I mean he absolutely cheated by having a band to assist. Of course it was going to sound better. Thankfully, he realized it wasn’t as good without the band included.
I’m pretty sure that CDB meant for the Devil’s solo to sound discordant and unmemorable. What I hear though sounds aggressive, passionate, and daring compared to Johnny’s “safe” catchy, melodic solo. Also they gave Johnny a call-and-response with vocalists so I’m not gonna hold the Devil’s backup band against him. Either way the Devil gave up that contest way to easily.
You’re correct about the first part. The intent was for the devil’s part to be technically correct, but discordant and forgettable.
The call and response was because they were references to other famous tunes. Fire On The Mountain was an old folk tune. House Of The Rising Sun was an old folk tune. Etc… They were meant to be familiar and melodic snippets that people from his area would recognize, to contrast the devil’s forgettable solo.
Because with the contest itself he’s already got Johnny caught on pride and greed, and now Johnny will go around telling other people they can beat the devil, making his job easier down the line. The only winning move was not to play.
Given the Devil’s history, he really should have had him sign a legally binding (and easily misinterpreted) contract in blood and he would have had it easy.
On a technical level sure, but it was a fiddle contest not a technical contest. Johnny is the better fiddler since he knows the music the people like and dance to (a bunch of the lyrics are references to other songs). If the devil played his music to a barn full of dancers, the whole event would likely crumble.
I feel like deep down we all know this:
The Devil’s fiddle solo in “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” was actually better than Johnny’s.
Edit: thanks to these responses I’m gaining a whole new appreciation for the musical and spiritual symbolism in this song.
It’s clear in the Primus cover.
Oh somehow the existence of this has escaped me up to now. That was incredible.
I mean he absolutely cheated by having a band to assist. Of course it was going to sound better. Thankfully, he realized it wasn’t as good without the band included.
I’m pretty sure that CDB meant for the Devil’s solo to sound discordant and unmemorable. What I hear though sounds aggressive, passionate, and daring compared to Johnny’s “safe” catchy, melodic solo. Also they gave Johnny a call-and-response with vocalists so I’m not gonna hold the Devil’s backup band against him. Either way the Devil gave up that contest way to easily.
You’re correct about the first part. The intent was for the devil’s part to be technically correct, but discordant and forgettable.
The call and response was because they were references to other famous tunes. Fire On The Mountain was an old folk tune. House Of The Rising Sun was an old folk tune. Etc… They were meant to be familiar and melodic snippets that people from his area would recognize, to contrast the devil’s forgettable solo.
I always felt like surely the devil intentionally surrendered and gave the golden fiddle for some future nefarious reasons
Because with the contest itself he’s already got Johnny caught on pride and greed, and now Johnny will go around telling other people they can beat the devil, making his job easier down the line. The only winning move was not to play.
Giving him a golden fiddle (that probably sounds bad) cursed his soul with greed
I happened to notice in the Primus video that Johnny takes the golden fiddle and punts it away.
Given the Devil’s history, he really should have had him sign a legally binding (and easily misinterpreted) contract in blood and he would have had it easy.
On a technical level sure, but it was a fiddle contest not a technical contest. Johnny is the better fiddler since he knows the music the people like and dance to (a bunch of the lyrics are references to other songs). If the devil played his music to a barn full of dancers, the whole event would likely crumble.
devil: mission accomplished
The devil won because he led him down the path of pride and claimed his soul in the end.
Debatable at best. The sequel takes place a decade later with the devil still furious that he lost the duel, and deciding to challenge Johnny again.
It isn’t pride if you’re actually the best there’s ever been