#471 The Animals, 'The House of the Rising Sun' (1964)

 

I've definitely heard this one before, but I know if I've really listened to it. I don't recall anything spectacular about it.  Let's see what I've been missing --

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Wow, listening with headphones vs. in a car or in the background of a TV show or something makes all the difference for me. I particularly liked the vocal performance and the organ.  

I wondered if this was kind of heavy for the time, so I took a look at the top 100 (US) singles from 1964.  It is a bit of an outlier.  Lots of early Beatles there, Motown, and some stuff that was probably "safer" at the time - Barbara Streisand and Andy Williams.  So yeah, maybe a bit edgy.  But we also have  The Kink's "You Really Got Me", which is hopefully on this list.

Enjoyed that. I've heard it a million times but have a new appreciation.  



Comments

  1. RonDecember 3, 2021 at 7:23 PM

    Alan Price was a great organist and pretty decent singer. He was the lead vocalist of the Alan Price Rhythm & Blues Quartet before Eric Burdon joined and they renamed themselves to The Animals. This traditional folk song had been done by Woody Guthrie, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan (who used an arrangement by David Van Ronk, without his permission actually). The Animals' version is similar to Dylan's, but the organ playing of Price made it more distinctive.

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