<P> "The House of the Rising Sun" is a traditional folk song, sometimes called "Rising Sun Blues". It tells of a life gone wrong in New Orleans; many versions also urge a sibling to avoid the same fate . The most successful commercial version, recorded in 1964 by British rock group the Animals, was a number one hit on the UK Singles Chart and also in the United States and France . As a traditional folk song recorded by an electric rock band, it has been described as the "first folk - rock hit". </P> <P> Like many classic folk ballads, "The House of the Rising Sun" is of uncertain authorship . Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads, and thematically it has some resemblance to the 16th - century ballad The Unfortunate Rake . According to Alan Lomax, "Rising Sun" was used as the name of a bawdy house in two traditional English songs, and it was also a name for English pubs . He further suggested that the melody might be related to a 17th - century folk song, "Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave", also known as "Matty Groves", but a survey by Bertrand Bronson showed no clear relationship between the two songs . Lomax proposed that the location of the house was then relocated from England to New Orleans by white southern performers . However, Vance Randolph proposed an alternative French origin, the "rising sun" referring to the decorative use of the sunburst insignia dating to the time of Louis XIV, which was brought to North America by French immigrants . </P>

What is song house of the rising sun about