Song Information

The House of the Rising Sun

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"The House of the Rising Sun"
Single by The Animals
B-side	"Talkin' 'Bout You" (R. Charles)
Released	June 1964 (UK) August 1964 (U.S.)
Format	7" single
Recorded	18 May 1964
Genre	Psychedelic rock, blues rock
Length	4:29 (full - UK) 2:58 (edited - U.S. original)
Label	Columbia Graphophone DB7301 (UK) MGM Records 13264 (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Trad., arranged Alan Price
Producer	Mickie Most
The Animals singles chronology
"Baby Let Me Take You Home" (1964) "House of the Rising Sun" (1964) "I'm Crying" (1964)

"House of the Rising Sun"
Single by Frijid Pink
from the album Frijid Pink
B-side	"Drivin' Blues" (U.S.) "God Gave Me You" (UK)
Released	1969
Format	7" single
Genre	Hard rock
Length	4:44 (album) 3:23 (single)
Label	Parrot Records (U.S.) London Records (UK)
Writer(s)	Trad.
Producer	Michael Valvano

"The House of the Rising Sun" is an American folk song from the United States, sometimes called "House of the Rising Sun" or  "Rising Sun Blues," that laments a life gone wrong in New Orleans. It is sometimes sung from the viewpoint of a man and sometimes of a woman.  The most successful version was recorded by The Animals in 1964, a #1 hit in the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden and Canada.

The song may have originated as a ballad in Europe, brought to America by settlers.  The oldest known recording was in 1933 by Appalachian artists Ashley and Gwen Foster.  It might have been lost but for the efforts of folklorist Alan Lomax, who searched the country for songs as co-curator, with his father, of the Archive of American Folksong for the Library of Congress from 1932.  Several theories have been explored as to what the "House of the Rising Sun" was and where it was located.  None are conclusive. 

The Animals first heard "House of the Rising Sun" in a club in Newcastle sung by a folk singer named Johnny Handle. They wanted something different as the closing song in their concerts.  They transposed it from the viewpoint of a woman to that of a man whose father was a gambler and drunkard.  Their version was characterized by the famous electrical-guitar minor-chord arpeggio by Hilton Valentine, the deep, gravelly, lead vocal by Eric Burdon, and the pulsating organ part by Alan Price.  It was met with great enthusiam by their audiences.  The group recorded it while on tour, and it became their signature song. 

The Animals' version is seen by some as the first folk rock song.  It ran 4:29 minutes, long for a pop single at the time.  It was shortened to 2:58 minutes in the U.S., but was later changed to the full recording.  "House of the Rising Sun" was a transatlantic hit, ranked #122 on Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list, one of the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll, #240 on the RIAA Songs of the Century list, and it received a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1999.  A 2005 poll ranked it as Briton's fourth favorite #1 song of all time.   

Frijid Pink released a version in 1970, which also became a hit.  It was arranged in 4/4 time like most earlier versions, not like the Animals' 6/8 arrangement.  This version also was a transatlantic hit, reaching #7 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 pop singles list, #4 on the UK Singles Chart, and #3 in Canada.  It achieved gold record status in the U.S. and was #1 in such European countries as West Germany and Norway.

Other artists that have recorded "House of the Rising Sun" include:

• Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster, 1933
• Callahan Brother, 1934
• Georgia Turner, recorded by Alan Lomax in 1937
• Roy Acuff, 1938
• Woodie Guthrie, 1941
• Lead Belly, 1948
• Glenn Yarbrough, 1957
• Ronnie Gilbert, late '40s or '50s
• Frankie Laine, 1959
• Joan Baez, 1960
• Miriam Makeba, 1960
• Josh White
• Nina Simone
• David Van Ronk, early 1960s
• Bob Dylan 1961.