About Amarilis Gibeli Expertise I actively search out want lists of rare, hard-to-find & out-of-
print Lps & CDs, antiques and collectibles items, books, lyrics,
sheet music and any other audio/visual media & format as well,
for individuals, traders, retail outlets and online auctions.
My specialty is 60`s (psych & garage rock, doo-wop, girls
groups, etc.) & 70`s (hard, punk, progressive, etc.), although I
have acquired a large range of knowledge on any other style &
period as well.
As a researcher in musical subjects, I have received requests to
write programme notes for modern & classical music, history of
music, forms, contemporary music life, bibliographic references,
among other topics.
Experience I'm an Independent Consultant for music legal rights & copyright
law (Musical Performance & Mechanical Rights) for 32 years in
Brazil, as well as private record collector, trader & music
researcher.
Organizations Sociedade Independente de Compositores e Autores Musicais
(SICAM), Sociedade Brasileira de Escritores de Musica (SABEM),
Escritorio Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição (ECAD), among
others copyright societies.
Education/Credentials Law School "Largo Sao Francisco", at the University of Sao
Paulo, Brazil. Still working as translator and subtitler at MTV Brazil.
Question Who origanally sang the house of the rising sun?I have been trying to remember for days.... Its driving me nuts!
Answer Dear Jeanette,
Thanks for your attention, and sorry for the delay in getting back to, it occured a failure in my operating system, so it was at fault for 02 days.
If you are familiar with the Animals 1964 hit version of the "House of the Rising Sun", you may not be familiar with the below set of lyrics. They were collected by Alan Lomax, the famous musicologist, on one of his extremely important field-recording trips to the Southern States of America. This particular version, entitled "The Rising Sun Blues", was recorded by him on September 15th, 1937, and credited to Georgia Turner of Middlesboro, Kentucky and "other stanzas" to Bert Martin of Manchester, Kentucky. The lyrics appear in Lomax's 1941 book "Our Singing Country."
Possibly the song was an old English, Scottish or Irish folk song, or melody, that had been brought over to these mountainous regions of America by British settlers a hundred or more years before. The words were obviously altered as New Orleans was THE den of iniquity in the South. We have heard of a version in England, whose lyrics are, "There is a house in Lowerstoft they call the Rising Sun". Whether this was a dig at the Animals version or the original, we may never know but it is worth considering. English musicologist, Cecil Sharp, had collected many of these old English folk songs in the early part of the 20th century. Olive Campbell, the wife of a minister, had collected many ballads from the Appalachians and given them to Cecil Sharp. If you have not seen them, we recommend the movies "Songcatcher" and "O Brother Where Art Thou" for a glimpse of traditional and Old Timey music from the early 20th century.
Georgia Turner was not the first person to record the song. The earliest recorded version was by Clarence "Tom" Ashley in 1932, as "Rising Sun Blues" and in 1934, as "Rounder's Luck" by the Callahan Brothers. Roscoe Holcomb recorded it as "House in New Orleans" and Dillard Chandler as "Sport in New Orleans".
The folk-music scene evolved in the 1940s and 1950s, with the likes of Josh White, Huddie "Leadbelly" Ledbetter, Pete Seeger and Woodie Guthrie all recording the song. The new-wave of "folkies" in the early 1960s soon began recording it, including Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. Then, in 1964, came the classic version that everyone is familiar with by an R&B band from Newcastle-on-Tyne, England, the Animals. Formed in 1958 as the Alan Price Combo, this was, at the time, the longest recording ever released on a 45 rpm single and because of that fact was given the "kiss of death" by the record industry. To their surprise, the record made No.1 in England and the U.S.A. and is still popular throughout the world.
Hit versions followed in 1970 by Frijid Pink, in 1978 by Santa Esmeralda and in 1981 by Dolly Parton. Versions were recorded by such diverse artists as Andy Griffith, Doc Watson, Jerry Garcia and David Grisman, Mike Auldridge, the Chambers Brothers, French singer Johnny Hallyday (as "Le Penetencier"), Dave Von Ronk, Joe and Eddie, The Weavers, Toots Thieleman, African singer Myriam Makeba and Snakefarm, to name a few. It has been recorded in different musical styles including Old Timey, Folk, Blues, R&B, Cajun, Disco, Punk, House/Trance, Jazz, Rock, Latin, Reggae and Country, not to mention Karaoki, elevator music, German tango and harmonica renditions; and has always been a favorite for guitar lessons by those budding Clapton and Hendrix freaks. It is probably one of the most recorded songs in history.
Original lyrics:
"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, for one.
If I had listened what Mama said, I'd be at home today.
Being so young and foolish, poor boy, let a rambler lead me astray.
Go tell my baby sister never do like I have done
To shun that house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun.
My mother she's a tailor, she sewed these new blue jeans.
My sweetheart, he's a drunkard, Lord, Lord, drinks 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.
Fills his glasses to the brim, passes them around.
Only pleasure he gets out of life is hoboin' from town to town.
One foot is on the platform and the other one on the train.
I'm going back to New Orleans to wear that ball and chain.
Going back to New Orleans, my race is almost run.
Going back to spend the rest of my days beneath that Rising Sun."
"House of the Rising Sun" as performed by the Animals:
"There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of 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's satisfied is when he's on a drunk.
Oh mothers tell your children not to do what I have done,
Spend your life 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
And 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 of many a poor boy and God, I know I'm one."
If you need anything else, please feel free to get in touch.
