Joan Baez covered it from the original female perspective in her debut album in 1960. I always though The Animals version (though brilliant) was a bit odd. I thought it was about a guy who spent too much time in a house of prostitution and got caught up the debauchery going on there. When I found out it’s true origins and more traditional lyrics sung by Baez, it made much more sense.
BTW, songfacts.com / artistfacts.com is where I learned about the history of a lot of songs. Be sure to take the comments with a big grain of salt as many of the posters give some really wild interpretations.
Edit: Just listened to Leadbelly’s version and it retains the original woman’s perspective.
Vanilla Fudge did an amazing slowed downed version of The Supremes - You Keep Me Hanging On and a much less fascinating version of Cher’s Bang Bang on their first album (1967)
Shittiest cover of all time. Compared to the soulful voice of Levon Helm, she brings absolutely nothing to the table. Words sung with no feeling whatsoever.
One-hit wonder White Town (actually one guy messing around in his bedroom) had his one hit with the song Your Woman:
*Now I know your heart, I know your mind
You don’t even know you’re bein’ unkind
So much for all your highbrow Marxist ways
Just use me up and then you walk away
Boy, you can’t play me that way
Well I guess what you say is true
I could never be the right kind of girl for you
I could never be your woman*
Jyota Prakash Mishra, the “one guy”, had this to say about the themes of the song:
*I was Cleopatra, I was young and an actress
When you knelt by my mattress, and asked for my hand
But I was sad you asked it, as I laid in a black dress
With my father in a casket, I had no plans, yeah
And I left the footprints, the mud stained on the carpet
And it hardened like my heart did when you left town
But I must admit it, that I would marry you in an instant
Damn your wife, I’d be your mistress just to have you around*
Dream Theater’s Metropolis Part II: Scenes from a Memory is a concept album about a man who discovers he is the reincarnation of a young woman who was murdered, and goes on to solve the crime. Many parts of the album are sung from the perspective of the young woman.
Memory from CATS has been covered by damn near everybody, with male performers usually changing the line “I was beautiful then” to “life” or “it.” Michael Crawford did keep the original lyric.
Yeah, the earliest versions are from the perspective of a female narrator, but were often (but not always) sung by males. Woody Guthrie’s 1941 version is sung by a “poor gal.” On the other hand, Leadbelly’s version (or at least one of them) from the 1940s mixes perspectives: He refers to himself as a “poor boy,” but then says he’ll tell his younger sister not to do what he has done.
How the House of the Rising Sun becomes the downfall of the narrator may vary depending on the sex chosen by the singer: being a prostitute, visiting prostitutes, being a drunkard, indulging in debauchery. The Animals version is not unusual in changing the gender of the narrator.
Not exactly what the OP is going for, but a story the OP might still appreciate:
Tina Turner’s “Private Dancer” was written by Dire Straits frontman and guitarist Mark Knopfler. Knopfler originally wrote the music and lyrics as the second half of the title track to the Dire Straits album Love Over Gold. You can hear where “Private Dancer” was meant to pick up, somewhere in the 2:05 - 2:30 area.
Anyway. During the sessions for Love Over Gold, Dire Straits laid down the “Love Over Gold/Private Dancer” music as originally written. Mark Knopfler went to record the vocals, but then got a little self-conscious about them – he decided those vocals should be sung by a woman. Rather than add a guest vocalist to the track, Knopfler shelved the “Private Dancer” section and reworked the second half of “Love Over Gold”.
A few years later, Knopfler had a chance to pitch “Private Dancer” to Tina Turner. She was looking for material for a comeback album, and her manager and Knopfler’s manager were friends. A meeting was arranged, and Knopfler played a personal demo copy of “Private Dancer” for Turner, apologizing in advance that his vocals weren’t suited to the lyrics. His rendition led to mutual laughter and quick agreement from Turner that, yes, it should be a woman’s song to sing.
Yeah, the earliest versions are from the perspective of a female narrator, but were often (but not always) sung by males. Woody Guthrie’s 1941 version is sung by a “poor gal.” On the other hand, Leadbelly’s version (or at least one of them) from the 1940s mixes perspectives: He refers to himself as a “poor boy,” but then says he’ll tell his younger sister not to do what he has done.
The House of the Rising Sun may be the downfall of the narrator in various ways depending on the sex chosen: being a prostitute, visiting prostitutes, being a drunkard, indulging in debauchery.
ZipperJJ - The House Of The Rising Sun is a song about a woman trapped in a life of prostitution. Bob Dylan learned it from Dave Van Ronk and Eric Burdon learned it from Dylan’s first LP, but didn’t feel comfortable singing from the POV of a woman, so he changed the “…been the ruin of many poor girl, and me, God knows, I’m one.”
Many singers, both male and female recorded this song before The Animals, but theirs is the first I’ve heard to sing “Poor Boy”.
(Yes, I realise that there are male prostitutes, but not many work out of brothels.)
Rufus Wainwright’s ‘The Art Teacher’ is sung from the POV of girl falling in love with the eponymous tutor, and from the girl all grown up reflecting on her old teacher’s impact on her life.
The version on Want Two is recorded live with a french horn (?) solo overdubbed. During the solo, you can hear Rufus humming it, and tapping his feet. Off topic, but I love that part.
