St. James Infirmary and House of the Rising Sun, two of the greatest of American folksongs. Both “happen” to come from that great city at the great delta of the Mississippi River, New Orleans. The mingling of different cultures seems to create good things. How ‘bout that? So here’s to the city of New Orleans. Reader, be warned! Both these songs are dirges, so be … Continue reading Hurray for New Orleans
No apologies on this one. It’s just a fun song to sing, so I hope you join in. That’s why we have a House of the Rising Sun Compendium in the Music Section. Send in your own House of the Rising Sun contributions via the comments. Meanwhile, sing along. Continue reading House of the Rising Sun
In its relentless search for a scoop, the Bumbastories investigative team has unearthed a rare 78 rpm recording of the House of the Rising Sun performed by Wild Willie, a piano player from Wisconsin. Experts believe the recording was made “sometime in the 20th century”. Interestingly, Willie plays House of the Rising Sun in major key – as does the great Doc Watson. The song … Continue reading Rare Recording Unearthed
Frizz’s A to Z Challenge features the letter H this week. Every week Frizz provides the blogging world with a simple letter challenge. Do you have a blog tagged with an H? Heck yes! Here’s one of my many attempts to play the House of the Rising Sun. Looking through my posts I notice I’ve already recorded this song three times on Bumbastories. I even … Continue reading The H Challenge: House of the Rising Sun
I know. It’s a compulsion to write on this blog: to think that I have to post something. I know. I know. I’m the one who named this blog Everydayanotherstory in the first place. Well, it was an error on my part. All the same, and on with the show…… I’m hoping here on the blog to introduce people to some of this older, traditional … Continue reading The House of the Rising Sun
Announcing the House of the Rising Sun Musical Challenge! Send in your own version of this great American lament via a link in the Comments section. And, please, no Utubes. Also please send in any (short) literary pieces inspired by The House of the Rising Sun and/or the subject of brothels in general. Here is Bumba’s entry – which I did in A minor using … Continue reading House of the Rising Sun Challenge
“It’s been the ruin of many a poor girl” and boy……So it goes. Many and various are the versions of this song, It was first written down and introduced to the world outside Appalacia by Alan Lomax in 1932, but the song’s origins may lie even centuries earlier. The earlier lyrics, I think, present the laments of a young woman. Later it’s a poor boy … Continue reading House of the Rising Sun
The old traditional folksong. Photo below is purportedly the house that’s “been the ruin of many a poor boy” Anyhow, Bumbas gives the Animal’s/Dylan version a go. Click to hear Continue reading House of the Rising Sun
