S.O.D. "House of the Rising Sun" by The Animals

9/20/2015     The man's perspective or the woman's.  No one is sure who it was written for or why, but you could fill up a few pages with all of the origins that are suspected.  Authorship is unknown, but is a curious matter.  It has been studied by musicologists with theories such as the English bringing it to the United States in the 18th century and based on broadside (being printed on one side of inexpensive paper) ballads such as "The Unfortunate Rake."  

     In the classic 1877 story "Black Beauty", set in London, England, a house-like pub exists called the Rising Sun which may have influenced the title.  Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster recorded the first known version in 1934 for Vocalion Records.  Ashley stated that he learned it from his grandfather, Enoch Ashley.  Alan Lomax was an ethnomusicologist among many other things who traveled the U.S. in the early 1900s recording songs by various artists and is responsible, along with his father, for many historical musical movements and for the Library of Congress starting their musical library. He recorded a version in 1937 by the 16 y/o daughter of a local coal miner that was entitled "The Rising Sun Blues."  

     Many artists have recorded versions including Bob Dylan and Woody Guthrie, with this being the most popular version.  It is considered to be the first folk–rock hit ever.