Written by? Somebody in the 16th-18th century. It is an old traditional folk song recorded by multitudes of people along the way from the 1930s through mainly the 1960s.
The Animals struck the first commercial success with the song in 1964.
5 years later Detroit’s Frijid Pink released their 1969 arrangement of a more striking psychedelic version that got them Gold reaching the top 10 of U.S. Billboard Hot 100 with over a one million copies sold. It also reached number 4 on the U.K. singles chart.
As much as I like The Animals version in 64′ when Frijid Pink’s version hit the air waves and getting into my Hippie Hood our Detroit Bands version became my all time favorite.
Gary Thompson’s screaming distortion shot out streaming colors from that guitar without any mind altering drugs effects.
The more volume the better it got. Shit… it even drowned out our parents screams throughout the house of turning it down.
In 1970 F.P. self entitled album debuted. And the screamin’ continued…Gladly.
The popularity of Frijid Pink Detroit fan base gained them even more attention from other musicians including Led Zeppelin who was just starting out who became fans as well opening for them at Detroit’s Grande Ballroom. F.P shared the stage with the likes of MC5, The Stooges, SRC among even more Detroit groups of those times.
From the early 1960s Motown to the Psychedelia of the later 60s, Detroit indeed was sizzling hot with talent. Talk about a House of the Rising Sun.
Kelly Green (real name Tom Beaudry)- lead vocals
Gary Ray Thompson – guitar
Tom Harris – bass
Richard Stevers – drums
Longshot's Blog 
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