The House of the Rising Sun

The melody is a traditional English ballad, but the song became popular as an African-American Folk song. It was recorded by Texas Alexander in the 1920s, then by a number of other artists including Leadbelly, Woody Guthrie, Josh White and later Nina Simeone. It was her version The Animals first heard. No one can claim rights to the song, meaning it can be recorded and sold royalty-free.

The Animals' take on "The House of the Rising Sun" sounded wholly new: writer Dave Marsh described it as "the first folk-rock hit," sounding "as if they'd connected the ancient tune to a live wire,"while writer Ralph McLean of the BBC agreed that "it was arguably the first folk rock tune," calling it "a revolutionary single" after which "the face of modern music was changed forever."

The Animals' version transposes the narrative of the song from the point of view of a woman led into a life of degradation, to that of a male, whose father was now a gambler and drunkard, as opposed to the sweetheart in earlier versions.

The Animals had begun featuring their arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun" during a joint concert tour with Chuck Berry, using it as their closing number to differentiate themselves from acts which always closed with straight rockers. It got a tremendous reaction from the audience, convincing initially reluctant producer Mickie Most that it had hit potential and between tour stops the group went to a small recording studio on Kingsway, London, to record it.

Recorded in just one take on 18 May 1964 it started with a famous electric guitar A minor chord arpeggio by Hilton Valentine, which inspired countless beginning guitarists.  The performance took off with Eric Burdon's lead vocal and  Alan Price's pulsating organ part completed the sound. The song reached the top of the charts on both sides of the Atlantic.