The Devil Went Down to Georgia

[naomikritzer]

OK, I'll admit up front that I really like this song; when it comes on the radio when I'm in the car, I turn it up and sing along. But I'm just wondering how many other people interpret it the way I do.

What, in your opinion, happened in this song:

A. Johnny sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a gold fiddle.

B. The devil deliberately threw the contest to Johnny as part of a long-term plan; he knew that the next twenty idiot violinists he approached would say "heck, if Johnny could beat you, I sure as hell can!" and he'd get all of THEIR souls.

B2. And anyway he was already getting Johnny's soul because he'd committed the sin of Pride (plus in the non-radio-play versions of the song, he uses bad words).

C. Are you kidding? Johnny won that bet fair and square! He got the gold violin AND he kept his soul!

The Reptile Palace Orchestra (a fabulous and very weird Madison band) plays a version of this where Yanni realizes at the end that he's been tricked by the EVIL POWER OF SATAN and runs frantically away to the tune of "In the Hall of the Mountain King." I like their version much better than the original.

(My answer is A, incidentally. Johnny totally sold his soul even if Charlie Daniels didn't realize it.)

Comments

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Hearing the song as a kid, I uncritically assumed C. As I've matured the ending now makes me wince-- flushed with pride from his victory Johnny offers a rematch whenever the Devil wants to try again. It's this pride that would be Johnny's downfall, the heedless assumption of youth that he'll always be as good as he was on that day.

As I figure it, the Devil just has to wait until Johnny's skills slip, whether from age, drink, rheumatism or any of the other banes of a fiddler's life, and then he'll be able to add Johnny's soul to his collection.

[dmyersta.livejournal.com]

C of course! I didn't even think of the other interpretations.

[carbonel]

I may be an idealist, but I always interpreted it as C.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Johnny did not sell his soul. (The devil's reputation is for evil, not for intelligence or superlative musical ability. I gather most Christians regard it as heresy to attribute excessive power to the devil, though they differ on the standard for "excessive.") Johnny won the gold fiddle fair and square (or as close to "fair and square" as anything can be when the devil is known to be involved.) However, even within that mythology, a person can lose his or her soul by any mortal sin, even without selling it to the devil.

If the devil gets any young man's soul because he (the young man) commits the ordinary mortal sins of pride in his musical ability or greed for a glorious instrument, or greed for gold, there is still a chance that the young man can repent of his sin and get his soul back. I'll grant you that Johnny does not seem either penitent or looking in that direction, in the context of this song, so B2 looks likely in the long run.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

In the same spirit of a song about winning a bet with a very slight twist at the end, I like Kate Wolf's "Ballad of Weaverville." It's lively, but not quite as lively as "Devil Went Down to Georgia." (What is?)

[skylarker.livejournal.com]

That's my take on it, too. Sin does not equal losing your soul, it's a moral mistake and can be repented of or corrected.

Johnny beat the devil.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

I'm going to have to go for B, with the strong possibility of A (because I agree with pbray that Johnny's offer of a free do-over at some indeterminate future date is a really bad idea) -- but I'm pretty sure that 20 years ago I'd have picked C.

I've never heard (or even heard of) this song. Now I'm all curious about the tune, and my brain is trying to make one up (it's coming out like a horrible mutant offspring of "Have You Been to Jail for Justice?" and Elvis Presley's "Way Down" ::shudder::). Later when I'm not at work I'll see if there's a version on YouTube I can listen to :)

[cnoocy]

The original by Charlie Daniels is out there in various live versions (there's a sequel, too), but you should also look at:
the Primus cover: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3FRtkek-Et4 (claymation!)
and the Muppet Show version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NAerTglk3U (muppets!)

I've always had interpretation C. A and B never occurred to me until reading this post.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Awesome, thanks! :)

[pbray.livejournal.com]

Those of us as a certain age remember that it was a huge top 40s hit with lots of radio airplay. It's got great fiddling in it, and one of the things that makes it so unusual was that it became a hit during the Disco era.

[sylvia-rachel.livejournal.com]

Yes, well, you have to remember that although I am in my mid-thirties, in terms of popular music I am much younger, because commercial radio did not happen in our house (or our car), so I first heard what music most of my contemporaries were listening to around about 1986, when I started junior high (because they had dances, with a DJ who played the stuff people wanted to dance to).

You don't have to tell me how much this elevates my nerd quotient -- I know :P

[http://users.livejournal.com/aseop_/]

Of course they wrote a sequel, "The Devil Comes Back to Georgia", which deals with an older Johnny having to defend his title. Unfortunately it leaves unresolved if Johnny was able to defeat the Devil a second time, but it bring up the issue of pride, and the problem of an older Johnny being unable to play as well as he used to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGZ7zwoGVkU

[lilisonna.livejournal.com]

I'd never considered A or B prior to this post. Johnny won fair and square even though the Devil cheated by bringing in a band of demons to help him sound better.

[batikpuma.livejournal.com]

http://www.reptilepalaceorchestra.com/_tunes/Devil_Went_to_Plovdiv.mp3

Reptiles, yea!

Always thought of it as C. Option B - wow, that's cynical.

[notthatedburke.livejournal.com]

Cynical? It is the Devil we're talking about.

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm working on an idea whereupon the Devil, deciding that he liked playing with Johnny so much, goes into show biz with his rival and they form a fiddlin' duo named Johnny and the Devil. And every year, they have a rematch, and so far, Johnny keeps winning, and the Devil can't (or won't) go back to Hell until he gets that soul, and meanwhile, CMT options them for a series...

Okay, maybe not that last, but still. My lack of knowledge in that field of music is what slows me down. :>

And the Muppet version rocks.

[pixelfish.livejournal.com]

B! I think you need to write that story.

[pennski.livejournal.com]

I go for a very naive C, although I rather like B & B2.

[bookzombie.livejournal.com]

I can never quite get past the fact that the Devil actually plays rather better than Johnny. Your Mileage May Vary, I suppose.

For odd familial reasons I'm rather fond of the song though...

[maxemulien.livejournal.com]

I've always thought it was something like B3: He's basically feeding Johny's pride and greed, plus I've always suspected that fiddle made of gold is some sort of Trojan horse. I didn't hear the song until I was in college, but I'm sure I would have thought C if I'd heard it when younger.

[kelly-swails.livejournal.com]

My vote on this is C. He totally kicked the devil's ass! :)

[kuddliphish.livejournal.com]

Some combination of B and C. I don't think the devil threw the contest, but that golden fiddle is certainly cursed, and Johnny may have his soul for now, but he seems destined for a bad end--no good ever comes of taunting evil.

ABC

[notthatedburke.livejournal.com]

All three.

The Devil threw the match to lure in other people. So, I guess that means Johnny didn't win fair and square, but he still won, and gets to keep both the fiddle and his soul. Except that by bargaining with the Devil, he has forsaken God, so the Devil still gets his soul when he dies.

This song is in a great literary tradition of bargaining with the Devil. You never get to keep your soul when you bargain with the Devil.

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

Oh, I'm a C person. I believe the devil can be defeated. I think the devil's only in is in the thought that A & B will lure other people.

I'm not against a little pride either.

[kellymccullough.livejournal.com]

I'm a C person, but I've never bought into the ideas of sin or the devil in the traditional sense. I'm big on right and wrong but not on the religious framing for same.