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But let’s dive into the history of the song and see what we can find. With its melancholic melody and Jim Morrison’s soulful vocals, the song captures the essence of desperation and hopelessness. It delves into the dark side of human nature, exploring themes of addiction, betrayal, and lost innocence.
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Yes, there are several live recordings of The Doors performing House of the Rising Sun. These performances showcase the band’s raw energy and improvisation skills, with each performance offering a unique interpretation of the song. Some notable live versions can be found on The Doors’ live albums and concert recordings.
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Eric Burdon heard this song sung in a Northeastern folk club and brought the song to the group as a suggestion. They “electrified” it, added a superb organ solo from Alan Price, and Burdon sang it first in a lower register, then took it up an octave. The whole thing was started by Hilton Valentine’s iconic guitar arpeggio beginning. Eric Burdon and the Animals, who popularized the song worldwide when they recorded and released it in 1964, didn’t know. Even Alan Lomax couldn’t suss out the song’s origin, though he tried, and suspected it may have originated with an English farm worker named Harry Cox who sang a song called “She Was a Rum One” with a similar opening line. 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.
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The Animals recorded their world-famous version in one take during a May, 1964 recording session. The song has been continuously been lauded for it’s sound and staying power, and remained The Animals most popular single. Early folk songs such as Rising Sun were also spread through the railroads. These were times when the only practical means of travel across long distances, which sometimes even meant 100 miles or less, was by train.
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There were only two singers that could do that and make it work so well. “House of the Rising Sun” went to #1 on both sides of the Atlantic and was the first major Folk-Rock success. 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.
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The lyrics evoke a sense of sadness and introspection, urging the listener to reflect on their own choices and actions. This is a song that is instantly recognized by those first seven or eight guitar notes. And it is a song that has become more than special in the history of Rock and Blues Music. But he still goes and knows that the temptations of the place are like a ball and chain that he is condemned to carry.
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Man killed in early-morning Rising Sun house fire - Cecil Daily
Man killed in early-morning Rising Sun house fire.
Posted: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
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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As for the location of the famous House of the Rising Sun, many New Orleans tour guides claim that it was a hotel in the French Quarter that operated between 1808 and 1822 and that was actually a men’s hotel, in other words, a brothel. This has become one of the most popular stories, since the song clearly states that the life of the young woman tragically changed when she abandoned her house, and it’s most likely that she was taken to the brothel to work. He learned this arrangement from Dave Van Ronk, a friend and mentor, who had re-worked the song from a recording by musicologist Hally Wood. Dylan’s recording would later provide the basis for The Animals' 1964 version, which became a massive and iconic hit. It tells the story of a woman (apparently a very young one) talking about how her life became a living hell when she decided to abandon her family.
There have been tales 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 surfaced to date. The theory is plausible, since most versions before the 60s made the narrator a woman, and many renditions include the phrase “ball and chain”. A house on Esplanade Ave, just beside the French Quarter in the Treme neighborhood has, at times, been referenced as being “the” Rising Sun, as have several other places in the area. In all actuality, the term “Rising Sun” was and continues to be (no doubt fueled, in part, by the song’s staying power and popularity, bringing it full-circle,) a common phrase. Often times the establishment is a brothel, or a gambling parlor, bar, or prison. Many of the earlier singers likely never visited New Orleans, certainly 16 year old Georgia Turner did not, and the house of the Rising Sun could just as easily be a alliteration which means any generic place of ill repute.
Rising Sun fatal house fire under investigation, no smoke alarms found - WBAL Radio
Rising Sun fatal house fire under investigation, no smoke alarms found.
Posted: Fri, 19 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
However, this is kind of an impossible mission and a huge mystery no one will ever be able to solve. The first one was Clarence Ashley in 1933, who claimed he learned the song from his grandfather. The other one was Alan Lomax, who in 1941 produced the song using a girl named Georgia Turner as the main voice of the song to make it more relatable to the story it tells. As for the name of the song, it’s believed that “Rising Sun” was a popular name for English pubs and that New Orleans was only a way to claim the song and make it more relatable when it arrived in the US. Now, if you think about the history of the city, there are other versions of the story that could also fit in their theories. The song has its roots in traditional folk music and has been passed down through generations.
The “ball and chain” may mean ‘prison’, but could also be a metaphor for addiction to gambling and booze. There are various places in Crescent City that have become possible locales for the subject of the song. While “House of the Rising Sun” often implies a brothel, many don’t know if the song points to a real place or a fictitious one. Music scholars have noted that it bears resemblance to the 16th-century song “The Unfortunate Rake,” but whether these songs are siblings, so to speak, is unknown.
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. 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. Many have sung “House of the Rising Sun” before Eric Burdon took it on with the Animals, and many will sing it in the future. Its psychological insight and philosophical meaning are all too relevant for this song to be anything but timeless. But it’s hard to imagine that anybody will ever again inhabit that doomed soul at the epicenter of the tale quite as well.
While the original version was sung in the character of a woman led into a life of degradation, the Animals' version is told from the view of a young man who follows his father into alcoholism and gambling ruin. House of the Rising Sun played a significant role in establishing The Doors as one of the leading bands of their time. It showcased their musical versatility and ability to put a fresh spin on a traditional song. The Doors’ version became one of their signature songs and helped solidify their place in rock music history.
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