There is a house in New Orleans...

"There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And its been the ruin of many
a poor boy
And God I know I'm one.

My mother was a tailor
She sewed my new bluejeans
My father was a gamblin' man
Down in New Orleans.

Now the only thing a gambler
needs...is a suitcase
and a trunk
And the only time he's
satisfied...Is when he's
on a drunk.

Oh mother tell your children
Not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin
and misery
In the House of th Rising Sun.

Well, I got one foot on the
platform...the other
on the train
I'm goin' back to New Orleans
To wear that ball and chain.

Well, there is a house
in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin
of many of poor boy
And God...I know I'm one."

A folk song of a life gone wrong in New Orleans. These words are from "The Animals" 1964 revision of "The House of the Rising Sun". Like many ballads, the ownership of "The House" is uncertain. Just as the song, the actual house (if there is one) is uncertain also. Many guidebooks list a creole mansion on Esplanade Avenue as "The House", which Madame Marianne Le Soleil ran from 1862-1874. Madame Le Soleil translates from French as "the rising sun". This all sounds like a really good story to me....and we all know New Orleans sure can produce them!

There is a house in New Orleans...