Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley - House of the Rising sun

[PharaohII]

Sounds to white country popish for it to be the original that came out of new Orleans. The song from its words clearly states " ITS SELF " comes out of the blues. Which originated where and by who..? so know this a bite off the original.

[naditales]

de puta madre...... excelente!!!

[stevetatega]

doc is great any time

[Rossija333]

well acsually Tom Clarence Ashley was the first one to record this in 1933, there is a nice vid. on you tube check it out!

[RonaldMcDickFace]

Just because one English musician claims this is originally an English folk song from the 16th century doesn't make it true. This song's pure American. Believe it.

[ArseJockey]

Who is the 1st becouse Clarence Ashley recorded it in 1933 and that is the oldest recording of the song

[BrotherofAether]

its an American folk song....its ages old

[twinkie57401]

@BrotherofAether

That is what I have read also, Brother. It's a a sixteenth-century English folk song, author unknown.

[ImTellingMyStory]

1937, Georgia Turner did a recording. It's here on youtube :) She didn't write it, obviously, but it's a cool piece of history. Look it up on here!

[VegasPhoneMan]

This song dates back to the 1600's

[neverfales09]

Actually the origin of this song is unknown. Ashley said in an interview his mother sang it to him when he was young and he has always known it. Many musicologists tend to believe it is an old english song written about a brothel in Halifax and was brought here by british emigrants who changed it to its New orleans setting. No one actually knows for sure. That is why it is so awesome..... It is a mystery. :)

[phdseuss]

@neverfales09 makes sense to me

[wishbass1]

All wrong. Ashley recored a country version in 1933. Libby Holman and Josh White changed it to a minor version during WWII. Their names are on the sheet music. Dave van Ronk, who could not sing like holman or play like white created the modern version. Bob Dylan stole that version for his first Columbia LP. Eric Burdon stole that version. That's the story. The Josh White and Libby Holman versions are on you tube.

[kinggarus]

This isn't the original version recorded in 1933... that was Clarence Ashley singing and playing guitar and Gwen Foster on harmonica.

[meezsims2luver956]

dude it was NOT recoreded in the 60's retard it was in 33!!!!! DUUUUUUUHHHHHHHHH

[AshStrat1]

I worked with the animals about 20 years ago or what was left of the original band , and played this song on live TV with them

[AshStrat1]

house of the rising sun was originally a sixteenth-century English folk song about a Soho brothel, and that English emigrants took the song to America where it was adapted to its later New Orleans setting ,The oldest known existing recording is by Clarence Ashley in 1933,however

[legaldinho]

omg is clarence related to rick astley

[MrMellowTV]

Clarence Ashley recorded it as "Rising Sun Blues" around 1931-1933 with Gwen Foster for the American Record Corporation. Ashley claimed that he learned the tune from his grandfather Enoch. As you said, it was re-recorded by Watson and Ashley in the 1960s.

[jjleonel97]

this is the original version of the song,but animals' version is way better.

[sheilapatrick1]

it was done in mississippi before the 1900s by god knows who first

[edisonphonographfan]

stop argueing who was first or second we will never know many early recordings were lost over time and who knows someone may have recorded it at there home in the early 1900s we WONT EVER KNOW so stop ur fighting geeze

[adkurek]

Looking for : 1928s – "The Risin' Sun" , Texas Alexander

[wkunzelman1]

@adkurek look in related videos on the right side.

[jsebsteelguitar]

Amazing song.

Wonderful guitar playing.

A beautyful musical and historical document. 

[wreckingyardrebels]

Ashley claimed to have learned this song from his grandfather. Whoever has the record from 1932 needs to record it and let us hear it!

[djtb1]

Clarence "Tom" Ashley's 1933 performance of "The Rising Sun Blues" is the earliest know professional recording of the song. Accompany by Gwen Foster on harmonica. label Vocalion 02576-B-"The Rising Sun Blues." the only know copy is in the possession of famous record collector Joe Bussard. even the Library of Congress dose not have a copy. <-- Info from "chasing the rising sun" by Ted Anthony

[ter50]

This is great but the Animals version is more soulful

[EblockShorty]

@ter50 Depends what you mean by soul... and they get the chords wrong. Were they the first to use those cheesy chords? Any body know?

[mzwahlen5]

Georgia Turner was not the first person to record the song. The earliest recorded version was by Clarence "Tom" Ashley in 1932, as "Rising Sun Blues" and in 1934, as "Rounder's Luck" by the Callahan Brothers. Roscoe Holcomb recorded it as "House in New Orleans" and Dillard Chandler as "Sport in New Orleans".

[PlanetOfMu]

the info is wrong...The Tex Alexander song is a completely different song...you should change the info as this mistake was mentioned before..beside the version with Tom Foster was recorded in 1933...thanks for sharing this song..greets

[neotenousape]

@PlanetOfMu The Tex Alexander song recorded in 1928 was Rising Sun Blues. It is on here too, unfortunately mis-labelled as House of the Rising Sun, but when you listen to it you will know it isn't the same song.

[mactopolis]

Not only Hannah and Jonnah Bros weak music the youth are listening to...but all the rest as well...the black stars don't have any better music than the white(minority)stars have...I use to listen to a lot of black singers music in the late 50's and early 60's...since the 1980's its all been crap

[somethingclever2007]

youve obviously never heard of the muse, or trent reznor, or tracy chapman, or dave matthews, or chris thomas king, i could go on and on and on- but to generalize three decades as "crap music" is a pretty big leap. yes a lot of music is out there because for every one good artist there are fifty mediocre artists and for every fifty mediocre artists there are a thousand crappy ones. but there are many many powerful musicians and singers that exsist today. you should youtube a little more.

[dickcarr]

ahahah...

[soulshinz]

Like many classic folk ballads, the authorship of "The House of the Rising Sun" is uncertain. Alan Lomax, author of the 1941 songbook Our Singing Country, wrote that the melody was taken from a traditional English ballad and the lyrics written by a pair of Kentuckians named Georgia Turner and Bert Martin

[soulshinz]

ashley and foster were credited with the first recording, but a 16 year old black girl from the mountains Georgia Turner recorded it in 1937, she is the one the royalties are credited to..not sure how that happened, but its true

[jazzy19001]

Wikipedia/ The authorship of "The House of the Rising Sun" is uncertain. Some experts say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads of the 18th century which were taken to America by early settlers. The oldest known existing recording is by versatile Appalachian artists Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster and was made in 1933. Ashley said he had learned it from his grandfather. Alger "Texas" Alexander's The Risin' Sun, which was recorded in 1928, is a completely different song.

[6stringsfreak]

in my opinion only people with no music taste are listen to hannah montana or sido and this hip hop shit......this is the real music with feeling and happiness. When doc plays his guitar then it's a very different feeling, if there is a drum computer and over gained guitars. ( sorry for my bad english i'm from germany and I'm still learning it

[11visionary11]

agreed:)

[mikeybadass05]

shut up MichailZacho, you don't know what your talking. If it weren't for the animals you wouldn't have heard this version. I find the animals version a lot better but this one is great also because it influenced the animals to write their version. So don't say "butcher" because you don't know what the fuck your talking about.

[Rdavis014]

Actually, I think that the fist recorded version of this song was by Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster in 1933. This version that you have is very close to that but not the 1st one. Many people have done this song. The most succesful being The Animals in 1964 when it went to number one in the United Kingdom, United States, Sweden and Canada.

[2oldstyle55]

Did you take from Wikipedia???

[bigmohen]

yeah he did LOL

[Maksimfan]

I disagree with that. I am a musician and I am only 20, however I have been studying music for 12 years and know that it still requires a lot of skill

[Iputrandomstuff]

See, that's where I could go both ways. Millions of people who play Zeppelin-esque music or Leadbelly-esque music and they never make it, but shitheads like Hannah Montana or more fads like that have infiltrated the music business and will fuck it up. It's sad to say, but oh so true, music will never be the same.

[Maksimfan]

I agree, but unfortunately that's the music that has become popular which is a shame.

[anonymees]

there's always been good music and bad music. stop whining about the good old days and focus on the good stuff.

[Iputrandomstuff]

The only good stuff now is underground shit, which is already almost impossible to find, and old bands coming back into reunions. How do you focus on something that's invisible?

[anonymees]

underground shit is easier to find now, with the internet, more than ever. you're just not with it.

[balsac1000]

@anonymees i hate trying to explain that to old people, it blows their mind when they haven't heard a song in 40 years and i play it for them on youtube "is that like a rolladex fer music" i hate old people trying to text also, so frustrating

[MichailZacho]

The Animals did butcher this song. This version is truly more sad, but the style at this earlier time was more forthright, more upbeat, more powerful, less whiney. The Animals' version is very good, but more stylized toward the higher-tech whimpering of the Baby-Boomer generation. We were/are the weak-kneed whiners of the world, while our ancestors were closer to the real thing in this world.

[dfertig1]

Don't forget about the Roscoe Holcomb version on "High Lonesome Sound". The song is called "House in New Orleans" on that album. It is a brilliant rendition and the best recorded version I know of (if you like Holbomb's style).

[Mellimells]

The animals butchered this song. It's way too catchy, and Way too pop-sounding. The earlier and more folk oriented versions are slower which really makes the listener feel the deep emotions of the song. It's supposed to be misery at its greatest depths.

[dildodave5000]

well you are clearly deaf. this style sounds more happy than the animals version. the animals sounds uch darker etc, especially with the organ.

[hillbillyacidrain]

i like the way the animals sang it better

[trudiDumb]

The ORIGINAL!

Very Good

[david181993]

The original? The song has existed for over 100 years before this recording, so you cannot say if this was the original version of it. It was simply the first recording of it.

[RilakosSs]

it's not even the second recording...leadbelly and many other earlier artists sung it...

[coolbritannia7]

Leadbelly recorded the song in late 1948,Doc Watson & Clarence Ashley first recorded it 14 years before that in1934 the same year leadbelly started recorded his first songs.

[joncox57]

Doc Watson was 11 in 1934 so i kinda doubt it

[macro820]

Hmm lets look at the side info... "Clarence Ashley as far as I know was the second artist to record "house of the Rising sun"

" I couldn't find either of them anywhere."

[coolbritannia7]

yeeeees Tex Alexander and the first Doc Watson version of this song are lost, this is Doc Watsons second later version of this song.

[Iused2BeGod]

No, Clarence Ashley was the first. Tex Alexander recorded a different songunder the same title. Doc Watson wasn't in the first recording, it was Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster.

[wehrich]

@coolbritannia7 It turns out the Tex Alexander version is a completely different song that many people have misinterpreted as the earliest recording of 'house of the rising sun'

[RustyCageMusic]

@coolbritannia7 Doc watson must have been pretty young back in 1934.

[haytossr]

@coolbritannia7

Doc Watson was born in 1923. He would have been 11 years old in 34. I very much doubt he had met Clarence Ashley yet tho Doc's first record (recorded in 1960) was "Old Time Music at Clarence Ashley's" recorded in 1960-61.

Ashley did record a version in 1934 but it was a solo.

[neotenousape]

@haytossr Some say 1933. Whenever it was recorded, it is on YouTube, and it's in quite a different style. There's a picture with it of (hopefully) Clarence Ashley as a younger man in a straw boater and Oxford bags (baggie trousers that were in fashion back then). For some reason he was clutching a record as well as his guitar, maybe indicating it was taken after he had cut a recording (although whether it was that one, who knows).

[Romamb]

@coolbritannia7 u on drugs? doc watson was born in 1923! he sure didnt record this when he was eleven.......stop messing about, eh.

[Masterpiece55555]

@coolbritannia7 i just read that ashley sad that he learnd this song by his grandfather we he was a kind and that its presumable that the song originated from a british folk- and childbalade named Matthy Groves, witch was firstly writed down in 1658.

this is what german wikipedia sad, sorry for my bad english

[Galacticphaughx]

~Georgia Turner is credited to have the earliest recording of this song ( 1920ish ).~

[fitzirishcream]

Ashley is the first "known" recording of it in the early 30's, but as stated, there is no "original" artist or author.

[Mellimells]

Josh White has the best version

[Krisgebis]

It's good, but I prefer "The Animals" version.

[nederland4045]

I'd love to hear the pre ww2 versions!

[pointdefect]

there is no original recording

[coolbritannia7]

I know its not the original read the info bit poeple, "second artist to RECORD the song"

[genmama1955]

@coolbritannia7 Just wanted to let you know that you can do a search on Smithsonian Folkways. They have a comprehensive collection.

[KingsOfNYDIPSET]

great version but its not "the original", its an 18th century folk song. Its got hundreds of variants.

[SLOTH8686]

Thanks for posting this, I've been trying to find the original version for a while.

[sarahlou77]

wow, i finally found the original =)