My mother was a tailor, she sewed my new blue jeans
My father was a gambling man down in New Orleans

Now the only thing a gambler needs is a suitcase and a trunk
And the only time he’s satisfied is when he’s on a drunk

Oh, Mother, tell your children, not to do what I have done
Spend your lives in sin and misery in the House of the Rising Sun

Well, I’ve got one foot on the platform the other foot on the train
I’m going back to New Orleans to wear that ball and chain

There is a house in New Orleans they call the Rising Sun
And it’s been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I’m one