Song by Song: "House of the Rising Sun" Quiz

Answer: A church

In the "House of the Rising Sun - the History and the Song" (h2g2.com), Pamela D Arceneaux, a librarian at the Williams Research Center, is quoted, "Although it is generally assumed that the singer is referring to a brothel, there is actually nothing in the lyrics that indicate that the 'house' is a brothel. Many knowledgeable persons have conjectured that a better case can be made for either a gambling hall or a prison."

Because the song references gambling and drinking, some believe the House of the Rising Sun to be a gambling hall. The reference to a "ball and chain" have led others to believe it might be a penitentiary. In his 2005 memoir "The Mayor of MacDougal Street," folk musician Dave Van Ronk, who recorded a version of this song, claimed to have seen a photo of a women's prison with a carving of a rising sun above the doorway.

Perhaps most frequently, the House of the Rising Sun is interpreted to refer to a "house of ruin," or a brothel. The song is sometimes sung from the perspective of a prostitute who has worked in the brothel and sometimes from the perspective of a man who has frequented it and been "ruined" by the experience.

According to musicologist Alan Lomax, the name "Rising Sun" appears in at least two English folk songs as the name of a brothel. It has also been a common name for pubs in England.

Answer: New Orleans

Folk music researcher Alan Lomax has speculated that this song originated in England, though some have argued it has its roots in France. When the song reached the U.S. and began to be sung by white American Southerners, he speculates, the location changed to New Orleans:

"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun."

Answer: Sin City

Their version of the song opens:

"There is a house in Sin City
They call the Rising Sun."

The American heavy metal band released their version of the song on their fifth studio album, "The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell, Volume 2." By changing the location to Sin City, or Las Vegas, the band places emphasis on the parts of the song that mention a gambler and gambling.

Answer: 1930s

Their version was called "The Rising Sun Blues" and was recorded on the Vocalion label on September 6, 1933. It begins:

"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
Where many poor boys to destruction has gone
And me, oh God, are one."

Ashley's version also contains a verse not frequently sung in other versions of the song:

"Now boys don't believe what a young girl tells you,
Let her eyes be blue or brown,
Unless she's on some scaffold high,
Saying, "Boys, I can't come down. "

Another early recording of the song was made by folklorist Alan Lomax, who recorded a performance by a sixteen-year-old Appalachian coal miner's daughter, Georgia Turner, for the Archive of American Folk Song for the Library of Congress in 1937.

Answer: girl

Many versions of the song refer to "many a poor boy," But the lyrics published in 1925 by Robert Winslow Gordon in his folk music column, "Old Songs Men Have Sung," tell the song from a female's perspective and begin:

"There is a house in New Orleans, it's called the Rising Sun,
It's been the ruin of many a poor girl,
Great God, and I for one."

According to Stefan Andrew, writing in Vintage News, the origins of this song may lay in part in a 16th century folk song titled "The Unfortunate Rake." He writes that the "earliest known variant of 'The Unfortunate Rake' laments over a young man dying of syphilis. Other variants lament over the fate of young soldiers, sailors, cowboys, or maids."

Answer: Woody Guthrie

Born in 1912 in Oklahoma, Woody Guthrie was a huge influence on 1960s folk musicians such as Bob Dylan, who wrote his "Song to Woody Guthrie." Guthrie's first album, "Dust Bowl Ballads," was released in 1940.

Another version of this song was released by Decca Records in 1942 with music by Josh White and vocals by Libby Holman.

Answer: Lead Belly

Lead Belly's 1944 version was called "In New Orleans," while the later version bore the more familiar name "The House of the Rising Sun." The 1948 version can be found on "Lead Belly's Last Sessions," which were released in 1994 by Smithsonian Folkways. His version is told from a female perspective, a "young and foolish, poor girl."

Answer: Andy Griffith

"Andy Griffith Shouts the Blues and Old Timey Songs" also included "Midnight Special," "Pick A Bale of Cotton," and "The Crawdad Song," among others.

Pete Seeger recorded a version of the song in 1958 on Folkway Records, while Joan Baez released her version on her debut album "Joan Baez" in 1960.

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was only twenty when he recorded the song. His self-titled debut album "Bob Dylan" was released in 1962 and contained traditional folk songs as well as a couple of Dylan originals including "Song to Woody," and "Talkin' New York."

Dylan recorded the song without first asking Van Ronk, who was planning to record it himself in the near future. Van Ronk later released the song on his 1964 album "Just Dave Van Ronk."

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for creating "new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition."

Answer: The Animals

The single was released on June 19, 1964 in the U.K. with "Talkin' Bout You" on the B-Side and on August 8, 1964 in the U.S. The song peaked at number one on the Canada Top Singles (RPM) chart, the U.K. Singles Chart, and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Music critics hailed it as the first hit of the "folk-rock" genre.

The Animals' version of the song differed from most other earlier versions in that it used 6/8 time instead of 4/4.

Answer: Frijid Pink

The song was released as a single with "Drivin' Blues" on the B-Side. It peaked at number seven on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and at number four on the UK Singles Chart.

A version of "House of the Rising Sun" also appears on American folk musician Doc Watson's 1999 album "Third Generation Blues." His son Richard Watson played guitar on the track.

Answer: Dolly Parton

Jody Miller earlier had a country hit with the song in 1974. Like Jody Miller's version, Dolly Parton sings the song from the perspective of a fallen woman, saying the House of the Rising Sun has been the ruin of "many a good girl" (rather than the more common lyric of "poor girl").

She also added a few lines of her own to solidify the point that the song is sung from the perspective of a prostitute. She adds that the House of the Rising son is a place "where love and money is made." The singer's father was a gambler, as in many other versions of the song, but Dolly Parton adds that her mother died when she was young, "and I've worked since then / to please the men / at the House of the Rising Sun."

Answer: my older brother

Lead Belly sings:

"Go and tell my baby sister
Never do like I have done.
Shun that house down in New Orleans
That they call that Rising Sun."

Bob Dylan also uses "baby sister":

"Oh tell my baby sister not to do what I have done."

The Animals, however, because they tell this song from the male perspective, render this line:

"Mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done."

Dolly Parton phrases it:

"So mothers you go telling all your daughters
Not to do what I've done."

This song has alternately been called "Rising Sun," "Rising Sun Blues," "The House of the Rising Sun," and "Down in New Orleans."

Answer: tailor

The Animals version of the song goes:

"My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new blue jeans."

The versions by Bob Dylan, Lead Belly, and Five Finger Death Punch also identify the mother as a tailor. Neither Ashley's version nor Dolly Parton's version mentions the profession of the mother.

Funky Junction, with Thin Lizzy bassist Phil Lynott, recorded an electric instrumental version of this song on the album, "Funky Junction Play a Tribute to Deep Purple."

Answer: My uncle was a murderer, Lord

Bob Dylan sings, "My sweetheart was a gambler, Lord, down in New Orleans." Lead Belly and Woody Guthrie both sang, "My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord (God) / (He) drinks down in New Orleans." Lead Belly and Guthrie do mention that the sweetheart is also a gambler, however: "I let a gambler lead me astray."

The Animals, because their version is from the perspective of a "poor boy," reference a father rather than a sweetheart: "And my father was a gamblin' man / Way down in New Orleans."

Answer: A suitcase and a trunk

"Now the only thing a gambler needs is a suitcase and a trunk."

Lead Belly's version says drunkard instead of gambler:

"The only thing a drunkard needs
Is a suitcase and a trunk."

The Animals' version says gambler but changes it to "a suitcase IN a trunk."

British indie rock band alt-J recorded a version of "House of the Rising Sun" on their third studio album, "RELAXER," which was released in June of 2017.

Answer: drunk

Here, drunk rhymes with trunk in the previous line.

Dylan and The Animals both sing this line as "satisfied" while Lead Belly sings it as "half satisfied."

Brian Johnson, who would later go on to become a vocalist for AC/DC, recorded a version of this song with his British glam rock band Geordie in 1974 for their second studio album "Don't Be Fooled by the Name."

Answer: brim

The song paints a picture of an unrestrained drunkard and gambler who is either the singer's father or sweetheart or the singer himself.

Bob Dylan sings:

"He fills his glasses up to the brim and he'll pass the cards around."

Lead Belly sings:

"He fills his glasses to the brim
Passes them around."

Clarence Ashley sings:

"Then fill the glasses to the brim
Let the drinks go merrily around."

Country musician Hank Williams recorded a version of this song on his 1987 album "Hank Live."

Answer: town to town

Dylan sings:

"And the only pleasure he gets out of life is rambling from town to town."

Clarence Ashley, Lead Belly, and Woody Guthrie all use the word "hoboin'" instead of "rambling."

Persian pop-rock-folk musician Farhad recorded a version of this song (based on the Animals version) with his band The Black Cats.

Answer: train

"Well with one foot on the platform and the other foot on the train
I'm going back to New Orleans to wear that ball and chain
I'm going back to New Orleans, my race is almost run
I'm going back to end my life down in the Rising Sun."

The above lines come from Bob Dylan's version. The singer also has one foot on the platform and the other on the train in several other versions of this song, including the ones by Woody Guthrie, The Animals, Lead Belly, and Fiver Finger Death Punch.

This reference to "ball and chain" could imply imprisonment, or it could imply being metaphorically tied to something (such as a bad habit). It is also often used to refer to being confined by marriage.