Music: House of the Rising Sun - as you've never heard it before

Victor pulls out the stops and delivers a spectacular performance for solo piano. Just a delight!

I have been in a funk lately. Mostly because of the shenanigans that the Republicans are undertaking to destroy the safety net, and the inevitability of the pain and suffering that will soon be unleashed (but the worst will be paused until after the Congress faces voters in 2026).

Alas, there’s not much to be happy with.

Then I stumbled on this.

It is no secret I play guitar — in fact when I write about my instruments, I lose a raft of subscribers. Easy come, easy go.

That said, all budding guitar players learn early in their journey the song The House of the Rising Sun. And the version we learn is from the recording by Eric Burden and the Animals from the 1960’s¹.

You learn this because it has an iconic progression of open chords that you need to master. Am - C - D - F - Am - C - Em. You can strum them, you can finger pick them, you can improvise with fills between them, you can play some wicked riffs over them. There is tons of space for grace notes and improvisation.

All while the progression plays out. Like Rush’s “Working Man” it is a framework to build your chops.

That gets us to today’s find. Victor Demange totally owns this interpretation with a bluesy improvisation and a rather percussive performance with a twinge of dixie, and ragtime overlaid. It is a beautiful rendition, and I highly recommend listening to this exquisite adaptation.

1. The first artist to put it on tape was Woody Guthrie, but it was a long traditional song with a colorful history should you go down that particular rabbit hole.