Home › Music › MY MOTHER WAS A TAILOR – HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

MY MOTHER WAS A TAILOR – HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

By on • ( 23 )

My husbands’s father was a tailor as was my mother.

This classic folk song was not written for either of them. These are The Animals and they did not write the song either. They did record its first major commercially successful version — but hardly its last.

The song has been around a few hundred years. Here, there … and probably elsewhere, too.

LYRICS: HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

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
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin’ man
Down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs
Is a suitcase and trunk
And the only time he’s satisfied
Is when he’s on a drunk

[Organ Solo]

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 got one foot on the platform
The other foot on the train
I’m goin’ 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

‹
›

Categories: Music

Tags: , , , , ,

23 replies

  1. evilsquirrel13
    07/16/2017 • 10:56

    This is one of those classic, legendary rock songs that I think is OK, but it really doesn’t do anything for me. Most songs like that have at least one quirky cover version that I really love….. but all the covers I’ve ever heard of this song sound pretty much the same, and too much like The Animals’ version. Heck, I don’t even like the disco version that Santa Esmeralda did…. and I love almost everything disco!

    Like

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      07/16/2017 • 15:05

      I think I enjoyed this song the most when I was actually SINGING it. It’s a fun song to sing, easy on the vocal chords. And VERY simple to play, with only three chords. Most of the recorded versions are too much. It’s a folk song, meant for a group of people to sing together or one singer alone. Doesn’t need all the rest of it. I always thought most of these recorded versions were overdone.

      Like

  2. c2avilez
    07/15/2017 • 17:16

    The only song I could play on the guitar for the longest time. Great song.

    Like

  3. Taswegian1957
    07/15/2017 • 05:20

    The Animals version of this song was one of David’s favourites.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. judyt54
    07/14/2017 • 17:09

    my latest favorite version by Sons of Anarchy–makes the Animals look like little kids, lol

    Liked by 1 person

    • Marilyn Armstrong
      07/14/2017 • 17:14

      I never liked the really dark versions of the song. It added “stuff” to the song i don’t think belongs there. I actually like the folkier versions better, but this was the one I could find, probably because it was the most famous.

      Like

  5. evelyneholingue
    07/14/2017 • 16:07

    My mother was really one. And she sewed my blue jeans 🙂
    Love the song!

    Like

  6. Covert Novelist
    07/14/2017 • 14:28

    I’ve heard some incredible renditions of the song. Some really make it live, come alive.

    Like

  7. Garry Armstrong
    07/14/2017 • 13:30

    A wonderful song!! Lots of terrific covers. I remember one of those long ago “nights” at the Village Gate. Leon Bibb, Harry Belafonte and Riki Lee (remember her?) tearing it up with “Rising Sun”. Oh, Mama!!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. angloswiss
    07/14/2017 • 13:15

    I remember the song arriving and it was a great hit at the time. Memories of past years

    Like

  9. swo8
    07/14/2017 • 13:11

    That’s a classic, Marilyn.
    Leslie

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Fandango
    07/14/2017 • 12:52

    Thanks for the memories. Great song from my “formative years.”

    Liked by 1 person