" The Devil Went Down to Georgia " is a song written and performed by Charlie Daniels Band and released on their 1979 album Million Mile Reflections .
The song is written in the D minor key. Vassar Clements originally wrote a lower octave basic melody, in a tone called "Lonesome Fiddle Blues" which was released on 1975 album titled Clements by Charlie Daniels. Charlie Daniels Band moves him an octave and puts up words. The lyric of the song is closer to spoken than sung (ie, recitals), and tells the story of a boy named Johnny, in a variant on a classic deal with Satan. The show of Satan and Johnny is played as an instrumental bridge. The song is the band's biggest hit, reaching number three on Billboard Hot 100, prevented from further chart movement by "After The Love Has Gone" by Earth, Wind and Fire and "My Sharona" by The Dexterity. It was featured in the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy, whose choreographer, Patsy Swayze, claimed that he arranged the tempo of the song. "How fast can you dance?" Daniels asked. "How fast can you play it?" Swayze answered, but given that the song was recorded in December 1978 and Urban Cowboy was filmed in 1979, it was impossible for Swayze to set the tempo of the recorded song.
Video The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Accounts
This song is an uptempo bluegrass song about Satan's failed attempt to "steal" the soul of a young man through a violin-playing contest involving attracting the youth's participation using worldly gifts. The song begins with a disillusioned devil arriving in Georgia, having stolen far less soul than expected, when he comes to a young man playing a violin named Johnny. At that time, Johnny happened to play his violin in impressive "heat." In despair, the Devil, who apparently also plays the violin, offers Johnny a bet that involves challenging the young man to a violin-playing contest. Satan offers to give Johnny a golden violin if the young man plays better than he; otherwise, Satan will get the soul of Johnny. Although Johnny believed that betting with Satan might be a sin, he risked his soul without fear, with confidence that he was "the best ever."
The devil played his violin first, to the theme of contemporary rock music with the support of devil musicians. When the Devil's show ends, Johnny praises him and takes his own turn, making reference to four songs. Two are traditional Appalachian songs - "Fire on the Mountain" (also the name of Daniels' 1974 album) and "Granny Does Your Dog Bite?" (The latter is traditionally known as "Granny Will Your Dog Bite?"). The third is an anonymous square dance melody that includes a patter, "Chickens in a bread pot picking dough." (The country music standard "Ida Red," as the most famous is recorded by Bob Wills & Texas Playboys, including the lyrics "Chicken in a pot picking dough/Grandma will bite your dog, no children do not.") South American traditional folk song "The House of the Rising Sun." The four songs are not done but only mentioned by reference. The devil impressed, admitted defeat, and put the violin on Johnny's leg. Johnny repeated his claim to be the best player and challenge the Devil for a rematch in the future.
Johnny's final boast, as originally recorded for the Million Mile Reflections album, went "I've told you once, you bastard, I'm the best I've ever had." To accommodate radio broadcasts (both State and Top 40 formats), a single 45RPM release overwrites that lyric section as "Because I told you once, you gun boy, I'm the best I ever had. "(The uncensored album version appears on the soundtrack of the Urban Cowboy movie, and this is a version that has been used on many music compilations ever since.) Thus, Johnny maintains his virtue, guarding his soul from the Devil by displaying his musical expertise in bringing traditional South American songs. Maps The Devil Went Down to Georgia
Music reference
The story of the ballad is a derivative of the traditional deal with the Devil's motives. Charlie Daniels has stated in the interview, "I do not know where it came from, but it just happened.Well, I think I may know where it came from, it probably came from an old poem called 'The Whippoorwill Mountain' which Stephen Vincent BenÃÆ'Â © t write many, many years ago (1925), which I had in high school. "
Parodies and closures
- The Muppets performed a version of the song on The Muppet Show with special guest star Alan Arkin in 1980.
- The Levellers released the song version in 1991.
- Although often miscategorized to David Allan Coe or "Weird Al" Yankovic, musician Travis Meyer performs a parody titled "The Devil Went Down to Jamaica," where Johnny overhauled as a Jamaican drug dealer who was challenged by the devil to a smoking contest to see who's the best marijuana: hers, or Johnny's.
- It was also parodied by Cledus T. Judd as "Cledus Went Down to Florida," and by a Christian parody group called ApologetiX as "The Devil Went Down to Jordan"
- Mexican country band Caballo Dorado recorded a Spanish version called "El diablo bajÃÆ'³ a Georgia" on their debut album "Carretera 54".
- Rap Group K.M.C. The crew released hip hop re-imagining of the song titled "The Devil Came Up to Michigan" in 1991, featuring demons and broadcasters competing for gold turntables.
- The rock/metal band Primus recorded a version of the song, which was released as a claymation music video on the 1998 Rhinoplasty EP and his partner's Videoplasty video album, and also re-released in 2003 EP. Animals Should Not Try to Act People. The video is directed by Mike Johnson.
- Steve Ouimette (with Ed DeGenaro) features the cover song for the 2007 game video Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock . This version uses electric guitars instead of fiddles, although the original lyrics are still being performed. It is played as the conclusion of the game in simulated guitar battles with the devil. Daniels objected to this version on the grounds that Satan often won the contest, which he described as "breaking the essence of the song".
- Alternative band based in Boston, Adam Ezra Group released a parody of the song in 2013 entitled The Devil Came Up To Boston. It describes the devil as a New Yorker who came to Boston to play the violin with a Bostonian young man. This premise itself is a game on competition between Boston and New York. It parodies many stereotypes and other aspects of Boston and its culture, such as its distinctive dialect, Irish heritage, and a notoriously subway system, among other things. The song has become a bit of a local legend in the Boston area, because many radio stations want to play it but can not because of its very indecent usage, it is another stereotype of the people of Boston.
- Pop singer and electric violinist Michelle Lambert recorded a version of the song in 2015, and released a music video. In his appearance "Johnny" replaced with "Michelle".
- Free cappella Home group recorded a version of the song that works with Taylor Davis and Charlie Daniels playing the violin, released in September 2015. The narration was performed by Free Foust's bass singer Tim Free.
- The rock band Blues Traveler often performs this song in concert, with John Popper playing the violin part in the harmonica. The band released a live version of the song on their 2006 EP Ã,¡Bastardos en Vivo! .
- Stringfever string quartets record a cover song on their 2009 album Stringfever .
- Futurama featuring a parody of the song in Episode 9 Season 1.
- The Chicken Robot features a combined parody of the song along with the animated series Spawn in Episode 49 Season 3, where Malebolgia, a king of hell, is challenged by Spawn to a regulated violin duel to the same tone.
- Ryan Kelly, a member of the Celtic Thunder Irish production stage, covers the song for their latest CD/DVD Celtic Thunder X .
- Gymnast Dominique Moceanu used this song during his floor drills at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta to applaud hometown.
- The British punk band The Toy Dolls made their own version, "The Devil went to Scunthorpe", on the 1997 album One More Megabyte.
Performance chart
The original version of the song spent fourteen weeks on the Hot Country Singles charts in 1979, peaking at number 1 and holding positions for a week. It spent two weeks at number 3 on Hot Billboard Hot 100. The single was certified Platinum by the RIAA on December 20, 1989 for the sale of over one million copies in the United States.
Since available as a download in the digital age, it has sold 2,297 million digital copies in the US in November 2016.
In June 1998, Epic Records rewrote the song to state radio, but accidentally sent a version where the "bastard" line was not censored. This error was quickly corrected, and the song re-entered the country chart at number 62 for the chart on June 20, 1998. It spent seven weeks on the chart and peaked at number 60.
Sequel
In 1993, the sequel to the song, titled "The Devil Comes Back to Georgia", was recorded and released by Daniels and violinist Mark O'Connor, featuring guest performances by Travis Tritt (as devil), Marty Stuart (as Johnny) and Johnny Cash as a narrator. This song can be found on Mark O'Connor's album, Heroes .
In his sequel, the devil, his anger subsided ten years after his defeat at the hands of young Johnny, decides to take the boy's challenge to "c'mon back if you want to try again". With Johnny now grown and married to a baby boy, Satan believes that Johnny's sinful pride will be his hatred, so he takes back the golden violin he lost to Johnny, and forced him to practice with his old violin before their rematch.
Although the song lyrics state that "Johnny is the best ever", reaffirming his bold claim in the original song, the sequel's lyrics do not reveal who won the rematch, but the music video persuasively indicates that Johnny did not lose.
See also
- Charlie Daniels Band
- Cross Road Blues
- The Devil and Daniel Webster
- Faust
- The Devil and Tom Walker
References
External links
- Lyrics of this song in MetroLyrics
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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