I happened to hear a disco version of the song yesterday-never knew what the song was describing. But anyway, the singer is saying that “it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy-and God, I know, I’m one”.
Now, it is hard for me to understand how a male cstomer of a regular heterosexual brothel gets “ruined” by patronizing it…so was the guy talking about a gay establishment?
No.
A “straight” whorehouse can ruin a young man by draining all his money and giving him a disease.
Yes.
There are no conceivable downsides to visiting a straight brothel, but gay brothels are obviously dens of iniquity.
Similarly, Knights in White Satin is about just how gay the Templars really were.
and the song was a cover. The original version is from a woman’s perspective. It ruined many a young woman by her becoming a prostitute. When the Animals covered it all they did was change the pronouns.
It wasn’t just a whorehouse – it was a den of iniquity. Whores, gambling and booze (remember, his father was a gambling man.) Probably a guy with a derby hat and sleeve garters playing ragtime on an upright piano, too. A one-stop sin shop.
Patronage of a brothel frequently has the effect of a young, inexperienced, man falling in love with one of the girls, which almost certainly ends badly. The girls walk the fine line between having their customers obsess over them and the customers being willing to walk away and leave them after one visit. Repeat business, as in so many professions, is important to a, well, provider of such services. You don’t get the good repeat business without some sort of ability to make them feel special and a sense of a connection. This is a sham on the part of the provider and a shame for the client.
This is far more common in young men than it is in the old sailors who have a favorite girl in every port, all of which claim that they wait breathlessly for the day his ship sails in.
Of course there are interpretations of the song where this house isn’t a brothel at all. A prison, possibly a debtor’s prison, or a plantation house during the time of chattel slavery in the south are both alternatives which have been put forth. Certainly the song is old enough to have been inspired by either of those. There is some evidence the song came over to the US with immigrants from England and was re-homed in New Orleans sometime after that.
There’s been a lot of attempts to discover a physical “House of the Rising Sun” even leading to archaeological digs in New Orleans. None of them have established a definitive origin for it in the US. There may or may not have been a real place in New Orleans which the song was based on or re-interpreted for, but the oldest known versions are about a woman who loved a gamblin’ man and ended up living in the brothel trying to support herself after it fell apart.
Enjoy,
Steven
It originally was sung from the woman’s pov (which is how Dylan does it in the fantastic version on his first record) and got switched in the Animals version. It appears to have quite a long history, even before New Orleans.
That explains the original lyrics: Knights in white satin, with a polywool blend, wear it after Labor Day/and you know it’s a sin…".
I always thought it was about the wealthy KKK members.
I would just like to approve of this sentence.
Thanks! The link answered all of my questions.
In a not particularly amusing anecdote that may interest only me, this song was the most frequently played selection on the jukebox in the beer joint conveniently located right across the street from my college dorm. For that reason, whenever I hear the song I have fond memories of drinking with friends in days gone by…
Slight hijack. First part is more or less true. Allthough I wouldn’t call it a sham. Many patrons of such establishments actively look for this ‘click’ with a girl. I also don’t think it’s especially young guys that face this problem. Girls will know that older guys have more money to spend than young guys, so will work harder for the repeat business. Even with a shorter outlook, older guys are more likely to have longer sessions than the young uns who are done in 15 minutes.
The earliest version I can remember, years before The Animals’ version, is by The Weavers.
It can also be sung to the tune of “Amazing Grace.”
No no no, the song about a gay brothel is Rio by Duran Duran.
Just how fond are those memories?
sigh Where can you find a place like that any more?!
Love this! 
Hoboken?