Havin’ a bad day, bunky? Cheer up with the vintage promo film below for The Animals version of “The House of the Rising Sun.”  No matter how bad your day might be going, it’s still not going as bad as this guy’s.

“The House of the Rising Sun” is one of those songs—like “Ode to Billy Joe”—where the listener just has to project themselves onto the ambiguous lyrics because ultimately they never give up their mystery. Is the narrator in jail? Did he spend all of his money in a whorehouse? Gambling? Was he an alcoholic who murdered his wife? Or did he do something far, far worse??? It’s difficult to say.

Luckily there is an extensive Wikipedia entry about the song, which tells various tales about how it might have come to be. The song’s roots may go back as far as the 16th century. Considering its status as one of the ur-songs of the 1960s British Invasion, this wouldn’t surprise me a bit. Then again, maybe it was about a real brothel in New Orleans. Here’s an excerpt from the article as it relates to the Animals, but the entire thing is worth reading:

Recorded in just one take on 18 May 1964, it started with a famous electric guitar A minor chord arpeggio by Hilton Valentine. The performance took off with Eric Burdon’s lead vocal, which has been variously described as “howling,” “soulful” and “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) completed the sound. Burdon later said, “We were looking for a song that would grab people’s attention,” and they succeeded: “House of the Rising Sun” was a true transAtlantic hit, topping both the UK pop singles chart (in July 1964) and the U.S. pop singles chart (two months later in September 1964, when it became the first British Invasion number one unconnected with The Beatles; it was the group’s breakthrough hit in both countries and became their signature song. The song was also a hit in a number of other countries.

One take??? Such a classic song deserves a classic clip and this one doesn’t disappoint. Eric Burdon, just 24 years old here, but with the voice of a much older man.