Martin Gibson. Dylan has made a number of refences to the fact that he was impressed by The Animals version of " The House of the Rising Sun". The reasons are obvious. First, here was a song that Dylan had recorded with just a guitar, but then along come The Animals who take Dylan's version ( they admitted this to me, personally, back in 64 - that's name-dropping for you) and turn it into a rock masterpiece ( according to general opinion ). Secondly, Dylan hears The Animals version and bells start ringing. He starts to think, "If they, The Animals, can have a hit record with my material, then, maybe, I can across over into the rock market. Which, of course, he did.