The week of September 12, 1964, was smack in the middle of a three-week run at #1 for one of the greatest folk rock songs of all time: The Animals’ ‘The House of the Rising Sun.’

This was just the second single for the young English band, and it would be their only #1 hit in both the U.S. and their native UK.

The song’s origin dates back so far nobody is really sure when it was written, though it bears similarities to folk songs from the 1600s. But The Animals’ version owes the most to Bob Dylan’s recording.

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