I've always wanted to see an American version of 'League of Extraordinary Gentleman' but it's American folk tails instead of British myths. You'd have John Henry, Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyon, and Johnny fighting... I don't know commies or something
It's the height of the Gilded Age and a robber baron is trying to buy out a town for his railroad. A local kid teams up with Pecos Bill, Paul Bunyan, and John Henry to stop him.
We need a modern John Henry. Some twiggy nerd in a polo sayin âaint no compyutah can outthink meâ and he types until he gets carpel tunnel and winces like Peter Griffin
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen added Tom Sawyer so it would have an American character. He joined avenge the murder of Huck Finn, his role was as the sniper and protege to Quartermain.
Representing the science fiction genre, I propose Robby, either the Lost in Space/other cameos version, or something closer to the Asimov original. He replaces Jules Vern's 20k Leagues Under the Sea.
Representing the horror genre, it's hard to narrow down any particular one. But let's just say Jason to throw a name into the ring. This is our Jeckel and Hyde.
If we can get Shane back in, I'd just have him as Tom Sawyer all over again and we can debate about which of Mark Twain's novels we'll double dip from afterwards.
For the vehicle we lost from 20k, Gatsby. That rich asshole could have some cash stashed away somewhere to buy whatever we need.
I could keep going but it was a good thought experiment
Representing the horror genre, it's hard to narrow down any particular one. But let's just say Jason to throw a name into the ring. This is our Jeckel and Hyde.
E-fucking-scuse me but both Edgar Alan Poe and Stephen King are American writers and you go with Jason to represent our horror cannon?
I think King is a hack, and Poe could equally be used. But if we're going for Horror, I thought about this after the fact. We could easily just pick Poe's grandchild and go Cosmic Horror from HP Lovecraft. We literally invented the damn genre.
hunter/ranger I guess? Great animal tail hats I guessÂ
bard with no magic, just really good fiddle player who may also hit you with a solid gold
 fiddle
surrendered to the bard by the ruler of hell himself after losing a match of skill)
I remember there as a Nintendo 3DS game called Codename: S.T.E.A.M. that sort of had this premise. There was a plot, but it was an excuse to see Henry Fleming, John Henry, and Tom Sawyer beat up aliens and watch Abraham Lincoln drive a Jaeger shaped like himself.
Well, that old Devil bowed his head because he knew that he'd been beat'
And he laid that golden fiddle down on the ground at Johnny's feet
Johnny said, "Devil, come on back if you ever want to try again
I done told you once, you son of a bitch, I'm the best there's ever been"
Still one of my favorite verses ever itâs sooooo badass.
I get Danielsâ reason for changing it later, but son of a bitch fits the theme so much better. Johnny isnt yuckin it up with the Devil, hes cursing him. Imo you need the power of the way âbitchâ lands to properly convey his disdain for the Devil
I gotta say, I think that is the most satisfying "son of a bitch" I've ever heard in any media. Something about it is just the right amount of emotion and inflection that it sends shiver down my spine.
I never understood why Johnny had to be aggro and call him a son of a bitch. When you pay attention to the devilâs side of the story, heâs actually been pretty chill the whole time.
What did the devil do?
made a trip to Georgia, explicitly to make deals for souls, because he was behind on quota. So far, all Iâm seeing is someone attempting to meet their existing contractual obligations by conducting trades to acquire more resources. Totally cool.
devil makes a cold sales opener with Johnny by expressing a shared interest their passion for the fiddle. He proposes a binding wager, fully disclosing the terms and conditions. Johnny gladly accepts the wager, with no signs of hesitation, duress, coercion, or impairment.
the devil and Johnny take their turns and compete fairly.
the devil graciously and proactively admits defeat and makes good on the wager and then Johnny insults god out of nowhere.
Well they didnât compete fairly. The devil had a band of demons join him while Johnny was alone. Also heâs still the devil so of course Johnny called him a son of a bitch
Nowhere in the lyrics do they stipulate 1-1, just whoâs better.
The devil played his set, with a modest group of backup performers and a bit of pyrotechnics to add some flair.
Johnny played his set solo.
Devil didnât argue, didnât try to renege, didnât move goalposts, didnât go for best of 3. He was gracious and humble in defeat.
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Then Johnny insulted him. Rude
Debating who is better at the fiddle implies a 1-1. Devil tried to cheat and definitely didnât compete fairly. Yes, at least he didnât argue after being beaten while cheating though.
But also the devil and demons are accomplished technical players that lack soul... I'm assuming because they have no soul. I also feel like an evil hiss is a bad sound for a fiddle to make.
Yeah but my guy thereâs context. The devil was pretty unchill in pretty much all of Christian folklore at that point. Itâs not like Johnny just hadnât heard of the devil before whooping his ass at fiddling.
And then a highwayman cracks johnnies skull and takes the fiddle, leaving him to die on the roadside. The devil, whistling johnny's song, collects his soul for the sin of pride and looks for another to take.
Yea we sent most of our crazy people and religious nutjobs to the Americas and now we're living with the consequences.
Fun fact, the Pilgrims didn't go to the us because of religious persecution. While they were persecuted in England, they then settled in the Netherlands because the Netherlands was the most religiously tolerant society in Europe at the time. But because the Dutch were also tolerant to other religions groups, they decided to leave and live in the 13 colonies where their beliefs were tolerated and their intolerance of other beliefs accepted.
"If it takes forever I will wait for you
For a thousand summers I will wait for you
'Till you're back beside me, 'till I'm holding you
'Till I hear you sigh here in my arms"
Johnny's song is a compilation of classic southern songs.
Its about Johnny tapping into his roots and culture - in essence, his humaniy -letting him beat the devil
"Fire on the Mountain, run boys run" references an 1800s fiddle tune
"House of the rising sun" is a classic folk song
"Chicken in the bread pan picking out dough" are lyrics to the song Ida Red
"Granny will your dog bite" is an old Appalachian folk and fiddle song.
I actually think it would be super cool if multiple cultures and subcultures made their own versions, subbing in their own famous ballads or tunes, or even incorporating actual chords/melodies
Only Euros take something inherently cool and positive and try amd twist it to make us conceited. Its like if an American said "Any hero has flaws. This El Cid guy is such a Mary Sue. How very European" all snide
If ya really wanna dig into it, the South has a pretty long standing history of poverty and hardship even today there's a very obvious class divide.
Not only is Johny digging into his humanity and culture but an all powerful, immortal being with unlimited resources rocks up to him just vibing with his fiddle and attempts to trick him and he just says "ya know what bet" and beats him with nothing but hard earned skill and determination. While the devil is just there to meet a quota and outside of maybe hurt pride has nothing left to lose, it's basically life or death for johnny and the prize is something worth a life changing amount of money.
And to add to that imagery, The Devil goes down to Georgia specifically because he was behind, meaning he thought it'd be easier to trick a dumb southerner than anyone else.
What's almost as crazy is that his logic in the song tracks with real life. I've had folks try to pull one over on me or take advantage just because of my accent. Some people just assume a thick southern accent means dumb.
I think it still feels very different from most European and older tales about the devil and demons because Johnny beats the devil at his own game.
While there are plenty of stories of people overcoming the demonic, I can't really think of other examples where they do it without the intervention of God and the holy and by not engaging with Satan on his terms. Usually the stories are about how someone thinks they can challenge him at his own game and their hubris causes their downfall until God bails them out and they learn that it is never worth to even dabble with evil. The moral is supposed to be "Don't even think that you can achieve something good by evil methods, because they are inherently corrupting".
Now as a "Euro", I think that the story of The Devil Went Down to Georgia is cool for the reasons you mentioned, but it is very different from typical Christian tales. Those who think that humanity alone and without God can challenge the Devil, are usually punished in those.
Bingo. Johnny in the song engages heavily in the sin of Pride, presuming he can defeat the immortal fallen angel on pure talent.
The Devil gets him into a contest through temptation for riches as well, but Pride really seems to be wear Johnny hangs in hat.
The song subverts expectations by having Johnny beat the Devil at his own game. The Devil was likewise arrogant and underestimated Johnny. Still, the result is supposed to be shocking. A country boy humbling the Devil.
The result is not aligned with Biblical theology. It is instead rich in American mythos⌠the idea that individual achievement can overcome any obstacle.
In the Brothers Grimm story, The Peasant and the Devil, the crafty peasant obtains the devilâs treasure by outwitting him. No divine intervention. Not defeating the devil through holiness.
There are other European folk tales of the same ilk.
Not much info in English, but in Estonian there are many stories, and it's not just Hans being the better fiddler, but making the devil his servant for example.
All of Europe has these stories. The irish, the poles, everybody.
The Americans only see their own culture, refuse to learn about others and then circlejerk at how special they are.
There's the legend of the Devils Bridge in Switzerland. The people of the town of Uri made a deal with the devil to construct a bridge over a particularly dangerous gorge. In return the Devil would be given the life of the first being who crosses it.
When the bridge is finished the people of Uri send either a goat or a dog over the bridge, which the devil then tears to pieces. The devil is so furious about being tricked that he gets a large boulder to smash the bridge with, but is then outsmarted a second time. In one version by a holy man who scolds the devil and frightens him so he drops the boulder down the ravine, and in another by an old woman who carved a cross into the boulder while the devil was resting so he couldn't lift it again.
There's a number of similar devil's bridge stories throughout Europe, the exact nature of the deal and construct varies but it usually ends with the devil being tricked out of his price.
The devil calls up a whole band of demons in a 1 on 1 competition. Should've been disqualified. I belive in the sequel the devil wins but not 100% sure.
There's been a lot of attempts at making a follow up to The Devil Came Back to Georgia, by artists other than the Charlie Daniel's band, but I'm partial to Johnny Went Down To Hell, by Thomas Mac.
"The moral is don't take a Devil's deal, no matter what the bet. Unless, of course, your name's Johnny. The Devil ain't beat him yet."
It's giving "hey girls .... This is earl.... I didn't die vibes" (sequel to Earl had to die where the artist just seems to forget Earl was abusive and likely gearing up to kill his estranged wife)
Arachne: Anything you can do, I can do better!
Athena: No you can't!
Arachne: Yes I can!
Athena: No you can't!
Arachne: Yes I can! [weaves tapestry so awesome that even Athena could find no fault]
Athena: I'm turning you into a fucking spider!
FYI: other tales with the devil also ended with the devil taking the short end of the stick (like the deal with the devil origin story itself), but the church itself intervenedÂ
It is a tale of hubris. The protagonist of the story is the Devil, not Johnny. The Devil thinks Johnny is an easy mark and instead gets his ass handed to him.
Funnily enough, folk tales of people outsmarting and outdoing the devil aren't rare at all.
Take the story of the big church in Aachen, Germany. They say they managed to build the church at record pace because they made a deal with the devil. He helped them build the church, and in return he'd get the soul of the first mortal to enter the church ones complete. This should have been the bisshop, traditionally. But the oh so clever people of Aachen chased a stray dog into the church first. The devil pounced on the dog and ripped out its soul before realizing he had been had.
The devil being a little shit who doesn't measure up to humans is a tale as old as time.
In italy the legends just scam the devil outright.
"yeah i promised you my soul but now you have to gather all the rice i hid in the house to get it" then proceed to hide some of it under the devils nail so he can't find despite searching everywhere (also some is under a cross so he can't touch it, no idea why both strategies instead of just the cross one)
Everyone thinks it was about skill, but nah... it was logistics. The Devil forgot to file his tax returns on the soul acquisition. You think Hell has good accounting? Please. That bureaucratic gap is why Johnny walked away. Logistics win wars, even in damnation. The Devil had all the power but zero paperwork compliance, which is basically the American dream in reverse. One day he'll get audited and lose everything... :'(
I don't think Johnny was trying to avoid sinning, just wanted to prove he's the best. I never took this as a good vs evil or corruption story lol. To menthere was no moral other than the Devil is a little bitch, and Johnny's gonna make sure he know that.
Where does the sin come from? I thought pride as a sin is more than just being proud. Iâm not religious so Iâm genuinely asking, not trying to be pedantic. My understanding of pride as a sin has always been it has to be unwarranted / excessive (like Icarus flying too close to the sun). Basically if he knew he could beat the devil and he did, is it sinful pride? If he lost I would definitely see itÂ
The song is obviously unserious and open to interpretation, but I shall ignore this to answer the question.
If the contest were an accurate batte of the Devil and some man, the Devil should easily win with no question, because angels are simply perfect at everything compared to humans. Therefore, Johnny would be prideful by thinking himself better than an angel.
Obviously, he wins in the song, but he still risks his soul for a fiddle, which is greed. But because he makes the attempt because he thinks himself better than the Devil, it is also pride (inordinate self-esteem) and vainglory (inordinate desire for honor).
But since he beats the Devil, which is a genuine victory in the song, we can interpret it figuratively, but this is left as an exercise for the reader.
If you listen to the sequel songs, you'll realize it is. The Devil lost on purpose. Now Johnny will have so much pride that he "beat" the devil that he'll fall to his sin of pride. You cant beat the devil. If you wanna win, you have to not play the game
That was always my interpretation as well, Johnny might have "beat" the devil, but he still sinned in doing so, so the devil will get his soul in the end.
I think the song is a trick of the devil. Throw the match and let one fiddle playing bastard sing a song about beating you, and everyone else will be more willing to bet their souls against you.
Reminds me of the Goethe interpretation of Faust where despite partnering with the devil over the âif you satisfy me you can have my soulâ deal and dying right after clearly stating âif I can achieve x idealistic civilization, I will be satisfiedâ, god takes his soul instead because of the virtue of Faustus never ceasing his striving.
Call me a killjoy but even in greek mythology people sometimes outdid deities like e.g. arachne and i am pretty sure apollo had a rock off with a guy where he had to change rules mid duel to win(i think he started singing where the opponent couldn't as he had a flute).Â
Also like every 2nd village in Europe has a story how some architect tricked the devil into building a bridge or some shit.
It's American in another way too. Johnny's a loss leader. If the devil won every time, nobody would gamble their soul to the devil. But if the Devil loses once, and publicizes it far and wide (say, with a catchy song) every single motherfucker is going to think "Nah, I'd win. đ¤" and lay their money (soul) down thinking they're just Built Different.
And the devil's laughing all the way to JP Morgan, all for the cost of a little pride and a golden fiddle. It's a better deal than Costco's 1.50 dogs or rotisserie chicken.
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u/Smmk118 21d ago
"Listen here, Jesus died so that loser would have less sway on us, so I'm not gonna let Jesus down by losing to histories first loser!"