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 my mother was a tailor she sewed my new blue jeans my father he was a gamblin man way down in new orleans 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 my mother was a tailor she sewed my new blue jeans my father he was a gamblin man way down in new orleans oh mother tell your children not to do what i have done don t spend your life in sheer misery in the house of the rising sun don t spend your life in the house of the rising sun don t don t don t spend your life in the house of the rising sun