Nina Simone

House Of The Rising Sun

1 Meaning

Add Yours

Q&A

House Of The Rising Sun Lyrics

There is a house in New Orleans
Call it the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin
Of many a poor girl
And me, oh Lord, I'm one

If I'd listened what my mama said
Be at home today
Bein' so young
And foolish, my Lord
Let a gambler lead me astray

My mother was a tailor
Sews new blue jeans
My sweetheart's is a drunkarad, Lord
Drinks down in New Orleans

Go tell my baby sister
Never do what I have done
Shun that house in New Orleans
They call it the Rising Sun

Goin' back to New Orleans
Race is almost run
Goin' back to spend my life
Beneath, beneath, beneath, oh Lord
Beneath, oh now
Beneath the rising, rising sun
Now, now

You come on bye

Submitted by

golgotha On Jun 06, 2002

Lyrics saved successfully! Thanks!

These lyrics are currently locked and can only be edited by moderators and administrators.

You must be logged in to edit lyrics.

Unable to save lyrics. Please try again.

Lyrics cannot contain links.

Lyric edit submitted successfully and is pending approval. Approvals usually take 24 hours.

Keep it true to the song

Fix what’s wrong, but don’t rewrite what the artist wrote. Stick to the official released version — album booklet, label site, verified lyric video, etc. If you’re guessing, pause and double-check.

Respect the structure

Songs have rhythm. Pages do too. Leave line breaks where they belong. Don’t smash things together or add extra empty space just for looks.

Punctuation counts (but vibe-editing doesn’t)

Correct typos? Yes. Re-punctuating a whole verse because it ‘looks better’? Probably not. Keep capitalization and punctuation close to the official source.

Don’t mix versions

If you’re editing the explicit version, keep it explicit. If it’s the clean version, keep it clean. No mashups.

Let the lyrics be lyrics

This isn’t the place for interpretations, memories, stories, or trivia — that’s what comments are for. Keep metadata, translations, and bracketed stage directions out unless they’re officially part of the song.

Edit lightly

If two lines are wrong… fix the two lines. No need to bulldoze the whole page. Think ‘surgical,’ not ‘remix.’

When in doubt, ask the crowd

Not sure what they’re singing in that fuzzy bridge? Drop a question in the comments and let the music nerds swarm. Someone always knows.

Golgotha

Submitter

2002-06-06 16:29:37

1 Meaning

Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.

Sort by

by Kimik_Oh

20y ago

The lyrics are a TAD bit off.. But i really like this song. Her voice is just full of emotion in every song.

Users:

Reply · 1 Share

by SusanBassPlayer 15y ago

No, I believe this is acutally closer to the original. I have a CD called "Putumayo Presents Americana" and it's got a version of this song as performed by Tim O'Brien. The original version of this song was about drinking, not gambling. When the Animals did their version of it, they supposedly were forced to change the theme from drinking to gambling. Why, I'll never know. Why would gambling be an acceptable vice to sing about and not alcohol?

Questions and Answers

Ask specific questions and get answers to unlock more indepth meanings & facts.