THE DEVIL WENT DOWN TO GEORGIA

"'The Devil Went Down to Georgia'" is a country song written and performed by the Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 [1] album ''Million Mile Reflections''. The song is written in the key of D minor. Vassar Clements originally wrote the melody an octave lower, in a tune called "Lonesome Fiddle Blues". Charlie Daniels Band moved it up an octave and put words to it. The song's verses are closer to being spoken rather than sung. Satan's and Johnny's performances are played as instrumental bridges during the song.

Contents

Plot

Covers and other versions

Adaptations

Parodies

See also

External links

Plot

The song is a narrative about the devil, who comes to Georgia in desperation and "willin' to make a deal." He spies a young fiddle player named Johnny, who calls himself "the best there's ever been", and challenges him to a fiddle-playing contest. The terms are that if Johnny should win the contest, he will get a fiddle made of gold, but should he lose, he will forfeit his soul. Confident in his talent with the fiddle, Johnny accepts the challenge. The devil performs with the backing of a demon band, but is squarely beaten by the more talented Johnny. In the end, Johnny gets his golden fiddle, and with cocky bravado, even dares the Devil to return for a rematch.
The narrative is a derivative of the traditional "Pact with the Devil" motif, perhaps best known through the story of Faust. While Faust sees through the folly of Mephistopheles' contract, however, Johnny squarely defeats his foe, introducing a uniquely American twist on the traditional morality lesson.

Covers and other versions

The version that appeared on ''Million Mile Reflections'' includes the line ''I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best that's ever been'', but the version played by many radio stations had the words ''son of a gun'' instead. The latter version, ostensibly a concession to family friendly interests, eventually became the more widely used version of the song.
A sequel to the song, "The Devil Comes Back to Georgia," was recorded by Daniels and fiddle player Mark O'Connor in 1993, featuring guest performances by Travis Tritt, Marty Stuart and Johnny Cash. In the sequel, Johnny has grown into a man, who is married and has a child. Hoping to take advantage of Johnny's sinful pride, the Devil challenges him to a rematch. The ending does not outright state the victor.
The song has been covered many times throughout the years, including versions by Jerry Reed, Blues Traveler, Primus, Emerson Drive, Bomshel and Pomeroy. Toy Dolls did their version of "The Devil Went Down to Scunthorpe" in 1997, with the fiddles exchanged for guitars, and Those Darn Accordions released a cover in which Johnny was replaced with a girl named "Big Lou" and the fiddles replaced with accordions. The Levellers closed their breakthrough 1992 Glastonbury set with a punk rock cover of the song with Johnny's violin section played intact but the Devil's performance replaced with the riff from Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit.
In the season four episode of ''The Muppet Show'' guest starring Alan Arkin, the Muppets performed their own rendition of the song with a .
'' has a minigame called Soul Music, and the dialogue that happens the first time you play it references the song:
Red Man: Hey there pipsqueek! You think you can beat the Red man?
Character: Rosin up your bow, Red man!
~after defeating him in a fiddle contest~
Red Man: Dang, I have to admit, you only won from that gold fiddle.
Character: Come on back whenever you want, Red man, but I tell you what you son of a gun, I'm the best there's ever been!~
In and episode of the animated TV series, Futurama, Fry and Leela try to rescue Bender from the robot devil and must win a fiddle contest to do so, due to the 'Fairness in Hell Act of 2275'. The prize is a golden fiddle as described in the lyrics of the song. They point out that a golden fiddle would weigh several hundred pounds and sound horrible, but the robot devil admits that it's mostly for show. Unable to play the fiddle, Leela clubs the robot devil with the golden instrument and escapes while he's stunned.
Josh Zuckerman covered the song for his debut album. It noticeably keeps the "son of a bitch" line however bleeps the word "bitch." Zuckerman has performed the song for numerous events, alternating censorship depending on the appropriateness of the occasion. There is no officially released recorded version of Zuckerman's that does not censor the line.

Adaptations

★ RIAA lists this song as the Top Selling Single (songs not released as part of an album) of all time with one of the 50 US states in the title of the song.

★ On the Alabama 3 album ''Power in the Blood'', there is a song called "The Devil Went Down to Ibiza", a dark song about the dangers of drugtaking in dance culture.

★ A hip-hop adaptation entitled "The Devil Came Up to Michigan" was released in 1991 by KMC Kru. In their version, the prize is a turntable made of gold.

★ The Clamdiggers released a song titled "The Devil Went Down to Newport", which relates the story of a surfing contest with the Devil. This song was covered in 1996 by Mono Puff.

★ Filk singer and fiddler Heather Alexander does a song called "Faerie Queen" (music by Heather Alexander, lyrics by Philip R. Obermarck) which she describes as her response as a Celtic fiddle player to the many requests she gets to play "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". In this variation, a fiddler girl plays off against the Faerie Queen to win back her husband-to-be from the Faerie Queen's spell.

★ American Comedy-Rock band Tenacious D's song "Tribute", which is a cross between "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" and "Stairway to Heaven", chronicles a late-night encounter with a demon (played in the music video by Dave Grohl). He appears and tells them to "play the best song in the world/or I'll eat your souls". The demon is "done" when he hears them play "the first thing that came to [their] heads" and it is indeed the greatest song ever played. He then asks them if they "be angels".

★ Also in Tenacious D's film/album The Pick of Destiny. The Devil is resurrected and Tenacious D becomes the last defense of the world when Jack challenges the Devil to a Rock-off which the Devil cannot refuse. In this version, If Tenacious D wins the battle, the Devil will have to 'take his sorry ass back to hell' and also he will have to pay their rent. On the other hand, if the Devil wins he will take Kage back to hell to become his little bitch. This is more similar to Tribute in the sense that you actually hear the two songs that the two participants play. The Devil plays all the instruments in his part and performs a metal masterpiece. After some inspirational words from JB, Kage begins to play and Jack starts to sing. Eventually they defeat the Devil in the Rock off.

★ The Toy Dolls, a British punk band, made a version of this song called "The devil went down to Scunthorpe" in their 1997 album One More Megabyte. In this variation, the violins are replaced by electric guitars.

★ An animated film version of the song by Primus, using stop-motion animation with puppets, was made by Mike Johnson in 1996. ^[1]

★ In the Class of 3000 episode The Devil and Li'l D, Li'l D sells his soul to the devil, who takes the form of a large record producer named Big D. When Li'l D decides he wants his soul back from the devil, his lawyer suggests a fiddle contest. However, unlike in the original version of the story, Li'l D loses to the devil (mostly because he plays the drums, not a fiddle).

★ The original Charlie Daniels Band version is used in the film Coyote Ugly and is also the signature song used at the chain of Coyote Ugly bars across the USA.

★ Gymnast Dominique Moceanu set her floor exercise in the 1996 Summer Olympics to the song.

Parodies

In 2005 a punk band by the name of "'A Human and His Stds'" composed a cover of the song by the name of "''The Devil Went Down to Santa Maria''". In the song, the band has to play a punk rock show better than the devil to win a lifetime of beer or lose their souls. In the end, they lose after playing a 6 day, 6 hour, and 6 minute long show, but have no souls to give the devil.
The song was parodied in Fort Wayne, IN radio DJ, Travis Meyer's "The Devil Went to Jamaica" (often miscredited to David Allen Coe or "Weird Al" Yankovic). In this version, The Devil and Johnny engage in a marijuana-smoking contest, with the Devil betting $1 million against Johnny's marijuana.
Alvin and The Chipmunks recorded their own version of the song with the same name. In this version, the devil challenges Alvin to a harmonica-playing contest with the souls of himself and his brothers Simon and Theodore at stake, to which Alvin characteristically absentmindedly accepts.
Another parody of the song, titled "Cledus Went Down to Florida," was recorded by country music parodist Cledus T. Judd. Judd's parody can be found on his 1996 album ''I Stoled This Record''.
During the 2001 NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, Denver country radio station KYGO made a parody featuring Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy single-handedly defeating the New Jersey Devils for the cup.
In the Futurama episode Hell is Other Robots, Leela accepts the Robot Devil's challenge to a fiddle contest with a golden fiddle to win Bender's soul, causing Fry to quip, "Wouldn't a solid gold fiddle weigh hundreds of pounds and sound crummy?" leading the Robot Devil to rationalize that it's "Mostly for show". However, the Robot Devil then goes on to play the fiddle in question exceedingly well. When Leela attempts to play, she makes a screeching sound before using it to knock out the Robot Devil and then escapes with Fry and Bender (losing the gold fiddle to fly out from the Robot Hell in time). The Robot Devil also says that if she had lost then she would only get a smaller, lighter, easier-to-play silver fiddle, and he would kill one of them (when he picks Fry at random, Leela is much less hesitant to accept). He also grudgingly admits the that the rule is allowed because of the "Fairness in Hell Acts." On a lesser note, the Robot Devil has also shown a talent with many other instruments and music, including the complex "holophoner" and conducting his own jazz band of robotic demons.
Another parody, "Devil Went Down to Dundalk," was performed on Baltimore radio station 98 Rock. In it, The devil challenges Johnny to a race, with the prize being a local strip club.
The 2002 ApologetiX album contained "The Devil Went Down to Jordan", which recounts the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.
A parody from 2005 entitled "Sadako Came to the Arcade" was recorded by DJ Particle for her album ''Shiny Round Thing Inside'', and featured The Ring villain Sadako Yamamura in place of The Devil. Sadako's challenge in this parody is a game of Dance Dance Revolution against a man who claims to be the best player of the game. There is no material prize in this parody, the winner simply gets to live. This parody also features drastically different instrumentals than the original. The instrumentals are an amalgam remix of songs appearing in Dance Dance Revolution.
Camper Van Beethoven's third album, entitled "Camper Van Beethoven," contains a song called "We Love You" which alludes to the original Charlie Daniels song. The band travels down to Georgia "lookin' for some fun," but instead they meet up with the Devil, who is armed "with a fiddle and a gun." The Devil boasts that he is the baddest fiddler in the land, proves it (with a musical bridge), and is then allowed to join the band.
In Stephen Lynch's song Beelz, the Devil says "Fuck Charlie Daniels, I don't care if he can fiddle" and then later in the song states "I would never be caught dead in Georgia".
There is also a techno-dance cover of this song performed by the Rednex, the techno-country band which became famous with the single "Cotton Eyed Joe".
Another variation was produced by a punk band called "Drain Bramaged" in which the devil and Johnny have a beer drinking contest with the prize of a golden keg. The devil has a gang of demons helping him but is still defeated by Johnny.
The ballad of Darrell and Rusty is a Nascar-themed parody of this song put on by John Boy and Billy
Will Ferrel and Ana Gasteyer also did a parodie on Saturday Night Live as the Culp family, in the song they stated though that the devil went down to Georgia and "was looking for a bong to steal"

See also

★ Charlie Daniels Band

★ Crossroads (song)

★ "The Devil and Daniel Webster"

External links

★ "Thirty-Nine Questions for Charlie Daniels Upon Hearing 'The Devil Went Down to Georgia' for the First Time in 25 Years." from McSweeney's

★ Songfacts "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" entry

★ Lyrics