The House of the Rising Sun passed through many hands including Bob Dylan before it became the rock hit for The Animals

Bob Dylan, “The House of the Rising Sun” (photo Columbia Records)

The origins of “House of the Rising Sun” are an 18th century Broadside ballad, “The Unfortunate Rake.”

The modern version of this song was in play during the early folk revival of the 40’s and 50’s.

From Roy Acuff in 1938 to Leadbelly, the Weavers and Joan Baez, everyone seemed to turn their hand to the song.

Dave Von Ronk was working on it when Bob Dylan liked it enough to steal the arrangement for his first album, “Bob Dylan.”

Dave always claimed he “could” have made it with the song but in truth he wasn’t that great a performer. He did give it a downbeat jazz swing.

Dylan’s version was unique but not a hit. The Animals refute that Dylan influenced them but I think they’re lying.

The Von Ronk/Dylan version is what they rocked up. Nonetheless, they added that great organ, drums and bass and created arguably the first folk rock hit. The Animals version was so close to Dylan, he stopped playing it because he didn’t want to be accused of copying them, which of course he later did.

The old story was the song referred to a whore house. While wickedly romantic, the real House of the Rising Sun was a woman’s prison in New Orleans, still not the place to end your time, according to Von Ronk.

Alan Price who plays organ and arranged the tune left the Animals in 1965 and can be seen with Dylan during his 1966 tour immortalized in the film Don’t Look Back.

From 1964