Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), known as
Howlin' Wolf, was a
Chicago blues singer, guitarist, and harmonica player, originally from
Mississippi.
With a booming voice and imposing physical presence, he is one of the
best-known Chicago blues artists. The musician and critic
Cub Koda
noted, "no one could match Howlin' Wolf for the singular ability to
rock the house down to the foundation while simultaneously scaring its
patrons out of its wits."Producer
Sam Phillips recalled, "When I heard Howlin' Wolf, I said, 'This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies'".Several of his songs, including "
Smokestack Lightnin'", "
Killing Floor" and "
Spoonful", have become blues and
blues rock standards. In 2004,
Rolling Stone magazine ranked him number 51 on its list of the "
100 Greatest Artists of All Time".
"Sitting on Top of the World" (also "Sittin' 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.[1] It became a popular crossover hit for the band, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2008.[2]
"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”
