Of course I do. Is that even a question.
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100% Disagree
It’s an underdog story about classism in which the folk hero (Johnny) is confronted by a powerful man (the Devil) who tries to exploit the hero’s perceived ignorance and inferiority by offering a great reward with impossible odds. Although Johnny warns him that looks can be deceiving, and that he’s going to regret the dare because Johnny is the “best there’s ever been”, the devil is blinded by his greed and arrogance.
The devil creates an awful cacophony of technically excellent fiddle playing that would be impossible for Johnny to replicate. It’s a trick.
But Johnny just grins at him and starts to play “simple” classic country fiddling songs - Fire On The Mountain, House Of The Rising Sun, and Daddy Cut Her Bill Off. He doesn’t rise to beat the Devil - he simply creates his own music from his home, in the style that he knows, and his love of it and the familiarity of the music make his “backwoods” fiddling more perfect than the Devil could ever achieve.
It is thus the devil’s pride, not Johnny’s, that allows Johnny to Bugs Bunny his way into a golden fiddle.
(In that sense, I do agree that it is the most American song: in a land of prejudice and inequities, great power lies - dormant but ever-present - in those we underestimate and attempt to exploit.)
Also people initially react to the devil's part like "holy shit that's badass" because he's got electric guitar and bass and a whole backing band to make him sound good. Of course he sounds amazing. But if you drill down to the actual fiddling -- and this is straight from Charlie Daniels -- it's not as technically difficult as what Johnny does. It's fast? But it's mostly just going up and down scales.
Here's a good performance -- the devil's part starts around 2:00. Check out how long Daniels just stands there holding his fiddle while the guitar and piano carry the weight. I love that piano bassline but fiddling it ain't.
It's still an American narrative: if you can afford to hire a bunch of more talented people, you, too, can look like a genius. Doesn't make you one.
Devil went down to Georgia is also a fascinating example of how folktales from the Old World followed us out here to the mountains of Appalachia. The devil playing a fiddle and betting Johnny a golden fiddle for his soul is a very slight variation on that of a nykr or neck, a kind of water spirit seen in Germanic and Scandinavian folk tales. The spirit was often preternaturally skilled at playing the fiddle, and would teach its craft to those willing to make a hefty sacrifice. The more powerful required humans or their souls.
Confronting the devil or spirit at his own game is sometimes, but not often, seen with nykyr. Less powerful spirits can be tricked or duped, but very powerful ones often have a kind of fated feel where they're required a sacrifice no matter what.
y’all need to go see the titanic jokes they were making back THEN.
it’s the precursor to “they’re writing fanfics” oh my god
You have been visited by the barefoot crypto guy, your portfolio will remain as it was
THIS IS NOT OSHA COMPLIANT WHAT THE F
new gender idea: guy who is super masculine and uses he/him pronouns, but every time someone acknowledges his gender or asks about it he switches to feminine presentation and she/her pronouns and refuses to acknowledge the change
sorry. *girl who is super feminine and uses she/her but everytime someone asks she switches to masc and he/him and refuses to acknowledge the change
sorry. *guy who is su-
hey. stop being funnier than me
i am the very model of a modern gay millennial
i have a tumblr blog and a prescription for estradiol
i've problems economic, psychological, and medical
and sympathies political which border on heretical
i'm the guy who writes the books that the protagonist in supernatural horror movies frantically reads somewhere in act ii. job's pretty easy. lot of "legends of vampires have recurred all throughout human history" and "demonologists agree that the quickest way to un-summon a demon is to trap it in a cursed object". no citations of course; they don't pay me citation money. i had to learn html back in the early aughts when everyone started seeking their supernatural info on websites they found via top search engines like FINDLER and WEBSIGHT but that's died down now which is great because i didn't have it in me to pick up css. currently working on a new book about horses that are evil. it's called HORSES THAT ARE EVIL in all caps so the protagonist can find it quickly to yank off the library shelf. it will be published 35 years ago.
this lab safety training module is sending me
I feel like whoever wrote these questions was speaking from experience