Gregory Isaacs – House Of The Rising Sun (Reggae Version)

From ” House Of The Rising Sun ”
Label: RAS Records Inc. — 0598
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: France
Released: 1992

Tracklist
A1 House Of The Rising Sun (Single Video Mix)
A2 House Of The Rising Sun (Full Edit Mix)
B1 House Of The Rising Sun (Atmospheric Mix)
B2 House Of The Rising Sun (Around Midnight Dub Mix)

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Origin and early versions

The oldest known existing recording is by Appalachian artists Clarence Ashley and Gwen Foster and was made in 1933. Ashley said he had learned it from his grandfather, Enoch Ashley. Alger “Texas” Alexander’s “The Risin’ Sun,” recorded in 1928, is sometimes mentioned as the first recording, but is a completely different song.
The song might have been lost to obscurity had it not been collected by folklorist Alan Lomax, who, along with his father, was a curator of the Archive of American Folk Song for the Library of Congress. On an expedition with his wife to eastern Kentucky Lomax set up his recording equipment in Middlesborough, Kentucky in the house of a singer and activist called Tilman Cadle. On September 15, 1937 he recorded a performance by Georgia Turner, the 16 year-old daughter of a local miner. He called it “The Risin’ Sun Blues.” Lomax later recorded a different version sung by Bert Martin and a third sung by Daw Henson, both eastern Kentucky singers. In his 1941 songbook Our Singing Country, Lomax credits the lyrics to Turner, with reference to Martin’s version. According to his later writing, the melody bears similarities to the traditional English ballad “Matty Groves.”
Roy Acuff, who recorded the song on November 3, 1938, may have learned the song from Clarence Ashley, with whom he sometimes performed. In 1941, Woody Guthrie recorded a version. A recording made in 1947 by Josh White, who is also credited with having written new words and music that have subsequently been popularized in the versions made by many other later artists, was released by Mercury Records in 1950. Lead Belly recorded two versions of the song in February 1944 and in October 1948 called “In New Orleans” and “The House of the Rising Sun” respectively, and the latter was recorded in the sessions that later became the album Lead Belly’s Last Sessions (1994, Smithsonian Folkways). In 1957 Glenn Yarbrough recorded the song for Elektra Records. The song is also credited to Ronnie Gilbert on one of The Weavers albums with Pete Seeger that was released in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Frankie Laine recorded the song then titled “New Orleans” on his 1959 album Balladeer. Joan Baez recorded it in 1960 on her eponymous debut album, and has included it in her live set list, frequently including the song in her concerts throughout her career. In 1960 Miriam Makeba recorded the song on her eponymous RCA album.
In late 1961, Bob Dylan recorded the song for his eponymous debut album, released in March 1962. There is no songwriting credit, but the liner notes indicate that Dylan learned this version of the song from Dave Van Ronk. In an interview on the documentary No Direction Home, Van Ronk said that he was intending to record the song, and that Dylan copied his version. He recorded it soon thereafter on Just Dave Van Ronk.
I had learned it sometime in the 1950s, from a recording by Hally Wood, the Texas singer and collector, who had got it from an Alan Lomax field recording by a Kentucky woman named Georgia Turner. I put a different spin on it by altering the chords and using a bass line that descended in half steps—a common enough progression in jazz, but unusual among folksingers. By the early 1960s, the song had become one of my signature pieces, and I could hardly get off the stage without doing it.
—Dave Van Ronk
Nina Simone recorded her first version on Nina at the Village Gate in 1962. Later versions include the 1965 recording in Colombia by Los Speakers in Spanish called “La casa del sol naciente”, which was also the title of their second album.
They earned a silver record (for sales of over 15,000 copies). The Chambers Brothers recorded a version on “Feelin’ The Blues”, released on VAULT records. Much later, English rock band Muse recorded a version for the War Child charity.

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