Sittin' on Top of the World

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 Sittin' on Top of the World. Some Bluegrass pickers who these days do the standard "Sittin' on Top of the World" might be astounded to find out where their tune came from. It was actually written and recorded in the early 1930s by some Flood heroes: the great country blues band, The Mississippi Sheiks. And over the years, versions of this song have been done by everyone from Ray Charles to Bill Monroe, from the Grateful Dead to Willie Nelson. Oh, and here's a curious bit of trivia. A great verse in this song goes, "If you don't like my peaches, don't shake my tree." Well, it turns out that the "peaches" verse has a long history in popular music. A variation of the line even appeared nearly a hundred years ago in a chorus of a little-known Irving Berlin song, as "If you don't want my peaches / You'd better stop shaking my tree." Irving, you old dog, you!

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This was recorded live at the Flood's Wednesday night jam session. For more free music, visit the Flood's Digital Jam Session page.