The classic songs The Animals recorded in one take
The murky roots of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ makes it perhaps the most famous song with the least certain origin. The traditional African-American ballad predates recording technology, meaning that the song was, in all likelihood, a century old before most audiences had ever heard it. If you were a folk nut during the first major genre boom in the early 1960s, chances are that Bob Dylan was the artist who popularised the song for you.
Dylan learned ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ from fellow folkie Dave Van Ronk, but Van Ronk learned his rendition from Texas singer Hally Wood. Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, Joan Baez, and Nina Simone all recorded versions before the song ever became a hit, but it took British blues rockers The Animals and their distinctive re-arrangement to finally propel ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ into the mainstream.
Eric Burdon, meanwhile, first heard ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ from English folk singer Johnny Handle. Burdon and The Animals were touring with Chuck Berry at the time, and they realised that their standard set of rock songs would immediately be dwarfed by Berry’s stranglehold over the genre. Looking to end their concerts on a more intense and dramatic note, Burdon brought in ‘The House of the Rising Sun’.
“‘House of the Rising Sun’ is a song that I was just fated to,” Burdon told SongFacts in 2010. “It was made for me, and I was made for it. It was a great song for the Chuck Berry tour because it was a way of reaching the audience without copying Chuck Berry. It was a great trick, and it worked. It actually wasn’t only a great trick, it was a great recording.”
That recording almost didn’t happen. When The Animals packed into De Lane Lea Studios on May 8th, 1964, producer Mickie Most was still reluctant to put the song on tape. He was aware of the massive reaction that the song had seen during live shows, but he wasn’t sure that the moody and lengthy piece would be right for a single. As such, only one take of ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ was attempted by the band, with all instruments and vocals taped live.
The rawness and ragged nature of the recording add to its appeal. Both guitarist Hilton Valentine and organist Alan Price occasionally miss their intended notes, while drummer John Steel pushes the song’s tempo as the band approaches its chaotic ending. Still, thanks to Burdon’s hypnotic vocal and the tension-filled chord progression, ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ was a cross-continental hit, topping the charts in both the UK and the US. The Animals became the second group of the British Invasion to score an American number one hit, capitalising on the momentum established by The Beatles that same year.
Check out ‘The House of the Rising Sun’ down below.
