<P> The Animals had begun featuring their arrangement of "House of the Rising Sun" during a joint concert tour with Chuck Berry, using it as their closing number to differentiate themselves from acts that always closed with straight rockers . It got a tremendous reaction from the audience, convincing initially reluctant producer Mickie Most that it had hit potential, and between tour stops the group went to a small recording studio on Kingsway in London to capture it . </P> <P> The song was recorded in just one take on May 18, 1964, and it starts with a now - famous electric guitar A minor chord arpeggio by Hilton Valentine . According to Valentine, he simply took Dylan's chord sequence and played it as an arpeggio . The performance takes off with Burdon's lead vocal, which has been variously described as "howling," "soulful," and as "...deep and gravelly as the north - east English coal town of Newcastle that spawned him ." Finally, Alan Price's pulsating organ part (played on a Vox Continental) completes the sound . Burdon later said, "We were looking for a song that would grab people's attention ." </P> <P> As recorded, "House of the Rising Sun" ran four and a half minutes, regarded as far too long for a pop single at the time . Producer Most, who initially did not really want to record the song at all, said that on this occasion: "Everything was in the right place...It only took 15 minutes to make so I can't take much credit for the production". He was nonetheless now a believer and declared it a single at its full length, saying "We're in a microgroove world now, we will release it ." </P> <P> In the United States, however, the original single (MGM 13264) was a 2: 58 version . The MGM Golden Circle reissue (KGC 179) featured the unedited 4: 29 version, although the record label gives the edited playing time of 2: 58 . The edited version was included on the group's 1964 U.S. debut album The Animals, while the full version was later included on their best - selling 1966 U.S. greatest hits album, The Best of the Animals . However, the very first American release of the full - length version was on a 1965 album of various groups entitled Mickie Most Presents British Go - Go (MGM SE - 4306), the cover of which, under the listing of "House of the Rising Sun", described it as the "Original uncut version". Americans could also hear the complete version in the movie Go Go Mania in the spring of 1965 . </P>

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