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It delves into the dark side of human nature, exploring themes of addiction, betrayal, and lost innocence. The lyrics evoke a sense of sadness and introspection, urging the listener to reflect on their own choices and actions. Dave Van Ronk and Bob Dylan played “House of the Rising Sun” in coffeehouses. Burdon himself picked the song up from the English folk scene, and the Animals first covered the slow, sinister tune when they opened for Chuck Berry because they knew they “couldn’t outrock” the guitar great. It is a great song for them to perform, but it wasn’t the only one that raised the roof. There were only two singers that could do that and make it work so well.
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Learn Tony Rice's Take on “House of the Rising Sun” - Acoustic Guitar
Learn Tony Rice's Take on “House of the Rising Sun”.
Posted: Thu, 03 Sep 2020 07:00:00 GMT [source]
In 2014, Five Finger Death Punch released a cover version for their album The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2. Five Finger Death Punch's remake reached number 7 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. "House of the Rising Sun" was not included on any of the group's British albums, but it was reissued as a single twice in subsequent decades, charting both times, reaching number 25 in 1972 and number 11 in 1982.
Q: What other artists have covered House of the Rising Sun?
It is interesting how Burdon didn’t perform the song for a long time after the Animals split, calling it an “embarrassment”. He has since made peace with it, however, and has revisited it on various occasions in different styles. Matt Marshall is the original publisher of American Blues Scene and owns Bluescentric.com the shop for Blues, Soul, and Rock n Roll -- authentic music t-shirts where every sale pays artist's estates directly. One foot is on the platform and the other on 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 poor girl, and me, O God, for one. This is a song that is instantly recognized by those first seven or eight guitar notes.
House of the Rising Sun Lyrics
It was likely the railroads, theorizes Anthony, that would enable some anonymous soul to carry the song from the mountains in the east all the way to the plains in the midwest. Ted Anthony wrote a definitive book on Rising Sun called Chasing the Rising Sun. In it, his journey in search of the true birth of the song take him to a dozen states and even across the Atlantic ocean. The book expertly discusses Rising Sun as a part of the greater story of the spread of folk music at large. Anthony presents several ways songs tended to move across the confining borders of small towns where many of the folk singers, both recorded or otherwise, lived their entire lives and died. Anthony asserts that Clarence Ashley actually traveled the Appalachia area in the 1920s with medicine shows.
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However, it was the vocals that set the song apart, especially when Eric went up an octave. But, they rarely had three different “high points.” This song did, which is one reason why “House of the Rising Sun” is so unique. Furthermore, it seems that the song has been in existence for at least three hundred years. It has been known under a variety of names and has also switched genres. In some versions, it is about a woman who is returning to prostitution. In others, a man sings the narrative bemoaning his inability to let go of his sordid past, which includes drink, women, and gambling.
The repetition of these words reinforces the cyclical nature of life, suggesting that the house itself symbolizes a continuous, inescapable cycle of ruin for those who find themselves trapped within its walls. I had learned it sometime in the 1950s, from a recording by Hally Wood, the Texas singer and collector, who had got it from an Alan Lomax field recording by a Kentucky woman named Georgia Turner. I put a different spin on it by altering the chords and using a bass line that descended in half steps—a common enough progression in jazz, but unusual among folksingers. By the early 1960s, the song had become one of my signature pieces, and I could hardly get off the stage without doing it. Yes, there are several live recordings of The Doors performing House of the Rising Sun.
Q: How did The Doors’ version of House of the Rising Sun differ from previous versions?
The song is often heard in the soundtracks of popular TV shows (The West Wing and Supernatural) and movies (Suicide Squad). In late 1961, Bob Dylan recorded the song for his debut album, released in March 1962. That release had no songwriting credit, but the liner notes indicate that Dylan learned this version of the song from Dave Van Ronk. In an interview for the documentary No Direction Home, Van Ronk said that he was intending to record the song and that Dylan copied his version. Van Ronk recorded it soon thereafter for the album Just Dave Van Ronk.
Eric Burdon and the Animals, who popularized the song worldwide when they recorded and released it in 1964, didn’t know. A lot of people have sung the song over the years, and there will be a lot that still will sing it. The message in “House of the Rising Sun“ still has relevance today, which is why it is called a timeless song. However, I doubt anyone will ever come close to Eric Burdon’s rendition, which creates the feeling of the tortured soul the song is about.

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Medicine shows, popular in the early-to-mid 1900s, were traveling bands of musicians and salesmen. Clarence, as well as unknown others, may have sang the famous House to numerous towns in Appalachia, where some townsfolk would remember and re-sing the song time and again, improvising if they forgot a word or phrase. Notable folk singer Clarence Ashley actually did make an earlier recording of the same song in 1933, where his version is definitively in the bluegrass style. Clarence had said that he learned the song from his grandfather, meaning the song’s origins can be dated to considerably older than 1933. What is interesting is that, while both Ashley and Turner come from the Appalachia region, Clarence was from Tennessee and Georgia was from Kentucky. The two were over 100 miles apart, a considerable distance in the 1930s, yet both sang eerily similar versions of the song.
The Parton version makes it quite blunt, with a few new lyric lines that were written by Parton. Parton's remake reached number 14 on the US country singles chart and crossed over to the pop charts, where it reached number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100; it also reached number 30 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. Parton has occasionally performed the song live, including on her 1987–88 television show, in an episode taped in New Orleans. Believe it or not, the melody is a traditional English ballad, but the song became popular as an African-American folk song.
Burdon then lets rip with all the emotion and anguish he can muster for that last verse as he pummels our senses. The song then tapers off to a gentle ending, with Alan Price again taking the lead. One of the original versions reverses the genders and is about a woman who has no option but to return to that sort of life. One thing for certain is that the original version of “House of the Rising Sun” had nothing to do with New Orleans. The first people to sing it had probably never even heard of New Orleans. So, the next time you find yourself drawn to a melancholic melody or a song that stirs something deep within your soul, remember to listen closely to the lyrics and uncover the meaning behind the music.
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