The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #8592   Message #823949
Posted By: Joe Offer
12-Nov-02 - 12:46 AM
Thread Name: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
Maybe it's worth posting the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index, although most of the information in this entry has already been posted above.
-Joe Offer-

House of the Rising Sun, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "There is a house in New Orleans / They call the Rising Sun / It's been the ruin of many a poor girl / And me, O God, I'm one." She tells of her troubled childhood, laments that she cannot escape her life, and warns others against it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Lomax/Lomax, "Our Singing Country")
KEYWORDS: whore lament
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 250-253, "The House of the Rising Sun" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 151, "The Rising Sun Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 18, "House Of The Rising Sun" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 184, "House Of The Rising Sun" (1 text)
DT, HOUSESUN*

RECORDINGS:
Roscoe Holcomb, "The Rising Sun" [LP] or "House in New Orleans" [CD] (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
Almanac Singers, "House of the Rising Sun" (General 5020B, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Pete Seeger, "House of the Rising Sun" (on PeteSeeger18)
Notes: Legman offers extensive, if rambling, notes in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: RL250

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