All good writing can be taken on many levels....the literal as well as the figurative.
"I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain!"
Literally it could mean I am a convict being sent by train to a chain gang in Louisiana.
Figuratively it could be about resuming an addiction to sex or alcohol or drugs, or even being married, "wearing a ball and chain" as others have suggested. That is one of the things that makes this song great.
The listener reads in their own interpretation.
@LVMan777 While I appreciate everything you worded here, and I do agree the beauty of music & word is one's interpretation to the meaning, I believe there is one universal and intended meaning (or feeling) being expressed here by the original sufferer of the "House of the rising sun" and all those whom can relate... That is that "I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain" simply (but not so simply if you have not personal experience) means: I am a product of the house. I do not, nor can I, function anywhere else with...
@LVMan777 While I appreciate everything you worded here, and I do agree the beauty of music & word is one's interpretation to the meaning, I believe there is one universal and intended meaning (or feeling) being expressed here by the original sufferer of the "House of the rising sun" and all those whom can relate... That is that "I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain" simply (but not so simply if you have not personal experience) means: I am a product of the house. I do not, nor can I, function anywhere else with any other people harmoniously as I am ruined, tainted, and abnormal anywhere else.. so I drag my ass back there dejectedly to accept my ball & chain.. as I know I am one of the damned. Any afflictions I have or my offspring, family, descendants, ascendants, do and clearly will always have as a result of the house of the rising sun is definitely open to int., but the ball & chain is all too universal to this and any situation where a person(s) scars run so deep that they can never truly leave "home".
All good writing can be taken on many levels....the literal as well as the figurative. "I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain!" Literally it could mean I am a convict being sent by train to a chain gang in Louisiana. Figuratively it could be about resuming an addiction to sex or alcohol or drugs, or even being married, "wearing a ball and chain" as others have suggested. That is one of the things that makes this song great. The listener reads in their own interpretation.
@LVMan777
@LVMan777
@LVMan777 While I appreciate everything you worded here, and I do agree the beauty of music & word is one's interpretation to the meaning, I believe there is one universal and intended meaning (or feeling) being expressed here by the original sufferer of the "House of the rising sun" and all those whom can relate... That is that "I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain" simply (but not so simply if you have not personal experience) means: I am a product of the house. I do not, nor can I, function anywhere else with...
@LVMan777 While I appreciate everything you worded here, and I do agree the beauty of music & word is one's interpretation to the meaning, I believe there is one universal and intended meaning (or feeling) being expressed here by the original sufferer of the "House of the rising sun" and all those whom can relate... That is that "I'm going back to New Orleans, to wear that ball and chain" simply (but not so simply if you have not personal experience) means: I am a product of the house. I do not, nor can I, function anywhere else with any other people harmoniously as I am ruined, tainted, and abnormal anywhere else.. so I drag my ass back there dejectedly to accept my ball & chain.. as I know I am one of the damned. Any afflictions I have or my offspring, family, descendants, ascendants, do and clearly will always have as a result of the house of the rising sun is definitely open to int., but the ball & chain is all too universal to this and any situation where a person(s) scars run so deep that they can never truly leave "home".