"House of the Rising Sun"

[MaryJane]

That was an excellent response. I used to wonder about the convoluted lyrics myself, now it begins to make sense. Thanks for the explanation. As a music lover surrounded by other music lovers, I plan to spread this elucidation whenever I get the chance. Well done folks!!!

[wring]

welcome to the Straight Dope Message Boards. It is customary to link the column that you're commenting on;

What is House of the Rising Sun About? (http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrisingson.html)

which can be done as simply as copying the url code and pasting it here, leaving a blank before and after.

Or to do it like I did, use:
{url="putcodeinhere"} link title {/url} only replace the {} with [].

[KnightHawk]

As a fellow contributor to these pages, I'm very proud of my sister's answer! (Hi Songbird! Love, Hawk) As a citizen of Louisiana, I've heard some of the local, colored versions of the legend. It goes something like this: Boys of New Orleans aristocracy would, when the time came, be sent to this particular bordello to become "worldly" in the arts of female pleasure. The boy would spend the whole night there, partaking in wine and women, his passage paid for by his father. In the morning, the boy would awake and be a man. Thus, this place came to be known as The House of the Rising SON. I have seen this place, although I can't tell you the address off the top of my head; I only know it's around the corner from Jackson Square, a brick-red, two-story house.

[Strephon]

The traditional liner notes explanation I've heard for the
source of the name is that it refers to the traditional red
lantern in the window. Who knows if this is true, but it's
at least plausible.

[Manda JO]

Lovely answer, but i have to add that Nina Simone did a cover of the song as wel and it is just beautiful. I have been told (though these stories are not always reliable) that Nina Simone's version was the one that directly inspired the Animals.

[jab1]

Did you know that "Amazing Grace" can be sung to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"? Try it.

[Snooooopy]

Because of the gender reversal in the Animals' version, I always interpreted the song as a story of some guy who goes to the bordello and falls in love with one of the hookers, so he spends every day there even though she doesn't really have much interest in him and he wastes all of his money and gets some awful VD and stuff and generally wrecks his life.

[the.donkey]

Our local pub shares the name with the song. I'll never hear a comment such as "You comin' down the Rising Sun" in the same manner again. Cheers!

[John W. Kennedy]

Surely the Animals' version, as it stands, makes a casino of it.

[Tygr]

Originally posted by jab1
Did you know that "Amazing Grace" can be sung to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"? Try it.

Heh. Y'think THAT'S fun, try lightening the mood and sing "House of the Rising Sun" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island". Changes the whole outlook of the song!

For that matter, sing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "Gilligan's Island" next time yer in church.

[Duck Duck Goose]

Here from Lomax's book are the traditional lyrics...

My mother she's a tailor;
she sold those new blue jeans.


I always heard it as "she sewed those new blue jeans". Huh.

Anyway, thank you for pointing out that Eric Burdon didn't write it. My kids make enough fun of me as it is about weird Sixties rock lyrics. They're, like, "Incense and peppermints? Mom, that is SO hippie drug culture..."

[wombat1138]

Add "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", the alphabet, and "Stairway to Heaven" to the interchangeability list, among others.

"Old MacDonald" to the tune of "Amazing Grace" produces very long and soulful E-I-E-I-O's, as well as resentful looks from other audience members during Spock's funeral in "Wrath of Khan".

[jab1]

LOL!

[The Ryan]

Seems to me that the video makes it rather clear what the song is about.

[Mockingbird]

Nina Simone recorded House of the Rising Sun and Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood just a bit before the versions came out by the Animals.

The versions that the Animals' released were not much different and struck me as being related to the Pat Boone phenomenon of white artists recording their version of a black artist's work to get higher success on the basis of their melanin deprived popularity.

[CalMeacham]

On an album called "A Twisted Christmas" they sing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun". Well worth hunting down.

(O Lit--tle Town--ofBethlhemmmmm.
How Stillllll we seeeeee the-ee risssssssse.
A--bove thy sweettttttt ---andDreamlessSleep.
The Si---lenttttt Sta-arrs---- go byyyyyyyyy.)


If you really ant a laugh, look up the original "Golden Throats" album to hear Andy Griffith singing "House of the Rising Sn" with bowdlerized, squeaky clean lyrics. You cannot tell WHAT is supposed to be going on.

[DaveoRad]

Originally posted by CalMeacham
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun".

Some guy at a karaoke bar did that one Christmastime -- requested "House of the Rising Sun" but sang "O Little Town of Bethlehem" to it.

It's an easy song to match, as common meter (CM) is so prevalent among songs and hymns.

[Axel Wheeler]

This is all very interesting, but what about the facts of the case?


Did the House of the Rising Sun ever really exist? A guidebook called Offbeat New Orleans asserts that the real House of the Rising Sun was at 826-830 St. Louis St. between 1862 and 1874 and was purportedly named for its madam, Marianne LeSoleil Levant, whose surname translates to "The Rising Sun."

But no one knows for certain.


I guess my question is, what research has been done on this? Why do people believe this version? Where is the earliest instance of this view? Has anyone checked local records for evidence of any such establishment. Of course it wouldn't be officially recorded as a brothel (they don't typically apply for a zoning variance...) but Marianne LeSoleil Levant ought to show up in some records as existing somehow, either as owner of a bar or hotel at that location or in some other way.

Maybe a New Orleans SD fan can start cranking the microfilm.

Also...


Back in the early 20s, the name "Rising Sun" was popularly attributed to brothels in our Anglo/American culture.

...

The song was first recorded in the 1920s by black bluesman Texas Alexander...


Since he didn't start recording until 1927...


He first recorded in 1927 for the Okeh label...
[\quote]
(Source:
http://www.blueflamecafe.com/Texas_Alexander.html

(And here's another good Texas Alexander bio:
http://go.borders.com/contributors/1286950.html

that also claims he didn't start recording until 1927.)

... What earlier references (early 1920s or earlier) exist for rising sun qua brothel? (And when I say "qua" you know I mean business :) )

Ok, now it gets weird:

[quote]
Well, guess what? About three years ago a prominent lawyer in New Orleans was renovating an old boarding house that was left to her by her late husband. As they were running new wires through the old walls a contractor shone his flashlight into a small hole that he had made in the wall and noticed a large white fluted pillar that had been cocooned beneath the drywall. Shining his light upwards he could make out what seemed to be the glimmer of gold reflecting back to him. As they tore down more and more old walls and ceilings, artwork began to appear and it was soon very apparent what this house had once been used for.

This was the world’s most famous brothel hidden right in the middle of the Old French Quarter of New Orleans... the actual one that was legendary for its slaves, voodoo and sin.

Eric Burdon was soon invited to view the house that he had sung about so many years before...


This is from this website:
http://www.suchiu.com/eric_highres.htm
It's an artist who has done a weird painting based on the theme.

But how do they know it was really a brothel, or really THAT brothel, or even at that address? More research needs to be done! Go to it!

[sagitta]

There is a BBC radio show, I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue, which regularly features the challenging game of singing One Song To The Tune Of Another. It usually takes a while to explain the rules, but the round always provides excellent entertainment. Examples I recall:

Humpty Dumpty to the tune of Land Of Hope And Glory
I'll Take You Home Again Kathleen ttto the William Tell Overture
Heartbreak Hotel ttto The Ash Grove
Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves ttto Teddy Bears' Picnic
Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick ttto O Sole Mio
Da Do Ron Ron ttto Jerusalem
Knees Up Mother Brown ttto Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender ttto The Archers theme
The Laughing Policeman ttto As Time Goes By
Killing Me Softly ttto Colonel Bogey

I apologise to Americans who may not know all of the melodies listed. I have tried to think up suitable recombinations, but I'm not musical enough. The best I can manage is Pinball Wizard to the tune of Deutschland Uber Alles.

[sagitta]

Sorry for the double post. I tried to delete the first, but couldn't. If some kind adminisrtator could remove it, and then this, the discussion would look a lot neater. Thank you.

[C K Dexter Haven]

So cleaned, sagitta, thanks for the post. Cracked me up.

[drasaid]

I live in New Orleans, and I can tell you that not only were there LOTS of "fancy houses" around, but that they were designed and built for the purpose. I know a building on Baronne Street which was renovated for an accounting firm. They could'nt believe how suited it was to their purposes; nice small rooms just the right size for individual offices. One of the accountants slipped over to the assessor's office in City Hall to check on the history of the property; the members of the firm nearly killed themselves laughning when they found out it was designed (and used) as a brothel. It is around four or five stories high; not a small building now and pretty big for its time. Well built too; it is still a comfortable place to work. A big blue building on the lake side of Baronne, on the last block before Howard Avenue going away from Canal.

I don't know if a web search would find it, but last time I looked under "escort services" in the Yellow Pages in New Orleans there were SEVERAL Rising Suns listed.

[pepperlandgirl]

I always heard it as "she sewed those new blue jeans". Huh.
You are right DDG. The lyrics in the article:
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.
In the Animals' version it goes

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans
My father is a gambling man
Down in New Orleans