The home of sin and misery?
The Nest is putting the bump in humpday, as it’s time for us to smash our new laptop over the head of another of music’s sacred cows in my Top 30 Iconic Songs I Can’t Stand countdown! If you thought it was rude of us last week to strike John Lennon while he was wearing his glasses, well, we’re going to get a little braver this week and take on a pack of wild animals! And no, I don’t mean DJ Scratchy’s misfit friends from the shelf, though I could use Snuggle bear’s machete to cut a bitch this week….
#29. “House of the Rising Sun” – The Animals
Earworms have existed long before radio was ever invented to allow the catchiest pop tunes to emanate from our car speakers. Folk songs are nearly as old as civilization itself, and back in the days when there were no lawyers around to file copyright suits, sometimes the older songs would lend themselves to create newer ones. This is how America wound up with a National Anthem that was just a re-write of an old English drinking song, or how the Alphabet Song totally ripped off Twinkle Twinkle Little Star…
That’s OK, Vanilla Ice probably did that as well and got away with it…
And so over the course of centuries, a popular American folk song eventually came in to being about a mysterious “House of the Rising Sun” located somewhere in New Orleans. Dating back to at least the early 1900’s, this ditty was sung by people to pass the time of day in an era without Facebook or memes. Eventually, when recording technology began to turn certain singers into stars, many of these budding artists turned to the Rising Sun when they weren’t in the mood to actually write something new. The song was just a novelty, though, as even the greats like Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan were unable to actually capitalize on their version of it. At least until 1964….
Something tells me we need to get out of this place…
An up and coming British band by the name of The Animals recorded their version of “House of the Rising Sun” that year, which they had previously used to close live performances with. It turned a tired old piece of Americana into an instant classic…
“House of the Rising Sun” is considered one of the seminal songs of the first British Invasion, and a beloved classic rock treasure that Rolling Stone ranked at #122 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of the Rock and Roll era. It is also an extremely loud and annoying piece of pre-psychadelic dogshit that I wish would run afoul of the voodoo queen of New Orleans…
Looks like someone needs their new blue jeans sewn… with the end of this stick!
Even worse, this is a song that apparently can’t even be salvaged by cover versions… and God, I know it’s spawned a whole fucking bordello of them. The artists who chose to renovate this House all proceed to shout like there’s a raging fire in the studio and everyone needs to evacuate immediately, just like Eric Burdon does throughout most of his four minutes of eardrum shattering garbage. So much for that warning you yelled about the children not to do what you had done…
Great, now even the squirrels have been corrupted!
If this entry doesn’t mark the ruin of this poor boy, I’ll return next Wednesday with another crappy classic that needs to be shot at sunrise…
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