House of the Rising Sun

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Written by: Alan Price
Produced by: Mickie Most
Released: July '64 on MGM
Charts: 11 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

"We were looking for a song that would grab people's attention," said Animals singer Eric Burdon. They found it with the old U.S. folk ballad "House of the Rising Sun." On his 1962 debut album, Bob Dylan had sung this grim tale of a Southern girl trapped in a New Orleans whorehouse. The Animals, from the tough English coal town of Newcastle, changed the gender in the lyrics and added an organ solo inspired by jazzman Jimmy Smith's hit "Walk on the Wild Side."

Appears on: The Best of the Animals (ABKCO)

Next: It's a Man's Man's Man's World

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