The Devil Went Down To Georgia
The Devil Went Down to Georgia is a popular song released in 1979 by the Charlie Daniels Band. 30 years later it’s still popular|People haven’t grown tired of it in 30 years, and it doesn’t look like they ever will.
An older song called Lonesome Fiddle Blues provides the melody. Charlie took the song, raised it an octave, and set lyrics to it. The Devil Went Down to Georgia became the most popular hit the band ever had. The RIAA says that amongst songs with a state name in the title, this is the top seller of all time.
The plot is something like this. It’s been a slow year so the devil travels to Georgia in search of souls. He’s willing to negotiate. He happens upon a young fiddler named Johnny, to whom he offers one of these deals. It takes the form of a fiddle contest. The devil puts up a golden fiddle. The assumption is that the fiddle is worth a fortune. Johnny bets his soul.
The devil goes first, and he’s a hard act to follow. He has a demonic backup band. It seems as if Johnny is doomed. But Johnny’s simple and pure fiddle work is even better. Both Johnny and the Devil agree. The devil gives him the golden fiddle. Johnny brags that he’s open for a rematch. In the original version of the song, son of a gun was replaced by a more colorful phrase.
There have been countless remakes and parodies of the song. “El Diablo bajo a Georgia” is a Spanish version. The cartoon Futurama features a contest between the main characters and the robot Devil. But after the robot devil plays they beat him in the head with the golden fiddle so they can escape. There is a good Devil Went Down to Georgia video on YouTube. There was even a sequel by Charlie Daniels. It was called “The Devil Comes Back to Georgia”.
The Devil Went Down to Georgia was sung by Charlie Daniel’s band. And if you heard ‘em sing it when it was done you’d give them boys a hand.
Tags: Backup Band, Charlie Daniel S Band, Charlie Daniels, Charlie Daniels Band, Devil Comes Back To Georgia, Devil Went Down To Georgia, Fiddle Contest, Fiddler, Futurama, Golden Fiddle, Good Devil, Lonesome Fiddle Blues, Melody, Original Version, Parodies, Popular Song, Remakes, Riaa, Roots, Son Of A Gun, Spanish Version, Youtube