From the Los Angeles Times, New Orleans Legend May Prove to Be Reputable:
Rising Sun has been a common business name here, however, for 200 years or so. There is a difference, the archeologists said, between finding a Rising Sun and finding the Rising Sun — the one in the song.
About 2½ feet below the surface, the researchers discovered a large number of liquor bottles. Alongside them was an unusually dense collection of rouge pots. The distinctive jars were painted sea green or blue and designed to hold makeup. They were heavier on the bottom than the top; that way a woman could sweep her fingertips across the rouge when she needed a touch-up without tipping the pot or stopping to pick it up.
…Dozens of recordings have been made over the years, in musical genres as varied as gospel and zydeco, by performers as varied as Leadbelly and Dolly Parton. Music historians say its meaning, like that of many great folk songs, seemed to change with time. It was traditionally seen as a warning to those who might consider falling into a life of sin. But the Animals turned its narrator into a man, and although the song remained a melancholy dirge, it took on new undertones of sexuality that fit the times.