House of the Rising Sun ... Explained

"The House of the Rising Sun" is a great song. It was a big hit by the Animals in 1964. I remember first hearing Bob Dylan's version, which was recorded in 1961. I thought, "ah, that's where the Animals got it!" Of course, in the Dylan film "No Direction Home," Dave Van Ronk said that it was his arrangement and that Dylan stole it from him. I had heard years ago that it was a Leadbelly song. I subsequently learned that a lot of Leadbelly songs were in fact old folk and/or blues songs that Leadbelly sort of claimed.

Well, American Blues Scene has a piece on the origins of "The House of the Rising Sun." It was an old folk tune, with versions recorded as early as 1932 by Clarence Ashley. It may have been a tune from over the ocean. In any account, "The House of the Rising Sun" may not be a New Orleans brothel (though, of course, there is some dispute about that).

Ketchup on a Hot Dog? I Agree with Royko

Kevin Pang, writer for the Chicago Tribune, has a piece saying St. Mike Royko was WRONG regarding ketchup on a hot dog (though the point is that it's a Chicago hot dog). Pang quotes Royko thusly: "No, I won't condemn anyone for putting ketchup on a hot dog. This is the land of the free. And if someone wants to put ketchup on a hot dog and actually eat the awful thing, that is their right."

That is a perfectly valid argument. But Pang grows a pair and declares that Mike Royko was wrong.

I am against ketchup on a hot dog. I am pro ketchup on fries. I don't hate ketchup. I do like to soup up my ketchup with hot sauce, mustard, tabasco, and black pepper. But it is still recognizable as ketchup. I eat it. On fries. And like it.

But my kids like ketchup on hot dogs. I told them that they had to quit eating hot dogs that way when they reached 12, but my daughter has not, and she's past that age. My friend, who runs a little hot dog stand that nobody's ever heard of, says that he has no problem if a customer requests ketchup on a hot dog.

Royko was right, however. It's not the way to do, but I would never make fun of someone for doing it. (OK, maybe not never, but rarely.)