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.
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.