About The Devil Went Down to Georgia
The Devil Went Down to Georgia is a popular song released in 1979 by the Charlie Daniels Band. It’s remained popular for nearly 30 years, and there’s no sign that people will ever grow tired of singing it.
An older song called Lonesome Fiddle Blues provides the melody. Charlie added the lyrics. The song reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100, making The Devil Went Down to Georgia the band’s most popular hit. 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. The devil goes to Georgia to look for some souls. He’s willing to make deals. He happens upon a young fiddler named Johnny, to whom he offers one of these deals. The Devil challenges Johnny to a fiddle contest. The devil puts up a golden fiddle. It’s worth a lot of money. Johnny bets his soul.
The Devil begins the contest with a tremendous performance. Demons come from hell to help him put on a rock ‘n roll extravaganza. It seems Johnny, a simple boy with a fiddle, is doomed. Johnny’s work with a simple fiddle is even better. When he’s finished playing, there’s no argument. The devil gives him the golden fiddle. Johnny brags that he’s open for a rematch. In early versions of the song Johnny curses the devil.
The song has been remade and parodied. The Spanish version is “El Diablo bajo a Georgia”. In Futurama the main characters save their robot friend by challenging the robot Devil to such a contest. After the robot double plays he’s attacked with the Golden fiddle so the people can escape. There’s a very clever music video of the song on Youtube titled “Primus – The Devil Went Down to Georgia“. It includes a very clever animated version of the story. Even Charlie Daniels got back in on the fun by recording a sequel with Johnny Cash. 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.
Devil Went Down to Georgia (Guitar Hero 3 Version)
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