Many people know "The House of the Rising Sun." It hit peek popularity as The Animals' 1964 smash hit. It's known as a New Orleans anthem and a blues classic. Green Day also used the opening stanza for a remixed cover of U2's "The Saints are Coming."
But what is "The House of the Rising Sun?"
The song has a hidden and broad history from all areas of folk music and dating far earlier than the mid-1960s, when its popularity exploded.
The origin of "The House of the Rising Sun" (of when it was written and what the house actually is) has been washed away by time. Earliest dated, The often disputed birth began with Alan Lomax, who recorded a young girl named Georgia Turner singing the song a cappella in the Appalachian hills of rural Kentucky.
You read that right.
A girl.
Georgia was only 16 when she recorded the song, but was very quiet as to where she had learned it.
Notable folk singer, Clarence Ashley, also made a recording of the same song in the 1930s, where his version is definitely a bluegrass style, stating that he learned the song from his grandfather.
The most interesting part is that while both Ashley and Turner come from the Appalachia region, Clarence was from Tennessee and Georgia was from Kentucky. These two individuals were over 100 miles apart (which is crazy far in the 1930s) but they both sang eerily similar versions of the song. In a time period when only few could afford record players or radios, how did so many people learn the same music such as the "Rising Sun?"
A man named Ted Anthony wrote a book on "Rising Sun" called "Chasing the Rising Sun." In it, his journey in search of the true origin of the song takes him to a dozen states and even across the Atlantic ocean. Anthony says that Clarence Ashley actually traveled the Appalachia area in the 1920s with something called "medicine shows." Medicine shows were traveling bands of musicians and salesmen. In a new town, the musicians would sing songs to entertain and draw crowds, and the salesmen would take advantage of the gathering to sell bottled “medicine,” (which could often better be described as flavored alcohol!)
So really, not much has changed.
In turn, it ensured the spread of music. He may have sang "Rising Sun" to many towns in Appalachia, where some locals would remember and re-sing the song time and again, making up the words as they forgot a word or phrase.
As records became more popular, so did recordings of the "House of the Rising Sun." From the 1940s on, many artists recorded various versions of the song, occasionally under different titles, but generally the same lyrics and chords.
Some of the most famous:
-Leadbelly released several versions of the song in the 1940s.
-In 1958, Pete Seeger recorded a version on the banjo, and as was often common in earlier versions of the song, he sang it from the perspective of a woman.
-Woodie Guthrie recorded a version, as did Joan Baez and Bob Dylan, who had arguably the most famous version until the Animals’ cover several years later.
-The Animals recorded their world-famous version in one take during a May, 1964 recording session. It became an immediate hit, and topped both the U.S. and U.K. single charts that year. To this day, it is their most popular hit.
As for the location of the actual house of the Rising Sun, spoiler, but it probably never existed in reality. Now if you go to AskNola.com, currently the most likely location is at 535-537 Conti St. in the famous French Quarter. Excavators discovered unusual amounts of makeup containers and liquor bottles, and a newspaper ad stating that the hotel was open to “discerning gentlemen,” which could have possibly alluded to prostitution. Rising Sun is thought to have operated from 1808-1822 until it burned to the ground (probably all that liquor). The site is now a gallery for the Historic New Orleans Collection museum. But in all actuality, the hotel could just as easily have been a hotel for men (which weren't uncommon) and men back then would apply some makeup sometimes (men gotta feel pretty too). So basically, we got nothin'.
There have been stories of a picture of a women’s prison outside of New Orleans with a stone etching of a rising sun over the gate, though no images have actually ever been found. The theory is plausible since most versions before the 60s were from a woman's perspective, and many versions include the phrase “ball and chain.” Often times "the house" is assumed as a brothel, a gambling parlor, a bar, or a prison. Many of the earlier singers probably never visited New Orleans (I mean, we all know 16 year old Georgia Turner didn't) and the house of the Rising Sun could just as easily be symbolic of any generic place of bad vibes. In all honesty, we'll probably never know for sure. And isn't that half the fun?
Here are the original lyrics from Georgia Turner:
THE RISING SUN BLUES
Georgia Turner, Middlesboro, Ky., 1937There 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.
If I had listened what mama said, I’d’a’ bee at home today,
being so young and foolish, poor boy, let a rambler lead me astray.
Go tell my baby sister never to 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.
The only pleasure he gets out of life is hoboin’ from town to town.
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.
Going back to New Orleans, my race is almost run,
Going back to spend the rest of my life beneath that Rising Sun
And if you really like the song, tune in June 25, 2016, at 8 p.m. to your local news station to watch the Miss Mississippi pageant ... you just may see a familiar redhead trying her hand at "The House of the Rising Sun" as well.
UPDATE: Ya girl won Talent singing this song and also recieved 2nd Runner-Up to Miss Mississippi 2016! So lemme tell ya: the House of the Rising Sun isn't so bad if you ever go;)
All information gathered from http://www.risingsunbnb.com/the-song ; http://www.americanbluesscene.com/2011/11/a-brief-... ; and http://www.shmoop.com/animals-house-rising-sun/mea...
Photo courtesy of me!
