http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8Pm1XeQHLk
Every so often the morning mall radio will surprise me with great music. For the past couple of years it was terrible pop music. More recently the ethereal Simon's Mall DJ has switched to an oldies station, an appropriate selection for the retired walking crowd plus me.
After listening to House of the Rising Sun, a familiar but mysterious tune, I was compelled to read the backstory of the song on wikipedia. If you are curious about the origin of ballads*, it's a rich history. The melody has roots in an English song Matty Groves, and the interpretation of the lyrics are a toss up between a brothel, bar or jail.
The Animals' version transposes the narrative of the song from the point of view of a woman led into a life of degradation, to that of a male, whose father was now a gambler and drunkard, as opposed to the sweetheart in earlier versions.
Notes:
*= I didn't realize I was curious about ballad history until writing this post.
Here are the lyrics to the variation performed by the Animals.
There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm oneMy mother was a tailor
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New OrleansNow the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk------ organ solo ------
Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the House of the Rising SunWell, 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 chainWell, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God I know I'm one
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