#devil went down to georgia – @eruanna1875 on Tumblr

HE 👏 WENT 👏 LOOKING 👏 FOR 👏 TROUBLE 👏

The euros fail to consider the form: it’s not Johnny’s hubris that is the subject of the song. It’s the devil’s, who thinks his power is worth more than simple love for a craft

aethersea

neither americans nor the modern era have any sort of monopoly on one-upping the devil. one of the oldest european folk tales is The Smith and the Devil, in which a smith makes a deal with the devil for his soul and when the devil comes to collect, the smith tricks him into leaving him alone forever. tricking that bastard is an old and storied tradition.

aethersea

"average person who makes a deal with the devil is dragged to hell after 10 years" factoid actually just statistical error. average person who makes a deal with the devil uses their new hellish gifts to outwit the old bastard so they can keep both gifts and soul for the rest of their long and prosperous lives. faust, who bargained for knowledge of all things and then wasted his 10 years chasing a girl who wasn't all that into him, is an idiot and should not have become the cornerstone of modern understanding of the trope.

eruanna1875

This post just keeps getting better

#also i love the theme of 'the devil is way more easily beaten than you'd think'#makes me think of that one genre Albatross talked about #American Fantasies Where Siblings Fight Demons (But Not Like SPN)#which encompasses GF and OTGW and Labyrinth #(and Something Wicked too for my money)#evil only has power if you let it #and it's easily tricked/shown up/beaten by the simplest things #Anyway that's also why this song is a very good theme song for that genre #and it's very American as well so that fits too :)#charlie daniels #devil went down to georgia #music #salt and light #rambling in the tags