The Setting of a Rising Sun Trivia Quiz

Answer: Louisiana

It's in New Orleans, Louisiana. As the first line of the most commonly known version says: 'There is a house in New Orleans/They call the Rising Sun'. The earliest printed version of the lyrics, printed in 1925, says 'IT'S CALLED the Rising Sun' instead of 'they call the Rising Sun'.

It is unknown whether or not the song is about a real place; several locations have been suggested, including a coffee house, a hotel in the French Quarter and a brothel on 1614 Esplanade Avenue, which was purported to be a brothel with a madam named Marianne LeSoleil Levant, whose name means 'rising sun'.

Answer: Lead Belly

12-string blues master Lead Belly recorded 'In New Orleans' in 1944; it appears as a B-side on '(Black Girl) Where Did You Sleep Last Night', which was covered by Nirvana. In this version, which is in 4/4 time, Lead Belly sings from a man's point of view. 'The House of the Rising Sun' is in 6/8 and is sung from a woman's point of view by Lead Belly's wife Martha, and this version later appeared on the 1953 album 'Lead Belly's Last Sessions'.

Guthrie recorded a version in 1941, and Josh White released two versions in 1942; one on Keynote and one on Decca, which featured vocals from his friend, actress and activist Libby Holman.

Answer: Andy Griffith

Andy Griffith played Sheriff Andy Taylor in 'The Andy Griffith Show' - all the other answers also appeared on the show. He recorded his version of 'The House of the Rising Sun' for a covers album, 'Andy Griffith Shouts the Blues and Old Timey Songs', which also included 'Midnight Special' and 'Pick a Bale of Cotton'. He also recorded several albums of hymns.

Answer: Yes

Dylan's version is from the female perspective and appears on his self-titled 1962 album. The version he plays was arranged by folk singer Dave van Ronk, who himself had been planning to record the song. According to van Ronk, Dylan had asked him if he could record the van Ronk version of the song for his debut album; when van Ronk asked if it could wait for the next album, Dylan revealed that he had already recorded it!

Joan Baez recorded 'The House of the Rising Sun' on her 1960 debut, arranging it herself. Her version is shorter than Dylan's, with only four verses, and is also from a female perspective. While Dylan's version is in A minor, Baez's is in E minor.

Answer: The Animals

If you've heard a version of 'The House of the Rising Sun' on the radio, chances are it'll be this one, sung by Eric Burdon and featuring an organ solo by keyboardist Alan Price; it is in A minor and 6/8 time. The Animals were from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and formed in 1962. Their other hits include 'We've Gotta Get out of This Place' and 'Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood'.

Burdon first heard 'The House of the Rising Sun' being performed in a club by the folk singer Johnny Handle, and the Animals arranged their version while touring with Chuck Berry. The arpeggio in the song is based on the chord sequence used by Bob Dylan. 'The House of the Rising Sun' went to Number One on the UK and US pop singles charts in 1964.

Answer: Tailor

As the lyric from the Animals version goes: 'My mother was a tailor/Sewed my new blue jeans'. In Lead Belly and Martha Ledbetter's version, it's 'My mother, she's a tailor/Sews those new blue jeans', and in Bob Dylan's version, 'My mother was a tailor/She sewed these new blue jeans'.

In the Animals' version, the narrator's father is a drunkard and a gambling man, while in Lead Belly and Martha Ledbetter's version, it is the narrator's sweetheart who is a drunkard.

Answer: Hebrew

The French version of 'The House of the Rising Sun', by Johnny Hallyday (France's answer to Elvis), was released in 1964 and was titled 'Le Pénitencier', or 'The Penitentiary'. It got to Number One on the French singles chart. Yugoslav singer Miki Jevremović also released a Serbo-Croatian version the same year, which appeared on his EP '18 Zutih Ruza', and Brazilian singer Agnaldo Timóteo released a Portuguese version the following year.

The song has also been recorded in German and Spanish. If there is a Hebrew version, it hasn't charted as far as I know!

Answer: Frijid Pink

Frijid Pink were from Detroit and formed from the ashes of a covers band, the Detroit Vibrations. Their version of 'The House of the Rising Sun' is in 4/4 time, but is in the same key as the Animals and Bob Dylan versions, and starts off with a guitar solo by Gary Ray Thompson. The group recorded their version when they had spare time at the end of a recording session.

Drummer Richard Stevers was playing tracks from the session to Paul Cannon, the director of Detroit rock station WKNR, and Stevers thought Cannon wouldn't be interested in 'The House of the Rising Sun', but Cannon was intrigued and asked him to play the whole thing. Frijid Pink were due to release 'G-d Gave Me You' as a single, but Cannon told Stevers to tell Parrot, their record label, to release 'The House of the Rising Sun' instead. It became one of Frijid Pink's best-known songs.

Answer: Yes

Parton's version is in 4/4 and in B minor, and is from the perspective of a prostitute who worked at the titular brothel; she sings 'I've worked since then to please the men' and 'so mothers, you go telling all your daughters not to do what I've done'.

The narrator's mother is dead, rather than being a tailor, though her father is still a gambler. The House of the Rising Sun is located in the Vieux Carré, the French Quarter. Parton's version appears on '9 to 5 and Odd Jobs', and charted on both the country and pop charts.

Answer: Las Vegas

Five Finger Death Punch's version of 'The House of the Rising Sun' is in F minor and 4/4 time. Formed in 2005, they come from Las Vegas, and - quite fittingly - they changed 'New Orleans' to 'Sin City'. The song appears on Volume 2 of 'The Wrong Side of Heaven and the Righteous Side of Hell', released in November 2013. Volume 1, released in July that year, also contains a cover: LL Cool J's 'Mama Said Knock You Out'.