authentic

Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee-liked it Also Jerry Reed's version.

Carl Perkins This illustrates his influence on Elvis Presley I like the one with Van Morrison and Carl Perkins much more. Van Morrison always seems to get things right. I listened to their version all the way through, even though I very much wanted to get to Jack White's version. If it were someone other than White, I might say his vocal interpretation was "too twangy" for my taste. However, just because it's Jack White, I like it anyway. I find him so interesting generally, as a person. Love the instrumentals.

Like Cream's version a lot. I like it more than the Grateful Dead's. I guess I just like it better as a blues song because that is how it began. I didn't like the bluegrass, country, cowboy, rockabilly or rock versions, although I did find Doc Watson's version soothing, for some reason. Of course, Eric Clapton worships, and is to be worshipped, at the altar of blues. I didn't listen to every version all the way through but I did Cream's version version.

Ray Charles To my surprise, I did not like his vocal interpretation much. However, I loved the piano and other instruments. Same for BB King.

I liked the music on Ana Popovic's version, but found the lyrics hard to understand. I don't see any good reason for that.

Anything I didn't mention was just not my favorite.

Submitted by Shahryar on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 1:43pm

a real "passed down" song

fascinating, isn't it? The lyrics change from version to version in the verse.

I'd guess the melody is old, old, old! "Traditional"

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 7:51pm

Thanks, Shah. I've always wondered who was more productive,

@Shahryar trad or anon.

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

Submitted by native on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 2:31pm

One more version, for good measure

Recorded in 1962, originally released on Spivey Records (as in Victoria Spivey).
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lY6Rimo6mb0]

—

native

Submitted by enhydra lutris on Sat, 02/04/2017 - 7:55pm

Thanks, native, another good one.

@native

—

That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --