The Devil Went Down To Georgia

The Devil Went Down to Georgia Was first heard by the public in 1979, performed by the Charlie Daniels band.  30 years later it's still popular.

The Devil Went Down To Georgia

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 Reached number three on the Billboard hot 100.  The RIAA says that amongst songs with a state name in the title, this is the top seller of all time. 

It goes a little like this.  It's been a slow year so the devil travels to Georgia in search of souls.  He's willing to negotiate.  He offers a deal to a young fiddler named Johnny.  The Devil challenges Johnny to a fiddle contest.  If Johnny wins he receives the golden fiddle upon which the devil plays.  The assumption is that the fiddle is worth a fortune.  If the devil wins, however, Johnny loses his soul.

The Devil Went Down To Georgia

The Devil starts.  He has a demonic backup band.  It seems Johnny, a simple boy with a fiddle, is doomed.  Johnny, however, outplays the Devil.  Both Johnny and the Devil agree.  Johnny wins the fiddle.  Johnny teases is the devil, telling him he's open for a rematch at any time.  In the original version of the song, son of a gun was replaced by a more colorful phrase.

Remakes and parodies soon followed.  There's a Spanish version called “El Diablo bajo a Georgia”.  In the cartoon “Futurama” the heroes challenge the robot devil to a similar fiddle contest to save their robot friend.  But after the robot devil plays they beat him in the head with the golden fiddle so they can escape.  Primus  posted a very good video of The Devil Went Down to Georgia on YouTube.  It includes a very clever animated version of the story.  There was even a sequel by Charlie Daniels.  Daniels named it “The Devil Comes Back to Georgia”.

The Devil Went Down To Georgia

The Devil Went Down to Georgia  is a song that people sing.  Give it a try, you'll know why the title has a ring.