Question: earliest version of house of the rising sun

title: The House of the Rising Sun
text: Like many classic folk ballads , `` The House of the Rising Sun '' is of uncertain authorship . Musicologists say that it is based on the tradition of broadside ballads , and thematically it has some resemblance to the 16th - century ballad The Unfortunate Rake . According to Alan Lomax , `` Rising Sun '' was used as the name of a bawdy house in two traditional English songs , and it was also a name for English pubs . He further suggested that the melody might be related to a 17th - century folk song , `` Lord Barnard and Little Musgrave '' , also known as `` Matty Groves '' , but a survey by Bertrand Bronson showed no clear relationship between the two songs . Lomax proposed that the location of the house was then relocated from England to New Orleans by white southern performers . However , Vance Randolph proposed an alternative French origin , the `` rising sun '' referring to the decorative use of the sunburst insignia dating to the time of Louis XIV , which was brought to North America by French immigrants . 

Answer: answer: According to Alan Lomax, ``Rising Sun'' was used as the name of a bawdy house in two traditional English songs and it was also a name for English pubs. Vance Randolph proposed an alternative French origin, the ``rising sun'' referring to the decorative use of the sunburst insignia dating to the time of Louis XIV, which was brought to North America by French immigrants.