Based on the classic American song "The House of the Rising Sun", this is my French translation re-arranged with a reggae twist. It tells a story that is supposed to take place in New Orleans around the 1860s in what is now known as the French Quarter. There used to be many French speakers in this area, which tends to give an interesting historical effect to the song - it might have already been sung in French at the time, who knows...
Then I sang that song at the Alma pub in Cambridge, UK on a Wednesday night Ezio's Songsmith open-mic session, and a few days later discovered that there was a "Revitalize Music Contest" on FMA's website about recording new versions of old music pieces in public domain. Seizing the opportunity, I found just enough time in the remaining few days to record it so it was in. The posted track wasn't quite as well mastered as this one, and it didn't win the contest, but that was fun anyway. I'm now thinking about playing and recording it live with a band at some point.
For the studio freaks, as several other pieces on verdigris.mu this was recorded on a Fostex-R8 reel-to-reel tape recorder with a home-made tube distortion on the guitar and a few other bits and bobs. The piano needs tuning again and is an upright Steinberg from the 1930s (not designed for 440Hz standard concert pitch anyway). The soft-drums were made with Hydrogen, and final digital mastering with Audacity.
