The House of the Rising Sun

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a United States folk song.

Origin

Like many classic folk ballads, the authorship of "The House of the Rising Sun", sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues", is dubious. Folklorist Alan Lomax, author of the seminal 1941 songbook Our Singing Country, wrote that the melody was taken from a traditional English ballad and the lyrics written by a pair of Kentuckians named Georgia Turner and Bert Martin. Other scholars have proposed different explanations, although Lomax's is generally considered most plausible.

In the early 20th century, the phrase "Rising Sun" may have been used as a euphemism for a brothel or house of prostitution, and it is not known whether or not the house described in the lyrics is an actual or fictitious place.

The oldest known existing recording is by Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster and was released in 1934. Texas Alexander's "The Risin' Sun", which was recorded in 1928, is often mentioned as the first recording, but this is a completely different song. Ashley thought he had learned it from his grandmother, Enoch Ashley.

Roy Acuff (who recorded the song commercially on November 3, 1938) may have learned this number from such neighboring Smoky Mountain artists as versatile entertainer Clarence Ashley or the Callahan Brothers, an influential duet team of the '30s and '40s.

Artists ranging from Bob Dylan to Dolly Parton to Bachman-Turner Overdrive have covered it. "The House of the Rising Sun" was made popular by the rock group The Animals, and is a standard cover by bar bands and major recording artists alike. The Animals version is a warning about the evils of out-of-control drinking and gambling, whereas the song was originally about brothels. The Animals version has become a staple of oldies and classic rock radio stations.

The gender of the singer is flexible. Earlier versions of the song are often sung from the female perspective, a woman who followed a drunk or a gambler to New Orleans and became a prostitute, in the House of the Rising Sun, such as in Nina Simone's. version. The Animals version was sung from a perspective of a male, warning about drinking and gambling.

The real house?

Various places in New Orleans, Louisiana have been proposed as the inspiration for the song, with varying plausibility. Only two candidates have historical documentation as using the name "Rising Sun"; both having listings in old period city directories. The first was a small short-lived hotel on Conti Street in the French Quarter in the 1820s. An excavation and document search in early 2005 found evidence supporting this claim, including an advertisement with language that may have euphemistically indicated prostitution. The second was a late 19th century "Rising Sun Hall" in the riverfront of the uptown Carrollton neighborhood, which seems to have been a building owned and used for meetings of a Social Aid & Pleasure Club, commonly rented out for dances and functions. Definite links to gambling or prostitution, if any, are undocumented for either of these buildings, neither of which still exist.

A guidebook called Offbeat New Orleans asserts that the real House of the Rising Sun was at 826–830 St. Louis St. between 1862 and 1874 and was purportedly named for its madam, Marianne LeSoleil Levant, whose surname translates to "The Rising Sun."

It is quite possible, though, that the "House of the Rising Sun" is a metaphor for either the slave pens of the plantation, the plantation house, or the plantation itself, which were the subjects and themes of many traditional blues songs.

Lyrics

The traditional lyrics, as recorded by Lomax, are as follows:

There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun.

It's been the ruin of many a poor girl,

And me, O God, for one.

If I had listened what Mamma said,

I'd 'a' been at home today.

Being so young and foolish, poor boy,

Let a rambler lead me astray.

Go tell my baby sister

Never do like I have done

To shun that house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun.

My mother she's a tailor;

She sold those new blue jeans.

My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord, Lord,

Drinks down in New Orleans.

The only thing a drunkard needs

Is a suitcase and a trunk.

The only time he's satisfied

Is when he's on a drunk.

Fills his glasses to the brim,

Passes them around

Only pleasure he gets out of life

Is hoboin' from town to town.

One foot is on the platform

And the other one on the train.

I'm going back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain.

Going back to New Orleans,

My race is almost run.

Going back to spend the rest of my days

Beneath that Rising Sun.

Performances

Johnny Hallyday sang a French version of the song called Les portes du pénitencier.

A Catalan version was performed by the group "Els Dracs" under the title La Casa del Sol Naixent.

A popular version from the 1930s was recorded by Leadbelly, who added ambiguity to the lyrics by changing the gender of the singer. The best-known cover of this version of the song is the 1964 version by Eric Burdon and The Animals. The Animals version runs thus:

There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun.

It's been the ruin of many a young poor boy,

And God I know I'm one.

My mother was a tailor ,

She sewed my new blue jeans,

My father was a gambling man,

Down in New Orleans.

Now the only things a gambler needs,

Is a suitcase and a trunk

And the only time he is satisfied,

Is when he's on a drunk

Oh Mother, tell your children

Not to do what I have done

Spend your life in sin and misery

In the House of the Rising Sun

One foot is on the platform

And the other one on the train.

I'm going back to New Orleans

To wear that ball and chain.

There is a house in New Orleans

They call the Rising Sun.

It's been the ruin of many a young poor boy,

And God I know I'm one.

Other artists to cover the song include: The 101 Strings Orchestra, George Abele, Alger "Texas" Alexander, Alexander and Morrisey, The Antics, Wally B,BTO, Joan Baez, Al Bano & Romina Power, Harry Barbee, The Bard of Ely, Basement Rockers, The Be Good Tanyas, Jen Ballute Band, Filippo Bertacche, Frida Boccara, Eric Bibb & Cyndee Peters, Bisconti, Black Harm, Blind Boys of Alabama (as ‘Amazing Grace’), Brothers Bumgarner, The Brothers Four, Complete Fools, The Country Gentlemen, David Allen Coe, Sister Cy, Desconocido, Diba, The Doors, Colin Dussault's Blues Project, Bob Dylan (as part of his self-titled debut album), The Eagles, Tommy Emmanuel, Ever Eve, Marianne Faithfull, Los Marcellos Ferial, FHS Marching Admirals, Fausto Papetti, Fescue, Stephen Fletcher, Flower Travellin' Band, The Fools, Forkatie, Fremont John, Frijid Pink, Funky Junction, Geordie, Goldpheet, Grant Green, Gray Brothers, Woody Guthrie, Alejandra Guzman, Gypsy Planet, Johnny Hallyday, Gabriella Hanninen, Wyclef Jean et Les Portes du Pen, Waylon Jennings, The Jet Blacks, Danny Johnson, The Kappas, Sammy Kaye, Kentucky Blue, B.B. King and Mary Travers, Ricky King, Mark Knopfler, Konec Film, Wadim Kosogorov, Kult, James Last, Vicky Leandros, Dave Lindholm, Willie Logan, Bruno Lomas, Lone Star, Los Cincos Latinos, The Marketts, John 'Too Cool' McCool, Ronnie Milsap, Roger McGuinn, Mission Blues Band, Harold Morton, La Renga, Muse, A. Nedvetsky, Nixer, The Northern Lights Orchestra, Sinéad O'Connor, Ohzone, Other Voices, John Otway, Oysterhead, Dolly Parton, Paravoz, Pataky Attila, Patricia's House, Pete Seeger, Phobos 4, The Platters, PokeMoons, Brendan Power, Steve Power, Preacher, Brian Robertson, Rockapella, The Rolling Stones, Dave van Ronk, Route 66 Blues Band, Saanvi, Sandro, Santa Esmeralda, Schade's Pigband, Sentenced, Severe Overload, Shabse, Nina Simone, Edward Simoni, Ryan Sinn, Snap On America, Volker Sommerfeld, Spekkosaurus, Ken Tamplin, Tangerine Dream, Terry, Toto, The Ventures, The Seamonkees, The Vivisectors, Vixen, Vulki, Walkabouts, Doctor Watson, Doc Watson & Richard Watson, The Weavers, Leslie West, The White Stripes, Josh White, Hank Williams, Clark Wilson, Jubal Lee Young, Zeeza, Zeeza and Snake, Wictor Zincuk,

Trivia

• The "House of the Rising Sun" was the first song Tony Blair learned to play on the guitar, according to an interview with him on "Top of the Pops", January 23rd, 2005.
• The song The Devil Went Down to Georgia makes a reference to this song in the lyric "the devil's in the house of the rising sun"
• Was featured in a Gatorade commercial.
• A pub with this name was featured in the Pilot Episode of Knight Rider.
• This is the title of one particular episode of Lost, though the lyrics' relevance to the plot of the episode is up to interpretation.
• Bob Dylan is said to have first heard The Animals' version on his car radio and "jumped out of his car seat" because he liked it so much.

External links

• MP3 Version, Lyrics and Guitar Chords at Roger McGuinn's Folk Den
• Lyrics & Discussion at the Mudcat Cafe
• 250 covers, some of dubious origin.
• Easybyte — free easy piano arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun"