6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

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Rob
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6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by Rob »

This topic is part of the weekly 6000 songs, 6000 opinions. In this, every week another song from the Acclaimed Music song top 6000 is selected for discussion. The song is chosen completely at random, through random.org, making the selections hopefully very varied. The only other rule in this is that after an artist has had a turn, he can’t appear for another ten weeks. The idea for this topic came to me because I wanted to think of a way to engage more actively with the very large top 6000 songs that Henrik has compiled for us, while still keeping it accessible and free of any game elements. Yes, that’s right, no game elements. You are free to rate the song each week, but I’ll do nothing with this rating. I want it to be about people’s personal reviews and hopefully discussions. So in reverse to other topics on this site I say: “Please comment on this song, rating is optional”.
Earlier entries of this series can be found here: http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/vi ... ive#p45337

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“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”

Image

83. The Animals – House of the Rising Sun

The facts:
Year: 1964.
Genre: Rock.
Country: United Kingdom.
Album: The Animals (US version only, in the UK it was released as a standalone single).
Acclaimed Music ranking: #92.
Song ranking on Acclaimed Music in the artist’s discography: 1st.
Ranks higher than Whole Lotta Love by Led Zeppelin, but lower than Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins.
Place in the Acclaimed Music Song Poll 2015: #57.

The people:
Traditional lyrics.
Produced by Mickie Most.
Vocals by Eric Burdon.
Guitar by Hilton Valentine.
Bass by Chas Chandler.
Drums by John Steel.
Organ by Alan Price.

The opinion:
In 2007 Ted Anthony released a book called Chasing the Rising Sun. In this he tries to find the roots of the classic folk tune House of the Rising Sun, or Rising Sun Blues as it is also known. At the same time he tries to find where in New Orleans that house called Rising Sun could have been. I admit, I haven’t had the time to read it yet, a downside of giving myself only a week to write these things, with not too much time on the side for these kind of ventures. There is a contrast between my approach and Ted Anthony’s though: I take a week, he worked for eight years on a book. My text fits on three A4’s, he writes a book. I simply admire the dedication.

Above all, I understand why anyone would put so much effort to tell the tale of a song that in its longer versions still rarely lasts five minutes. This happens to be one of those songs I feel the same amount of curiosity for. Yes people, this week we hit on one of those rare songs that I don’t just love, but see as one of those personal favourites that is part of my life. No, not because it’s lyrics reflect my life (thank goodness) or that I link it to a certain time that was important to me. This is more one of those songs that seems always around me, waiting to get played. One you would take with you on an island when you are allowed only a limited amount.

I’m far from the first person that was caught in the spell of The House of the Rising Sun and neither was Ted Anthony. In fact, I already read (and now re-read) an extended history of the song by Dutch music writer Leo Blokhuis, who has dedicated a couple of books on retracing the origins of some classic songs. Then there is Alan Lomax, who recorded countless traditionals as sung by locals for the Archive of American Folk Songs. He came across The Rising Sun Blues (that was the more common title back then) several times, but the first time it was sung by a Afro-American girl named Georgia Turner. This particular take was considered a personal highlight for Alan Lomax. That was in 1937. Limax thought he had found a new song, but a recording by Ivy Smith from 1927 already existed, as well as written-down lyrics dated from 1925. But the song is certainly much older.

As you might guess, there is a lot to take in here. More than I have space for. Still, it is worth noting some of the roots of the Rising Sun, as it gives new appreciation to the recording by The Animals. It even highlights why their interpretation might arguably be the definite version. Their take wasn’t an obvious one, but very original. On the other hand, this is a song that can hardly be said to have had a fixed form. It still hasn’t, really.

References to this folk song can be traced all the way back to the middle of the 19th century. Some of the more sketchier guesses would bring it back further, to the 17th century. Of course, who wrote it is unclear. Like a lot of traditional songs it’s lyrics might have changed over decades and centuries. Indeed, even in the 20th century the lines where different each time. Listen to the Ivy Smith version of 1927 and you’ll notice a big discrepancy in what is sung between that and the Animals version. It does seem though, that the popularity of The Animals hit has finally set the lyrics in stone.

Still, the origins of House of the Rising Sun may precede the actual existence of The Rising Sun Blues. Various attempts have been made to find a connection between this song and other very old traditionals, like Matty Groves or She Was a Rum One, or even the sixteenth century ballad The Unfortunate Rake. That last one seems a stretch to me. The two songs I find harder to judge as I have to go with more modern recordings for comparison. I have added interpretations by Fairport Convention for the first and by Ian Bruce for the second in the playlist below. I guess you could try and judge for yourself.

Whatever the origins, fact is that the song became very popular from the late thirties on. Early recording history mosly ignored it, but after Alan Lomax highlighted it on his archival project (whose influence on especially folk artists was huge) it became a standard for both folk and blues interpreters. The forties, fifties and sixties have an embarrassment of riches of versions and I have tried to make at least part of the playlist below a chronological overview of the evolution of The Rising Sun. It’s kind of a delight to hear the many lyric changes, chord difference, genre stylings and vocal takes on this traditional. Each is very different, but it is almost always emotionally compelling.

Despite the many big names who played the song (Woody Guthrie! Lead Belly twice! Nina Simone!) it is widely accepted that a new gamechanger was Dave Van Ronk’s arrangement. This folk singer’s (who called himself a jazz player by the way) recording is not particular famous on itself. But in the time preceding the actual recording he already played it live frequently. He befriended a young man nowadays known as Bob Dylan and Dylan heard Van Ronk play House of the Rising Sun in concert. Famously, just before Van Ronk got around to recording it, Dylan beat him to the punch and released his debut album containing House of the Rising Sun, exactly in Van Ronk’s style. As you might have guessed this pissed of Van Ronk, as afterwards people heard his version and thought he was just covering Dylan.

Now you might say that Dylan’s self-titled first album wasn’t a big success and couldn’t have popularized House of the Rising Sun Van-Ronk-Style that much. Sure, but that was the version an unknown British band from Newcastle used as the basis for their recording. The Animals performed a lot on tours along with other bands and actually played with Chuck Berry in their beginnings. They immediately noticed that it was hard to stand out and knew they needed a song that would make them the main sensation of each concert. So they entered the House of the Rising Sun.

I say “entered” because when you listen to their interpretation it seems like they actually went to the place, no matter that no one has been able to satisfactorily locate the actual house from New Orleans. What the band came up with was a particular fresh take, no matter that they used the Dylan/ Van Ronk arrangement as a foundation. The chords where changed. The perspective was changed from female to male (such an obvious move I’m surprised no one thought of it before them). The vocals by Eric Burdon sounded like a cry from hell. The guitar, from the intro on out, wasn’t just electric, but seemed to be electrified in an eerie way as if Doctor Frankenstein was in the house. As a finishing touch, Alan Price played the organ in a way that suggested that The Phantom of the Opera was an inhabitant of The Rising Sun as well.

It really was rock, but at the same time it sounded like the 19th century more than any version before it. To put it better: House of the Rising Sun suddenly felt gothic. Not gothic like goth-rick that would arise in the later part of the twentieth century. No, this was the gothic of classic literature, like Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre or the writings of Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe it’s the English spirit of the band that makes this link seem more natural. On the other hand, if you ever been to New Orleans you might admit that The Animals’ Rising Sun might easily be located there. The terror of their version is at once old-fashioned, but still timelessly immediate, and it is universal in its power.

I would also like to stress the effect of changing the perspective from a girl to a boy. Although the actual nature of The House of the Rising Sun is unclear in most versions, there are strong hints that it is a brothel, or otherwise a female prison. That first option becomes incredibly unlikely when the protagonist is a male and I’ve never quite believed it was a prison anyway, as the narrator is on his way towards a prison, because the life of “sin and misery in the House of the Rising Sun”. The more vague the purpose of the house the better, if you ask me. To me it becomes something unspeakably nasty and dark. It could as likely be a haunted mansion as an house were chronically unlucky people live. As long as it deserves one of the best lines in music: “And it [the House of the Rising Sun, sic.] has been the ruin of many a poor boy/ And God, I know I’m one.”

Nowadays, even most of the woman call themselves boys in the lyrics, even though before that the men pretended to be girls (though how convincing was Lead Belly as a woman?). In these more emancipated times that doesn’t sound as a particularly good progress, but it works for this song. Besides this song is rich enough in meaning that female-oriented versions are still very effective.

I can only conclude that The Rising Sun Blues or The House of the Rising Sun as a standard is simply fantastic. An atmospheric piece of fatalism that is matched by few and seems likely to stick around for a long while yet. I have to give huge credit to The Animals for making a version that stands out so well in such huge competition. This is one of the great, true expressions of despair in rock music. Also, Eric Burdon’s vocals are some of the best I have ever heard. This band would release many good tracks after this breakthrough, but honestly, I feel nothing comes close to The House of the Rising Sun. I don’t think it could.
10/10

Other versions:
In the playlist below I have added over 100 interpretations of House of the Rising Sun. You don’t have to listen to all of them. I haven’t. Still, if ever I wanted to urge you to listen to one of these lists, it’s this one, up until you have reached the cover by Alt-J. You see, the list up until then is a chronological overview of the most famous versions (although The Animals head the list) and going through it is revelatory and might I say fun. It seems it is almost impossible to make a boring version of the Rising Sun. Below the playlist you’ll find the Georgia Turner cover, which should come after Clarence Ashley, as well as one by Sinéad O’Connor that comes after Five Fingers Death Punch. Everything after Alt-J is a happy bonus.

I can’t mention them all, but my favourites of this group are Clarence Ashley, the striking Josh White, the surprisingly dark The Everly Brothers, the unexpected take by Aaliyah and above all the melancholy interpretation of Sinéad O’Connor, the best after The Animals. I don’t really care about Dolly Parton’s version, but I can’t deny it’s distinct. Not part of this version of the list are Muse (only available on YouTube), but I want to mention them because perhaps you might find Eric Burdon’s singing is too subtle. If you need to take all the over-emoting you can get, you’ll want to check out Muse (otherwise, better don’t). Another one that needs a special mention is Frijid Pink. I had never heard of them, but apparently their version was a number one hit too. Their psychedelic take is very good, as is the fun metal work-out by Five Finger Death Punch, a minor hit.

The playlist:


Georgia Turner:
Sinéad O’Connor:
Muse:
Tracy Chapman:
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Live in Phoenix
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by Live in Phoenix »

This has always been one of my favorites. Eric Burdon sings like his soul is being melted down.
Bruno
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by Bruno »

Amazing song and great post, Rob!!
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prosecutorgodot
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by prosecutorgodot »

Rob wrote:As a finishing touch, Alan Price played the organ in a way that suggested that The Phantom of the Opera was an inhabitant of The Rising Sun as well.
Beautiful! This song/recording is timeless. It has melded into the American psyche, and maybe even the world's.
DaveC
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by DaveC »

Magnificent article Rob. My second favourite version used to be by Joan Baez, but Sinead O'Connor kills it. I think you were a bit harsh on Muse - their version has a degree of originality and Matt Bellamy always sings like that. For over-emoting combined with unoriginality try The White Stripes live version on Youtube.
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Rob
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by Rob »

DaveC wrote: I think you were a bit harsh on Muse - their version has a degree of originality and Matt Bellamy always sings like that. For over-emoting combined with unoriginality try The White Stripes live version on Youtube.
I know it is the usual modus operandi of Bellamy, but it still comes off as way too much. It perhaps doesn't help that it sounds like almost a parody of a Muse song. When the song started I thought for a little while I was listening to an alternate version of New Born instead of House of the Rising Sun.

I didn't come across the White Stripes version. It's not great, but also hard to judge as the recording quality is trash. It doesn't bother me the way Muse does.

For the record:
The sound stops at 3:06 for some reason.
Zombeels
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Re: 6000 Songs: The Animals - House of the Rising Sun

Post by Zombeels »

Such a great song. Never get tired of it.
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