Jump to content
Hamer Fan Club Message Center

The Devil Went Down to Georgia


Recommended Posts

3 hours ago, RobB said:

As a fiddler, Charlie's a great singer. The fiddle is so out-of-tune on the original DWDTG...it's painful to listen to. I'm surprised the producer let that go to tape.

And yet it is an iconic song and performance in the annals of pop history. Energy, feel, and a great performance that is catchy as hell can even overcome an out of tune fiddle.

But I do wish it was in tune. But it’s not. And somehow it still works.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Slight diversion: Classical purists/snobs will also be offended by Don "Sugarcane" Harris's raucous blues violin on the Mothers of Inventions' cover of Little Richard's "Directly From My Heart To You" on Weasels Ripped My Flesh. 

It, too, was memorable (if only to musicians) for its own sonic reasons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdZKJOVH2WM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just to be sure RobB was on to something it seemed like a good idea to follow up on that out of tune fiddle thing, so a trip to Mt. Juliet, Tennessee was in order.  A whole bunch of other people must have been thinking the same thing. 

008.JPG

Charlie came out and talked to everyone, saying the band would play guitar songs first then finish out with fiddle tunes

011.JPG

Well, I sat there politely until he brought out that fiddle. 

056.JPG

You know what?  After he played The Devil Went Down To Georgia everybody was so put off by that out of tune fiddle that they stood in line to give Ol' Charlie a piece of their mind, one at a time.  I was so disgusted by it that I just had to leave and go home. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, Steve Haynie said:

After he played The Devil Went Down To Georgia everybody was so put off by that out of tune fiddle that they stood in line to give Ol' Charlie a piece of their mind, one at a time.  I was so disgusted by it that I just had to leave and go home. 

Dang. Sounds like they were pissed off. You, especially, after that long drive ‘n’ all...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 6/5/2019 at 1:56 AM, killerteddybear said:

"Intonation is for pussies" - Bob Dylan

Sorry.  That was Maya Angelou.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you for reviving this earworm. :huh: I caught myself singing this to myself while I was working yesterday. My client begged me to stop. :blink::lol:  It was more about him being 19 and a hip hop fan than my singing I'm sure. ;) Anyway, Summer of 1979 was a good one for me and Charlie it seems. I crossed paths with him that summer in Minneapolis. Great Northern Picnic I think they called it.

So, I am confused, if it was out of tune on the original do they purposefully use an out of tune fiddle now? I have not seen him in years or heard him live.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The problem might not have been an out of tune fiddle, but a bad fiddle bow.  It might be that good fiddle bows were hard to come by back in the late 70s.  Good ones might still be hard to come by because he threw three or four of them out on Wednesday.  People were taking them, probably to inspect the bows for defects when they got home. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...