Behind The Song Lyrics: House of the Rising Sun, The Animals

Table Of Content

• Behind The Song Lyrics: “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals
• Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer
• Most popular lyric tags
• Videos by American Songwriter
• Other notable versions
• The Song The Cure’s Robert Smith and Boris Williams Created in Two Days for ‘The Crow’ Soundtrack: “Burn”

During its run in theaters, the film grossed $63,179,523 (58.9%) in the US and $44,019,267 (41.1%) overseas for a worldwide total of $107,198,790. Suspecting his sudden shift is somehow related to the murder, Connor and Smith attempt to interview him at his campaign office, but without success. He reveals that he was being tailed that day by Tanaka, a Nakamoto security agent attempting to locate the original disc. Not wanting to be seen with Sakamura, Tanaka stole his sports car and committed suicide by crashing it. Sakamura gives Connor the original disc, but before he can leave, Lt. Graham arrives with Ishihara. Sakamura is killed fighting off Ishihara's men, and Smith is shot and left for dead, surviving only thanks to a bulletproof vest.

Behind The Song Lyrics: “House of the Rising Sun,” The Animals

“The House of the Rising Sun” reflects an unpleasant place which has a bad influence on the writer’s life as a boy. The song speaks about picking up bad habits from this house in New Orleans as a young man. The writer describes his mother as a diligent woman who probably wanted him to make the best out of life by working hard and leading a decent life.

Watch: New Singing Lesson Videos Can Make Anyone A Great Singer

Despite the above, “The House of the Rising Sun” has been traditionally sung by African-American performers. As such, it is also theorized that it was actually Nina Simone’s 1962 take on the tune which caught The Animals’ attention. The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.

Most popular lyric tags

Keynote Records released one by Josh White in 1942,[27] and Decca Records released one also in 1942 with music by White and the vocals performed by Libby Holman.[28] Holman and White also collaborated on a 1950 release by Mercury Records. White is also credited with having written new words and music that have subsequently been popularized in the versions made by many other later artists. In August 1980, Dolly Parton released a cover of the song as the third single from her album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs. Like Miller's earlier country hit, Parton's remake returns the song to its original lyric of being about a fallen woman. The Parton version makes it quite blunt, with a few new lyric lines that were written by Parton.

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Videos by American Songwriter

Parton's remake reached number 14 on the US country singles chart and crossed over to the pop charts, where it reached number 77 on the Billboard Hot 100; it also reached number 30 on the US Adult Contemporary chart. Parton has occasionally performed the song live, including on her 1987–88 television show, in an episode taped in New Orleans. The Animals' version of the American folk song is considered one of the 20th century’s British pop classics. While the original version was sung in the character of a woman led into a life of degradation, the Animals' version is told from the view of a young man who follows his father into alcoholism and gambling ruin.

Other notable versions

Wolfgang Van Halen breaks down the songs on his debut album, Mammoth WVH, and names the definitive Van Halen songs from the Sammy and Dave eras. Foreigner's songwriter/guitarist tells the stories behind the songs "Juke Box Hero," "I Want To Know What Love Is," and many more. In 2014, Five Finger Death Punch released a cover version for their album The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2. Five Finger Death Punch's remake reached number 7 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock chart. The single also charted in Australia (number 14), France (number 36), and Italy (number 54).

And the conclusive message is that somehow this lifestyle has gotten him, the singer, into serious trouble with the law. Moreover he has witnessed “many a poor boy” also have their lives ruined via ‘the house of the Rising Sun’. A beautiful, comprehensive volume of Dylan’s lyrics, from the beginning of his career through the present day-with the songwriter’s edits to dozens of songs, appearing here for the first time. The writer consequently pleads with other mothers, who in his own experience seem more responsible than fathers, to not allow their children follow in his footsteps. Although he admits and regrets that his life has become a mess, he seems to have no option than to return to New Orleans to continue his lifestyle. He uses the words ball and chain as a metaphor to describe the extent to which he has now become a prisoner to his addiction of gambling and alcoholism.

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By the early 1960s, the song had become one of my signature pieces, and I could hardly get off the stage without doing it. That release had no songwriting credit, but the liner notes indicate that Dylan learned this version of the song from Dave Van Ronk. In an interview for the documentary No Direction Home, Van Ronk said that he was intending to record the song and that Dylan copied his version. Still though there remains the moral undertone of the lyrics, as the singer is advising the listener not to fall prey to the “sin and misery” that he has. And the insinuation is that his vice is something along the lines of gambling and consequentially excessive drinking.

So for instance the reference to the “ball and chain” near the end of the song is largely considered to allude to said penitentiary. But in The Animals’ case, it reads as if the title itself may rather refer to a gambling house. I had learned it sometime in the 1950s, from a recording by Hally Wood, the Texas singer and collector, who had got it from an Alan Lomax field recording by a Kentucky woman named Georgia Turner. I put a different spin on it by altering the chords and using a bass line that descended in half steps—a common enough progression in jazz, but unusual among folksingers.

And when The Animals did record the song they did so expeditiously, in fact in one only take. This is due to them having already perfected singing it on the road while they were simultaneously touring alongside rock-and-roll innovator Chuck Berry. It is unclear if the House of the Rising Sun is a place which existed as the writer portrays in the song. However, the essence of this song is that children mostly pick up bad habits from the people and neighborhoods in which they grow. Colombian band Los Speakers covered the song under the title "La Casa del Sol Naciente", in their 1965 album of the same name. Rising Sun was released on 30 July 1993 in 1,510 theaters across the US.[7] It grossed $15,195,941 (24.1% of total gross) on its opening weekend.

By the time the ’60s rolled around, the folk legend Dave Van Ronk included an intense take on “House of the Rising Sun” as a steady part of his live repertoire. His young acolyte Bob Dylan largely mimicked Van Ronk’s arrangement of the song and included it on his debut album. Across the pond at around the same time, Burdon apparently heard the song from a local folk singer in England. Burdon brought it into the Animals, who electrified the song for their 1964 self-titled debut album. Hilton Valentine played the stoic arpeggiated guitar part that foundations the song, while Alan Price tore into the organ solo as if trying to free every tortured soul trapped in this sinister place.