Ive just read the obituary of Hilton Valentine, lead guitarist with The Animals in 1964, the year they achieved musical immortality with their single ‘The House of the Rising Sun. Never a guitar hero, this relatively unknown man will, though, be remembered for the distinctive arpeggio chords which open that track. Reading about him has prompted me to write an appreciation of ‘The House of the Rising Sun – The Animals version of which is, for me, an enduring masterpiece.
I was hooked the very first time I heard it. In 1964, on a Saturday afternoon, I always listened to the football results being read out on BBC TV. Then I would watch ‘Doctor Who, followed at by ‘Juke Box Jury. This show was hosted by David Jacobs, who asked a panel of judges what they thought of the latest pop singles. The judges on Saturday June 13th 1964 were Adam Faith (English pop singer), Zsa Zsa Gabor (movie actress), Des OConnor (TV personality) and Juliet Prowse (dancer and movie actress). The new songs – or, rather, snatches of songs – under review were: ‘Thats Alright by Jimmy Powell, ‘So Long Little Girl by the Dictators, ‘Kissin Cousins
by Elvis Presley, ‘I Dont Want to Know by Shirley and Johnny, ‘Sweet William by Millie, ‘You Came Along by The Warriors and ‘The House of the Rising Sun by The Animals. The judges job was to say something witty and then vote each song a ‘HIT or a ‘MISS. ‘You Came Along was deemed a ‘MISS; the rest were ‘HITS.
And what a hit ‘The House of the Rising Sun became. It soon reached No. 1 in the UK singles chart, was played endlessly on radio and TV and was voted ‘British Disc of 1964. And by September it had topped the US single charts. Since then it has acquired legendary status.
Listening, aged 12, to ‘The House of the Rising Sun on ‘Juke Box Jury, I realized the song was a cut above, a pearl amongst the dross. There was only time for us to hear the guitar intro and the first few lines, but I was blown away by the beauty of the guitar and the power of Eric Burdons voice. Brought up on a diet of corny popular songs, mostly about love, I had never heard anything like this before. It ranks as one
of my great popular musical epiphanies – alongside first hearing ‘Please Please Me and ‘She Loves You on the radio and ‘Pinball Wizard on ‘Top of the Pops. Now I desperately wanted to hear the whole track.
I loved it then and I still love it today. The things that make it special for me are 1) the guitar intro 2) Eric Burdons voice 3) the storyline 4) Alan Prices organ solo. If The Animals version with previous versions, the difference is astounding. I suppose folkies still prefer the versions by Leadbelly, Josh White, Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan but, to my mind, they all pale into insignificance beside The Animals recording. I am not the only one impressed; Bob Dylan was said to have been so stunned on hearing the Animals version of the song he promptly decided that he too must embrace electric instruments - a seismic event in rock music history.
The Animals transformed a traditional folk song whose origin is lost in the mists of time. Nobody knows where it came from – perhaps from England, perhaps from France. What we do know for sure is that the oldest known
version of the lyrics was printed in 1925, in Adventure magazine, in a column called ‘Old Songs That Men Have Sung. The earliest known recording of the song, under the title ‘Rising Sun Blues, is from 1933 by Appalachian artists Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster. Ashley said he had learnt it from his grandfather. After that, the song was recorded by many artists. I have listened to several earlier acoustic recordings - by Leadbelly et al – and find them all quite to The Animals 1964 electric version.
The Animals took a traditional song, tweaked the lyrics, added a memorable guitar intro and an astonishing organ solo and let Eric Burdons voice do the rest.
