T

here are times when you just 
can’t get it right, and then 
there are times when you 

learn you haven’t been getting it right 
your entire life.

This summer I learned the difference 

between accuracy and precision. The 
lesson came in the form of a centuries-
old folk song. It’s estimated “House of 
the Rising Sun” has been covered well 
over a hundred times, and I made it my 
mission these past few months to find 
the very best version.

Copydesk is big on tradition. A 

stubborn copy editor is a good copy 
editor, and we obstinately stick to our 
stylebooks and grammar laws despite 
the fact that the greater population 
of the world wouldn’t care whether 
or not a writer used an extraneous 
comma. It’s come to my attention that 
in the music world it’s tradition to 
think the original is always the best — 
pioneering, innovative, uncorrupted by 
others’ versions and opinions. What’s 
unique about “House of the Rising 
Sun” is no one knows the original. In 
fact, all recordings today are believed 

to be covers, with the first version 
sung in a different country, possibly in 
a different language, long ago.

The Animals launched the song onto 

the global stage in 1964, inspiring 
many musicians to lift their voices to 
that recognizable A-minor pattern, 
including Kesha, Toto, The Dead 
South, Hank Williams, Jr. and Bon 
Jovi.

Other 
artists 
decided 
to 
ditch 

the chord pattern and make the 
song from scratch, producing truly 
unique renditions from a multitude of 

genres such as Jimi Hendrix’s 
psychedelic rock, Doc Watson’s 
bluegrass, Lead Belly’s Delta 
blues (titled “In New Orleans”), 
Bob Dylan’s folksy Americana, 
Jerry Reed’s outlaw country, 
Idris Muhammad’s jazzy funk 
and Muse’s heavy rock. The list 
goes on and on.

One question stuck with me 

on this quest to find the best 
cover: what’s better, precision 
or accuracy? A fascinating query 
for a neurotic copy editor. My 
job revolves around correcting 
style precision and grammar 
accuracy, but there was a lot that 
had to be analyzed and there was 
even more than meets the eye.

I define precision as how close 

a song comes to the popular 
version by The Animals. This 
definition fits the songs by 
Kesha, Bon Jovi and the others 
who use the same cyclical chord 
pattern and forces artists to 
emphasize their idiosyncrasies 
to 
create 
a 
distinct 
sound; 

therefore, it’s more about the 
artist’s interpretation of the song 
rather than a remaking of it.

The version I believe emulates 

this the best is an instrumental 
version 
by 
The 
Ventures 

recorded live in Japan in 1965. 
This particular rendition took 
the traditional chord pattern 
and broke it down throughout 
the course of the song until it 

is nearly unrecognizable through a 
beautiful and unpredictable mess of 
guitar riffs.

On the other hand, I define accuracy 

as how close the song comes to what’s 
believed to be the original lyrics. 
Because the song’s oldest published 
lyrics 
predate 
the 
song’s 
oldest 

recording, there is no original music 
genre. This definition would include 
songs that differed from The Animals’ 
accustomed rock-and-roll style.

“House of the Rising Sun” has 

been recorded in a surprisingly wide 
variety of musical genres, and its lyrics 
vary from song to song. The oldest 
published lyrics, written by Robert 
Winslow Gordon in 1925, tell the 
story from the perspective of a woman 
abused by her husband instead of the 
more popular story of a man abused 
by life. Nina Simone performed the 
original lyrics live at the Village Gate, 
New York in 1961 and, in my opinion, 
stunningly captured the sorrowful 
tale with her soft, longing voice like 
no one else. The background noises of 
people shuffling around the nightclub 
only add to the song’s overwhelming 
lonesomeness.

Put 
against 
one 
another, 
The 

Ventures’ and Nina Simone’s renditions 
are almost complete opposites. I am 
unable to choose between precision 
and accuracy because both yield such 
different yet beautiful results. I think 
this is an important lesson for all 
artists out there, and for all who edit 
artists’ work: to focus on perfection 
with respect to tradition is quite 
limiting. Both songs take something 
from the original but end up making 
another thing entirely.

This revolt against tradition doesn’t 

mean I’m about to toss my stylebook out 
the window — we still need coherence 
and consistency in our writing — but it 
is enough to make me pause. I now find 
myself more curious in the reasoning 
behind the grammar rules and style 
guidelines, and I hope this curiosity 
will make me a better editor.

2B

Managing Statement Editor:

Brian Kuang

Deputy Editors:

Colin Beresford

Jennifer Meer

Photo Editor:

Amelia Cacchione

Editor in Chief:

Alexa St. John

Managing Editor:

Dayton Hare

Copy Editors:

Elise Laarman

Finntan Storer

Wednesday, September 5, 2018// The Statement 

Copy That: Renditions and traditions

statemen
t

THE MICHIGAN DAILY | SEPTEMBER 5, 2018

BY ELISE LAARMAN, COPY CHIEF

Columbia Graphophone

