BTW, who told Lomax that a "rising sun" was a common emblem for a brothel, used in many songs ? It *is* used this way in a rather confused song text that he collected from Blaine Stubblefield about 1940, but that's the only reference I know of.

There's an Irish set dance in O'Neill called "The Rising Sun," but there's no reason to link it to anything but sunrise. And no, the melodies are not similar.