Happy birthday, Dave Bautista!

Hot, sexy Dave Bautista, my latest obsession, is a WWE wrestler turned actor.  Born on January 18, 1969 in Washington, DC, he began to make his mark in the WWE universe in 2002.  He made an appearance in Smallville in 2006 and played the lead in House of the Rising Sun.  Then he appeared with Vin Diesel in Riddick before joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Drax in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and the Avengers movies.  He played Rabban Harkonnen in the 2021 remake of Dune and is currently appearing in Glass Onion, a Knives Out movie.  I saw Knives Out so I definitely need to see the next one. 

 

The Animals "House of the Rising Sun" reaches #1 1964

The British rock band The Animals' recording of House of the Rising Sun reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 among other charts, September 5, 1964.  It reached #1 in Canada, Finland, Spain and the UK.

The origin of the song is mired in rumor and legend.  It has a resemblance to a 16th century ballad, and the Rising Sun is the name of a "bawdy house" in two English traditional songs.  It has been said that American miners sang it in 1905.  The oldest publish version of the lyrics were printed in 1925 by Robert Winslow Gordon.  The oldest known recording of the song is by Clarence "Tom" Ashley and Gwen Foster was made on September 6, 1933 under the name Rising Sun Blues.  

Woody Guthrie recorded it in 1941, and it has been covered by artists such as Glenn Yarborough, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Andy Griffith, Nina Simone, Bob Dylan, and Dolly Parton.  

But the performance by The Animals is the most recognized version.  It is listed by Rolling Stone magazine as #122 on the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Times.  It received a Grammy Hall of Fame award in 1999.