Halloween Tunes: “Give the Devil His Due”—“The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band



Photo: Selbstporträt mit fiedelndem Tod by Arnold Boecklin


This fiddlin’ tune is available on Freegal.

So we know it’s about a boy named Johnny who defeats the devil in a fiddling duel. But what’s all the stuff about the chicken in the bread pan and the rising sun?

Here are your answers, according to Wikipedia:

• Fire on the mountain, run boys run- from Fire on the Mountain, a bluegrass fiddle tune dating to at least the early 19th century.
• The devil's in the house of the rising sun- reference to The House of the Rising Sun, an American folk song
• Chicken in the bread pan pickin' out dough/Granny does your dog bite? No, child no is an old folk rhyme.