by Julian Spivey As we welcome October with its cool breezes, and - now socially distanced - festivities, we often think of scary movies, pumpkin patches and killers in masks. Rarely, if ever, do you hear anyone say what they’re looking forward to most about the season, is the music. Granted, Halloween music has nowhere near the mega-market that Christmas music has, but it seems that quality trumps quantity in this particular situation. With songs like Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” Halloween season is a heavy hitter when it comes to music! That’s why we’re celebrating 31 Days of Halloween Hits here at The Word for the entire month of October. Every day we’re going to bring you a great song that fits right in on your Halloween playlist. Some are songs specifically written for the holiday, but others are great selections you can listen to year-around but have a great theme for the spookiest of all holidays. Some of these songs you’ve certainly heard and some are lesser known that we hope to familiarize you with. There’s probably not a soul alive who hasn’t heard the Charlie Daniels Band classic “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” after all, it’s been a staple on both country and rock radio for more than 40 years now – a feat that rarely happens in our world of radio stations formatted by genre and songs typically being deemed to fit in one or another. But “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” is timeless and belongs on every Halloween playlist. The spoken verse performance by Daniels tells the tale of the devil winding up in Georgia looking for the best fiddle player there is to win his soul in a competition of strings and bows – because, of course, the devil likes a mean hoedown! The song features two fiddle solos: a rocking one by the devil that features CDB in their Southern Rock glory with both fiddle and guitars blazing and a more traditional one played by the Georgia boy Johnny. This is where some controversy actually comes in based on the opinion and musical tastes of fans. Many, myself included, think the solo by the devil and his band of demons is actually the better sounding solo of the two – though I don’t want to take anything away from the more traditional performance, as given by Johnny in the song. Now the devil, apparently being the good sport (whodathunkit?), admits his defeat at the hands of Johnny and doesn’t get to take the boy’s soul back to Hell with him. Johnny even gets a golden fiddle out of the deal.
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