Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?

Subject: RE: Origin or title of
From: GUEST,The Burren Ranger.
Date: 09 Apr 00 - 04:59 AM

Check out the amazing version (which they call 'Rising Sun' ) by Snakefarm from their album 'Songs From My Funeral' (BMG). TBR.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of
From: M. Ted (inactive)
Date: 10 Apr 00 - 03:27 PM

The verse is actually Iambic Heptameter--The shape note terms are based on the terms for analyzing verse but they are a bit ideosyncratic--check here Terms for Poetic Analysis">Click here when we talk about folk songs, we are really talking about poetry, and the terminology can be very helpful--

The melody features a a rest at the end of each line that is the equivalent of an eight iamb which is one of the little tricks that composers used to even out the odd length phrases that were standard in poetry and the older type of music that accompanied it, back in the Renaissance--

Those of us who lean "Balkan" know that the iamb translates into a 5/4 musical measure, and that there is a Bulgarian Folk Dance called Pajdushko(spell it like you want--Bulgarians use Cyrillic characters) that accompanies the singing of iambic ballads--

Weirdo that I am (b), I started playing this in 5/4 and it is a perfect Bulgarian Pajdushko!--This may not be big news for anyone normal, but there is basically only one 5/4 Bulgarian melody that anyone much uses, so it is sort of cool to find another one--

Mark mentions that this is called common meter, and it sure is--and has been for along time--most interesting thing to note is that, most likely, common meter songs were originally in 5/4--

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 08 Feb 02 - 02:02 PM

The oldest versions of the song are posted in this thread by Arkie ("Rounder's Luck") and by Stewie ("Rising Sun Blues"). These date from the 1930s.
John and Alan Lomax published the song, with music, in "Our Singing Country," 1941, under the title "The Rising Sun Blues." The version in the DT is similar, but is one verse shorter.
Lomax obtained the song from Georgia Turner, from Kentucky, in 1937. Some verses he obtained from Bert Morton, also of Kentucky. Lomax notes that a few jazzmen from "before the war have a distant singing acquaintance with the song, indicates that it is fairly old as blues songs go. None of them, however, has information ... about the mother who ran a 'blue-jean shop ...or about the "house they call the Rising Sun." "We have heard it sung only bt southern whites."
Lomax was not a documenter, and seldom looked into the background of the songs that he collected.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,ted andrews
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 02:04 PM

I heard many years ago that this song was origonaly a cornish song reffering to a house of ill repute in polppero cornwall ?

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 02:17 PM

Or, more likely, in the nearby town of Legpullan...

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,ted andrews
Date: 10 Nov 02 - 02:30 PM

Think again as 90% of all american folk and early music is based on or basterdised versions of origonal europion songs and poems

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 01:31 AM

Dylan's version was a direct steal from Dave Van Ronk, who told me that he learned the song from Hally Wood's recording. Dave also told me that the House of the Rising Sun was the womens prison in NO,he had a picture of the doorway with a rising sun carved in stone above it.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: fox4zero
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 03:26 AM

Cisco Houston recorded it in a minor key on a 10" Stinson 33 1/3 disk in the late 40's or early 50's. He was a buddy of Woody Guthrie in the WW II merchant marine. He described Woody boarding ship with all his instruments as a "walking pawn shop window"

Larry

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: JedMarum
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 09:47 AM

Thanks for bringing this thread up again. Good disucssion here, and good info.

It always bothered me that a singer of this old song would have a mother that sewed new blue jeans. It didn't strike me as blue jeans would have been something that a tailor would have been sewing, in those days, in that area ...

I learned the song first from my Art of the Folk Blues book (Jerry Silverman) when I was 11 or 12 years old. It was listed as the version that Woody sang and was indeed a major key version of the melody, otherwise similar to the popular version the Animals sang.

I have to say the Animals introduced a song to the Pop culture that has resonated for years ... sit in any pub in the western world and play the first couple bars of the arpeggiated(sp?) chord progression and you'll have half the room on the edge of their seats in anticipation of you playing that "Animla's" song! If you're asked to play the song, and you give them on of the earlier versions, they'll feel cheated! Eric Burden and the Animals have given us the House of the Rising Sun that the world wants to hear!

And that's OK with me too. I've had fun playing with this song over the years - trying a few variations (mostly on the Animal's/minor key tune). It has a real bluesy/folk bluesy quality and is a great tune to sing.


... there's much gold among these Mudcat threads!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Mark Clark
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 10:51 AM

My understanding of the line “One foot on the platform and one foot on the train” is that it's an African American folk reference to pregnancy. I got that understanding from some long forgotten but surely authoritative <g> source. Does anyone else have that understanding or know of any scholarly source for such an association? I've tried searching the Net for some discussion but so far have come up empty.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: AggieD
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 12:31 PM

Joan Baez did a female version of this. Looking at her discography it was recoreded on several of her records. She has it listed as traditional.

It looks at the subject from the ruined woman's side.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Joe_F
Date: 11 Nov 02 - 07:30 PM

A few years ago, when I mentioned Dave Van Ronk's story about the women's prison on rec.music.folk, somebody was rather snooty about it; but I forget the details.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 12:46 AM

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

---

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Susan A-R
Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:13 PM

It certainly is a song that has travelled. I was just in a small town named Kutna Hora in the Czech Republic, hanging out in a bar where a group of folks were sitting around the table with guitars singing. They were doing House of the Rising Sun in Czech, They seemed to have a lot of verses. They did other familiar-sounding songs in translation. Hurrah for the folk tradition.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Stewie
Date: 13 Nov 02 - 01:53 AM

I found the following useful summary posted to the rec.music.folk newsgroup a few years ago by a Michael Thilo. I could not find the earlier messages by Blech and Suffet:

As I have posted a while ago Clarence Ashley said he taught 'Rising Sun Blues' aka 'House of the Rising Sun' to Roy Acuff "shortly after WW I". Now this must have happened after 1924, when Acuff graduated from high school in Knoxville and joined Dr Hauers Medicine Show" (OTM 12, 21).

Alan Lomax in The Penguin Book of American Folksongs gives these notes to the song (The Rising Sun):" A ragged Kentucky Mountain girl recorded this modern white song for me in 1937 in Middlesborough, Kentucky ... This blues song of a lost girl probably derives from some older British piece. At any rate, the house of the Rising Sun occurs in several risque English songs, and the melody is one of several for the ancient and scandalous ballad Little Musgrave". (Could this "ragged Kentucky Mountain girl" be Georgina Turner?, cf. Stephen Suffet in a previous posting).

R. Shelton has in the 'Josh-White-Songbook' (Quadrangle Books Inc. 1963) the following information:" He (i.e. J. White) learned Rising Sun from a white hillbilly singer in either Winston-Salem or High Pont, N.C. A few years ago he had to 'convince' a folklorist that he hadn't learned it from one of his books or recordings." I guess the 'folklorist' was A. Lomax. But more interesting is, that Josh White learned it from a "white hillbilly in N.C." Josh White went north to Chicago in the winter of 1924 with Blind Man Arnold (Josh White was then only ten years old) and stayed in the north except for a short interlude in his hometown Greenville, South Carolina in 1928. His only time in North Carolina was in 1923 and early 1924, when he had been leased out by Arnold to Blind Lemmon Jefferson whom he led through the major cities of N.C. , the same area Clarence Ashley toured with am medicine show since 1911. Ashley might have been the "white hillbilly singer".

Now what have we got so far?:

1905 : HoRS is said to have been known at that time by miners(?)

1923/24: Josh White learns it from a "white hillbilly singer" (C. Ashley ?)

1924/1925: Clarence Ashley teaches it to young Roy Acuff, who had just joined Dr Hauer's Medicine Show

1928: recorded by Texas Alexander (?), ca. 1928 (?) by Ashley and Foster (cf Kerry Blech in a previous posting)

1936 recorded by E. Tubb (maybe he got it from Acuff, when both where on Grand Old Opry?)

1937: A " ragged Kentucky Mountain girl" sang it to A.Lomax

1942: recorded by Josh White, copyrighted by Leeds Music Corp., N.Y.

1940ies: Leadbelly and Woody Guthrie learn it from Lomax and/or Josh White in New York City and so on into the wide, wide world of folk and pop.

All this seems to point to the medicine show / vaudeville milieu in the North Carolina- Tennessee-Kentucky area in the early years of the century as the origin of HoRS.

Texas Alexander recorded 'The Risin' Sun' on 15 November 1928 [OK 8673]

Tom Ashley and Gwen Foster recorded 'Rising Sun Blues' on 6 September 1933 - issued in February 1934 as Vocalion 02576.

Homer Callahan recorded 'Rounder's Luck' on 11 April 1935 - issued on ARC in February 1936.

Roy Acuff recorded 'Rising Sun' on 3 November 1938 - issued as Vo/OK 04909 in August 1939.

For articles by journalist, Ted Anthony, on Georgia Turner story see HERE and HERE. I have no idea of the accuracy of these articles.

For further discussion of the song put House of the Rising Sun (no quote marks) in the 'Search the Archives' link at Ballad-L site. Messages from John Garst are of particular interest. Ballad-L site.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From:
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 02:43 AM

The Animals were, perhaps, the sweatiest live act of all the British R'n'B groups of the sixties. They came from Newcastle and by the end of 1963 they had established themselves as the leading band in the North East. Under the guidance of producer Mickie Most, their first single Baby Let Me Take You Home, which was an adaptation of a track from the first Bob Dylan album, almost made the Top Twenty. The following release was also taken from Dylan's debut, this was an adaptation of House Of The Rising Sun, which shot to the top of the charts in the UK and the USA. {source: http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Villa/9500/animals.htm )

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,ghostofdreams
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:42 PM

as a beginning guitar player my ear is not well, so I need some help. If anybody knows the chord sequence to Woody Guthrie's version of the house of the rising sun I would greatly appreciate it if it was posted. thanx

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 31 Dec 02 - 05:51 PM

Woody played it in a major key, I, IV, and V, but sang a modal melody.


Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Frank Hamilton
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 11:15 AM

M. Ted,

I bet the Animals got their minor version from Joan Baez and Josh White. Josh was there in the forties. Other versions of the song to that time had been in major.

Frank

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Mark Ross
Date: 01 Jan 03 - 05:23 PM

Frank,
      The Animals definitely got their version from Dylan, who got it from Van Ronk, who told me that he'd come up with his version after hearing Cyntia Gooding's. Parenthetically, Dave told me that he had a photograph of the door to the Women's Prison in New Orleans which had a rising sun carved into the stone over the entrance. Dave said that the song is definitely NOT about a whorehouse.

Mark

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Nerd
Date: 02 Jan 03 - 04:24 AM

Seems we have two different authoritative statements about the Burdon/Dylan Genealogy:

Burdon-Dylan-Jack Elliott-Nawlins Busker

Burdon-Dylan-Van Ronk-Gooding-?

Anyone have any more info on this?

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Feb 03 - 09:35 PM

New song out to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun."

"Chitlin' Cooking Time in Cheetham County," John Cohen, on "Stories the Crow Told Me."

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Stewie
Date: 22 Feb 03 - 10:55 PM

Hardly new. It is from Fiddlin' Arthur Smith who recorded it in 1936. Smith's original is not on the recent excellent County reissue compilation of Smith and his Dixieliners [CO-CD-3526], but it is on Various Artists 'The Early Stars of the Grand Ole Opry' Catfish KATCD203.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Eric Chomko
Date: 19 May 03 - 12:18 PM

Not directly related to the orgin of the song, I do feel the need to mention a rendition of the song by a band called "Frijid Pink." No one has mentioned them and I think that they did the best version of the song. That is my opinion of course. Their version is more like something from Iron Butterfly or Vanilla Fudge (i.e. Acid Rock). Anyway, I prefer their version over the Amimals' or Dylan's.

Check out this link:
http://music.lycos.com/artist/default.asp?QW=Frijid%20Pink

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,daisydeadpetal
Date: 27 May 03 - 11:05 AM

tori amos has performed a version in concert that is quite long with a different vocal melody than others i have heard. she adds the lines: "he will rise, he will rise, he will rise, they prophesize. for he rises, mine does, everyday.. everyday." (or something like that). its quite a haunting version that really gives the lyrics a depth of emotion that most other versions havent really. it can be downloaded at: http://www.hereinmyhead.com/sounds/sw.html

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 28 May 03 - 03:06 AM

Mine does every day too ... must be all those emails I get!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 28 May 03 - 08:14 PM

Charlie, you made mention of Gen. Washington's chair awhile back on this thread. Ben Franklin made that observation about the sun after the Continental Congress approved the Constitution to be distributed among the states for ratification.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 29 May 03 - 12:20 AM

The tune comes from a very ancient Roman Dirge, sung by the Maidens while tipping out the Pewspots , later it was grabbed by Tweediddlums an English songwriter in the rain of K Henry 8th. This fellow was later ripped off by a Scottish chap called Wadkins. Wadkins sang a Hymn -Thee Rising Early I Pray - later bawlderised by drunken minstrels into a Jousting Song 'Faith I thee deflowered nicely'. Next mention occurs in Notcott's edition of Newcombe's Tunes for a Lute, 'a sweet refrain' probably means 'theme'. Then finaly in common circulation as a drinking song, 'Ale, riseth my heart's desires on me' and last into the above mentioned cradle song.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Mandrake
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 05:56 PM

More info here:

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mrisingson.html

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 06:41 PM

Rising Sun.

As opposed to full moon.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jun 03 - 07:53 PM

Three years ago, Alison mentioned that the hymn, "There Is A Green Hill Far Away," had the same melody as "House of the Rising Sun."
The hymn is in Cyberhymnal, but I can't see the resemblance. Of course, there may be more than one tune used for the hymn. The tune in Cyberhymnal is right perky. Give it a listen. Green Hill

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Billy the Bus
Date: 12 Jun 03 - 01:05 AM

Whewww... Great song, with a great history!

Of the above posts, there was one that caught my eye.

Abby Sale - please expand on your message.

Did you really manage one of the four (or more) HotRS in New Orleans in 1966? If so, we could start a Rampsrt St Parade!

I can't add a sausage to this thread, but, methinks Abby can ... ;0

cheers = Sam

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From:
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 04:44 PM

My take on this song has always been that it was kind of like "Hotel California" by the eagles- that it was about the pain of hell.. anyways thats just my opinion

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 27 Jun 03 - 05:05 PM

I have pondered on the origins of the melody Dylan used for " The House of the Rising Sun". It has been written in many books on Dylan that he got his version from Dave Van Ronk, But, of course, Dylan might have changed it. And , of course, The Animals, got it of Dylan's first album. I love Dylan's version, the slow build up, the little folky turns in his voice. The Animals , unfortunately, took a hammer to it - talk about lack of subtlety!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,carl hales - dnt ask me how i got here but h
Date: 22 Jul 03 - 10:03 PM

erm.....this is the origin for house of the rising sun..not wot songs cn be played to this tune! look ul find that an awful lot of songs wil play nicely on top of ALOT of different tunes yeh get me......im sur u cn sing 'baa baa black sheep' or 'humpty dumpty' to the tune of 'house of the rising sun'....but ut-uh it dnt help you in findin out the origin so people nxt time dnt post shite like that on sites that dnt ask for shite like that...thanking you! ps..the house of the rising sun origionated in england in 1834AD as a small tavern in a woodland area on the outskirts of london....it was classed as a 'rowdy' area to go in which led to only rowdy people goin....an american after visiting the bar liked the rowdyness and desided to create his own 'house of the rising sun' tavern....he set it up in a remote area of N.O...showing little buissnes and raking in little to no cash...his sun later set up the sme tavern same name in the inner part of the city(then town) he needed buissiness so it became rowdy,brothel and a tavern every rich americans dream...the song is written after colecting numeruos different lyrics n imspiration frm different songs and was writin while a bnd member was stayin at this tavern(inn) and the name became easy as the lyrics wnt on...'he house of the rising sun'....now u all no!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 10:49 AM

I posted the following on another related thread, but I thought I would also post it here as well. What follows is confirmation of the posting immediately previous to this one : - It does seem as if Dave Van Ronk is the creator of the version of "The House of the Rising Sun" that we all know. In his book " The Mayor of MacDougal Street", Dave clearly says that he learnt the song from a recording by Hally Wood who in turn had learnt it from an Alan Lomax field recording by Georgia Turner; however, Dave says that he added the classic chord sequence ( which in turn would have altered the tune somewhat ) which is very much part of the song's appeal. And, of course, Dylan " pinched " it off Dave, and The Animals got their version from Dylan's first album.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Lighter at work
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 12:16 PM

Might as well ask it : What's the likelihood that Lomax's hillbilly girl learned the song from one of the earlier recordings ?

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 01:39 PM

Earliest version listed in The Traditional Ballad Index is "Risin' Sun," Texas Alexander, 1928. This is quite different from currently heard versions (listen to his song on redhotjazz.com).

Lomax and Lomax credit their version to Georgia Turner, 1937. There were several recordings prior their collection of the song from Georgia Turner. It would be interesting to hear and compare them.

Randolph-Legman, in "Roll Me in Your Arms," No. 62, "The House of the Rising Sun," pp. 250-256, credit Josh White with popularizing the version "we all know" in the 1950s.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 01:55 PM

I've heard Josh White's version, and it is not the same tune/chords as the version that "everyone" knows.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:43 PM

Which leads to the question- Who is "everyone"?

Perhaps a (multi-)generational gap here.

I wonder how the version by the Almanac Singers would sound to you. (also still available on cd)

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 02:58 PM

The "everyone" refers to "The Animals" version which was a massive hit world-wide, and the chord progression they used became a "rites of passage" piece for a whole generation of aspiring guitarist. Infact, I would say that 99.999% of people who know "The House of the Rising Sun" are more familar with the tune/chord progression as used by The Animals( which, of course, they got from Dylan who got it from Van Ronk ). And, of course, Dave .... well, its all in one of my recent postings.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 03:37 PM

Have listened to Dylan, but the Animals? Don't recall ever hearing them. I'll have to ask my children.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 06:52 PM

I realize that the last poster was being "funny", but, interestingly, I heard The Animals " Rising Sun" just this morning on some tv channel advertising a Timelife 60s cd box-set.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Lighter
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 08:10 PM

Just flew in from redhotjazz.com, and boy, are my arms tired. Anyway, Texas Alexander's "The Risin' Sun" is a *completely* different song - a straight three-line blues - whose only connection with "House of the Rising Sun" is that there's sex in it.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 09 Jul 05 - 09:56 PM

Not the only case of the Traditional Ballad Index lumping different songs.
Lighter, did Lomax ever put Georgia Turner on record? I haven't checked through the Smithsonian, thought you might know.

I haven't heard Ashley-Foster or Darby-Tarleton, The Ashley-Watson version (recorded for Folkways ca. 1960) is not bad, but seems to be a cover of the Lomax-Turner version (although Ashley said he first learned it from his grandmother).

In "Rise Up Singing," A note to "House of the Rising Sun,"(chords given), says "coll. adap. & arr. with new words & new music by John A. Lomax, Alan Lomax & Georgia Turner;" "copyright 1941 & renewed 1968 Ludlow Music Inc. NY, NY. International copyright secured etc. etc., All rights reserved."
I wonder how the "new words and music" differ from that of their originally collected song. Also in 1941, it was recorded by the Almanac Singers, not listed among the covers, who include Joan Baez, Doc Watson & Son, Weavers, etc.

The Almanac version restores the verse 'fill his glasses' originally included by the Lomaxes in "Our Singing Country" in 1941; the Animals keep pretty well to it except they change the order a bit and substitute Dylan's last verse, also leaving out the 'fill his glasses' verse.
Most people seem to have followed the Lomax-Turner version melody and "Rise Up Singing" chords; Josh White providing an interesting variant.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jul 05 - 09:58 AM

Turner's 1937 performance is available only on _The Alan Lomax Popular Songbook_ (Rounder SACD 1863). I haven't heard it myself.

But I intend to. Meticulous publication of words and melody was not one of Lomax's great strengths.

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Lighter
Date: 10 Jul 05 - 06:13 PM

That last "GUEST" was me!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 10 Jul 05 - 11:44 PM

Thanks, Lighter. The sound clip is the verse, 'The only thing a drunkard needs,'

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Jul 05 - 10:13 AM

This is another 'Shuffled' thread - The dates are all over the place !!

Subject: RE: Origin or title of House of the Rising Sun?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Jul 05 - 10:13 AM

But this ought to be 100 !!