The House of the Rising Sun

The House of the Rising Sun is a traditional folk song. It tells of a person’s life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version was recorded in 1964 by British rock group The Animals.

About The House of the Rising Sun in brief

The House of the Rising Sun is a traditional folk song. It tells of a person’s life gone wrong in the city of New Orleans. Many versions urge a sibling or parents and children to avoid the same fate. The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by British rock group The Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States and France. The song is of uncertain authorship. Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads, and thematically it has some resemblance to the 16th-century ballad \”The Unfortunate Rake\”, yet there is no evidence suggesting that there is any direct relation. There is a common perception that prior to The Animals the song was about and from the perspective of a woman. This is incorrect, as the narrative of the lyrics has been continually whipped back and forth from a female to a male cautionary tale. The oldest known recording of the song is by Appalachian artists Clarence \”Tom\” Ashley and Gwen Foster, who recorded it on September 6, 1933 on the Vocalion label. Roy Acuff, an early-day friend and apprentice of Ashley’s, learned it from him and recorded it as \”Rising Sun\” on November 3, 1938. Woody Guthrie recorded a version in 1941. In 1942, Josh Keynote recorded one in 1942, and Decca Records released one by White in 1942. Belly recorded two versions in 1944 and 1948, called \”In New Orleans and The Rising Sun\” and \”The Rising Sun Blues\”, in February 1944 and October 1948, respectively.

Lead singer Belly is also credited with having written new words and music that have subsequently been popularized in the versions made by many other artists by many later artists. It was among those collected by folklorist Alan Lomax, who, along with his father, was a curator of the Archive of American Folk Song for the Library of Congress. It is said to have been known by miners in 1905. The earliest known printed version from Gordon’s column is about a rounder, a male character. It’s been the ruin of many poor girlGreat God, and I for one. The lyrics of that version begin: There’s a house in New Orleans, it’s called the rising Sun.Where many poor boys to destruction has gone. And me, oh God, are one. The song was recorded by Clarence Ashley in 1923–1924, who might have been a white hillbilly singer who lived in North Carolina in 1923-1924. It has been described as the \”first folk rock hit\”. It was also recorded by Bert Martin and a third sung by Daw Henson, both eastern Kentucky singers. In his 1941 songbooking Our Country, Woody Guthries recorded one by Woody Guthripe, with lyrics to Turner, with reference to Martin’s version. In 1948, White and Libman Holman collaborated on a release by Mercury Records.

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