HOUSE OF THE RISING SON
(traditional)
Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster (1933)
Georgia Turner (1937*)
Bert Martin (?*)
Daw Henson (?*)
Roy Acuff (1938)
Josh White (1947)
Leadbelly(1948) (**)
Glen Yarbourough (1957)
Joan Baez (1960)
Miriam Makeba (1960)
Bob Dylan (1962, rec.'61)
Dave Van Ronk (modern version arrangement rec. after Dylan)
Nina Simone (1962)
Eric Burdon and The Animals (1964)
Frijid Pink (1970)
Jody Miller (1973)
Dolly Parton (1981)

(The Ventures, Waylon Jennings, Brothers Four, Waylon Jennings
Sinead O'connor, Hugh Masekala,Tommy Emmanuel, Cat Power etc. )

(* = recorded by Alan Lomax)

(** The guitar is Leadbelly the vocalist is is wife. It was
recorded in the basement of Alen Lomax's house during
the Library of Congress recording sessions.)


The Animals version:


There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun,
And it's been the ruin for many a poor boy,
And God, I know I'm one.

My mother was a tailor,
Sewed my new blue jeans.
My father was a gambling' man
Down in New Orleans.

Now, the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk,
And the only time he'll be satisfied
Is when he's all drunk.

Oh, Mother, tell your children
Not to do what I have done,
Spend your lives in sin and misery
In the house of the Rising Sun.

Well, I've got one foot on the platform,
The other foot on the train.
I'm going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.

Well, there is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun,
And it's been the ruin for many a poor boy,
And God, I know I'm one.

Miriam Makeba version:


There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor girl,
And me, oh Lord is one

If I had listened to what my mother said
I'd have been at home today,
But I was young and foolish, Oh God
Let a gambler lead me astray

My mother is a taylor
She sews those new blue jeans
My sweetheart is a drunkard, Lord
Down in New Orleans

The only thing a drunkard needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk
The only time he's satisfied
Is when he's on a drunk

He'll fill his glasses to the brim
He passes them around
And the only pleasure he gets out of life
Is bumming from town to town

Go tell my baby sister,
Never do what I have done
To shun that house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun

It's one foot on the platform
And the other one on the train
I'm going back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain

I'm goin' back to New Orleans
My race is almost run
I'm goin' back to spend my life
Beneath that Rising Sun