The House of the Rising Sun

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The House of the Rising Sun is an American folk song that became a hit in 1964 in the version by the British band The Animals . In 1970 the hard rock band Frijid Pink released another version, making the piece one of the few songs that became a million seller in two different versions.

History of origin

Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster - Rising Sun Blues

As with many traditional folk songs, the origin and origin of this one are controversial. The oldest known recording under the title Rising Sun Blues comes from Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster and was recorded on September 6, 1933 for the Vocalion label (# 2576). Ashley thought later that she had already learned the song from his grandfather Enoch Ashley. It is highly unlikely that this version developed from The Risin 'Sun by Texas Alexander (Okeh # 8673) recorded on November 15, 1928 , because it has neither lyrical nor melodic similarities. The music researcher Alan Lomax believed to hear similarities with the British folk song The Unfortunate Rake and the folk ballad Matthy Groves , which was first recorded in Wit and Drollery in 1658 . The folk ballad Mathe Groves , which depicts adulterous events, was quoted as early as 1613 in a theater drama by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher under the title Knight of the Burning Pestle . English settlers later brought this melody to the United States.

Homer Callahan recorded the song as Rounder's Luck on April 11, 1935, followed by Georgia Turner. 16-year-old miner's daughter Georgia Turner and accordion player Ed Hunter took Alan Lomax on during his trip on September 15, 1937 in remote Middlesboro, Kentucky. Here Lomax captured the song on a Presto direct disk recorder and recorded it in his 1941 book Our Singing Country as The Rising Sun Blues , written by Georgia Turner and Bert Martin.

Josh White - House of the Rising Sun

The blues developed further with Roy Acuff & His Smoky Mountain Boys, who released the first commercial recording on November 3, 1938, entitled The Rising Sun in country style . When Josh White of the song was first seen House of the Rising Sun dubs. White went into the studio with Libby Holman in March 1941 for the 3-part LP Blues Till Dawn (Decca) and recorded the song for the LP. The Mercury LP Strange Fruit (taken over from Keynote label, which was liquidated in 1948 ) mentions that the track was recorded in New York on November 10, 1944. Keynote released the song in 1942 as a single with A-side Evil Hearted Man (Keynote 542), so it stands to reason that White had recorded the track several times. There is a version sung by him and a version sung by the theater chanteuse Libby Holman with White's guitar accompaniment. Another version by Josh White can be found on Metronome Records , which was not founded until the summer of 1949.

Other important early interpreters were Leadbelly (May 12, 1945 and June 15, 1948), Pete Seeger (1958), Joan Baez (1960) and Miriam Makeba (1960). Dave van Ronk played the song with a different chord progression. In the documentary No Direction Home - Bob Dylan , he reports that Bob Dylan took over this version of him, which was recorded on November 20, 1961 at Columbia Studios, New York and released on the Bob Dylan LP on March 19, 1962 came.

The Animals version

Animals - The House of The Rising Sun

The Animals had based their version on the Bob Dylan version in order to stand out when performing with this folk version and to stand out from the rock 'n' roller Chuck Berry , with whom they were currently on tour. On May 17, 1964, they interrupted their tour in Liverpool to record in London the next day . The Animals had defused the rough original lyrics and given the song a blues version . With the line-up of Eric Burdon (vocals), Alan Price (organ), Chas Chandler (bass), Hilton Valentine (guitar) and John Steel (drums), their producer Mickie Most had the relatively small De Lane Lea Studios for May 18, 1964 Booked on Kingsway .

The Animals decided on the 6/8 meter , although the original was in 4/4 time. The track, recorded in only one take , began with Valentine's characteristic guitar arpeggio in A minor, the instrumental part is dominated by the pulsating “ Vox Continental ” organ played by Alan Price . Although they were under contract with the EMI subsidiary Columbia Records and therefore the Abbey Road Studios were available to them as a group , they preferred the Kingsway Recording Studios. After half an hour they left the studios again, so that they had to pay less than four pounds of studio costs. Producer Most, who could not contribute anything to the recording, initially did not want to record the title, but then reluctantly agreed to it.

Released in June 1964 (USA in August 1964) as Columbia DB 7301 with a playing time of 4:29 minutes, which was unusually long for the time, the single reached first place on July 9, 1964, and first place on September 5, 1964 the US hit parade , which she held for one or three weeks. Already in September 1964 they received a gold record during their US tour . In the United States, it was the British Invasion's first top hit outside of the Beatles . It was only the Animals' second single and remained their only number one.

Since organist and arranger Alan Price had himself registered with the English society for exploitation rights as the sole author of the lyrics and music of the piece The House of the Rising Sun without the knowledge of his band colleagues , the royalties from this went from now on only to musician Price, without his fellow musicians financially to contribute. In the documentary Eric Burdon - Rock'n'Roll Animal by filmmaker Hannes Rossacher from 2019, singer Eric Burdon explains: "To this day I dream of torturing and killing him and then throwing him into the Thames [...] But because people love the song so much, I have to sing it at every show until the end of my life and at the same time get ripped off because the money goes to someone else. "

Version of the Frijid Pink

Frijid Pink - House of the Rising Sun

In January 1970, the distorted and overdriven cover version of the American hard rock band Frijid Pink , produced by Michael Valvano, was released. He had to lead a protracted legal battle over the arranging rights of the piece with Frijid Pink. The recording even exceeded the Animals version with a playing time of 4:44 minutes and reached seventh place in the USA and fourth place in Great Britain. It also sold over a million copies and was therefore also awarded the gold record in September 1970.

Content of the song

The research results about the location in New Orleans mentioned in the song are uncertain . The first linguistic clues are “Rising Sun”, a euphemistic slang expression for a brothel . Two addresses in particular were and are the subject of recent research. The earliest mention of a "Rising Sun" is in the Louisiana Gazette . Most likely, a house - long demolished - located at 826-830 St. Louis Street . Between 1862 and 1874 it belonged to a certain Marianne LeSoleil Levant, whose surname can be translated from French as "Rising Sun" (rising sun). In October 1862 the Union forces occupied New Orleans; In 1874 the establishment was closed due to complaints from the neighborhood.

A small hotel at 535-537 Conti Street, also in the French Quarter , only existed for a short time (since January 1821) due to a fire in 1822. This is confirmed by a report in the same newspaper on February 28, 1822, according to which "around 2 a.m. in the Rising Sun Hotel on Conti Street a fire broke out that completely destroyed most of the large building".

During an archaeological excavation commissioned by the Society for the History of Louisiana between December 2004 and April 2005, the remains of an unusually large number of ceramic make-up pots in the typical style of the early 19th century, which at the time were mostly actresses, dancers or prostitutes as rouge containers, were found served. In addition, shards of countless brandy and beer bottles as well as an advertising board appeared that could indicate the use as a brothel. An advertisement appeared in the Gazette on January 27, 1821, announcing the sale of the hotel and at the same time assuring that the services would continue to operate.

The lyrics in different versions

The traditional lyrics
(recorded by Lomax) 		Lyrics of The Animals

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.

If I had listened what Mamma said,
I'd 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,
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 life,
Beneath that Rising Sun.

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin 'man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on and drunk

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I'm goin 'back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one

More cover versions

House of the Rising Sun has been covered more than 250 times (as of 2020). The versions cover many styles of music, from blues and jazz to ballads and country music to hard rock and disco versions.

Award

House of the Rising Sun received a BMI award .

literature

  • Ted Anthony, Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song , 2007.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Old Song Tells a Modern Story ( Memento of May 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive ), Blues Directory, September 16, 2000.
  2. ^ Alan Lomax, The Folk Songs of North America , 1960, p. 280.
  3. ↑ Elija Wald: John White - Society Blues , University of Massachusetts Press, 2000, ISBN 9781558492691 , p. 97 (online)
  4. ^ Sean Egan, Animal Tracks - The Story of the Animals , 2001, p. 42.
  5. ↑ The Myth of a Song - House Of The Rising Sun , taz, December 22, 2012.
  6. ^ Andy Blackford, Wild Animals - The Story of the Animals , 1986, pp. 58 ff.
  7. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 186.
  8. ↑ Documentary Eric Burdon - Rock'n'Roll Animal , 60 minutes (descriptions of the copyright situation of the song The House of the Rising Sun from minute 27:13), director: Hannes Rossacher , 2019, a production by Kobalt Productions GmbH Berlin on behalf of ZDF and BBC in cooperation with arte
  9. ^ Joseph Murrells, Million Selling Records , 1985, p. 307.
  10. ↑ House of the Rising Sun - The History and the Song at BBC Home
  11. ^ Celebration in the sun house . In: Die Zeit , June 2, 2005.
  12. ^ Ted Anthony, Chasing the Rising Sun: The Journey of an American Song , 2007, p. 222.
  13. ↑ Cover About House of the Rising Sun . Retrieved May 3, 2020.