Here's another great version by Nina Simone that predates Van Ronk & Dylan: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLh73RPvfgI&feature=fvst

Both Dylan and Van Ronk kept the song from the point of view of a woman forced into a life of prostitution. The Animals, who learned it from Dylan's album, changed it to the john's point of view. Not nearly as tragic.