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In 1964, the Animals released a version of “The House of the Rising Sun,” but Bob Dylan covered the song several years earlier. “The House of the Rising Sun” is a traditional folk song many artists have covered. Dylan’s version has a different arrangement than The Animal’s more famous version. It was not different, though, from musician Dave Van Ronk’s version. Dylan recorded the song with Van Ronk’s arrangement without asking him.

Bob Dylan stole the arrangement of an early song from a friend and mentor

In 1961, Dylan recorded “The House of the Rising Sun” for his debut album. The song primarily features traditional American music with only two original songs. He included the song “The House of the Rising Sun” after hearing friend and mentor Van Ronk’s version of the song. The song was one Van Ronk covered frequently.

“By the early 1960s, the song had become one of my signature pieces, and I could hardly get off the stage without doing it,” Van Ronk wrote in the book The Mayor of Macdougal Street. “Then, one evening in 1962, I was sitting at my usual table in the back of the Kettle of Fish, and Dylan came slouching in. He had been up at the Columbia studios with John Hammond, doing his first album.”

When Dylan approached Van Ronk, he asked if he could cover his version of “The House of the Rising Sun.” Van Ronk didn’t want him to because he was preparing to record it for his upcoming album. Unfortunately for Van Ronk, it was too late.

“Everything was going fine and, ‘Hey, would it be okay for me to record your arrangement of “House of the Rising Sun?”‘ Oh, s***. ‘Jeez, Bobby, I’m going into the studio to do that myself in a few weeks. Can’t it wait until your next album?’ A long pause. ‘Uh-oh.’ I did not like the sound of that. ‘What exactly do you mean, Uh-oh?’ ‘Well,’ he said sheepishly, ‘I’ve already recorded it.'”

Van Ronk said he had to stop performing the song in public.

“After he recorded it, I had to stop singing the song because people were constantly accusing me of having got the song from Bobby’s record,” he said in the documentary No Direction Home. “Now, that was very, very annoying.” 

Dave Van Ronk said Bob Dylan with more than just this song

According to Van Ronk, Dylan picked up a lot of musical knowledge by stealing from other artists. He didn’t want people to think they were teaching him anything.

“You could almost say he could not acquire anything except by stealing it,” Van Ronk said, per the book Down the Highway by Howard Sounes. “That is to say that he would watch, and if you tried to explain to him, he would [affect a lack of interest].” 

The Animals recorded the most famous version of ‘House of the Rising Sun’

In 1964, Van Ronk released his version of the song on his album Just Dave Van Ronk. Neither this version nor Dylan’s are the most well-known covers, though. In 1964, The Animals released their version of the song. Their chord progressions differed from Dylan and Van Ronk’s, and the song was shorter. 

Now, when most people think of the song, this is the version that comes to mind.

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