Comparing and Contrasting Goethes Faust and Charlie Danielss the Devil Went Down to Georgia - Research Paper Example

Comparing and Contrasting Goethe’s Faust and Charlie Daniels’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia Introduction Classical music and Goethe’s Faust are two very popular cultural icons. Faust is also very influential in contemporary popular music. The Devil Went Down to Georgia by Charlie Daniels Band throws a fiddler in competition with the demon. The pact between a human and a devil leads to the trading of the soul of that person for demonic returns, carried out anytime and anywhere. It is most remarkably depicted by the story of Faust and the character of Mephistopheles. The legend of Faust has greatly inspired the song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. As claimed by one critic (De Vos 118): No contemporary song better illustrates the persistence of the “Devil as fiddler” than the 1979 country-rock hit “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” by the Charlie Daniels Band. The Devil encounters a young man “who plays the fiddle hot” and challenges him to a musical duel, the outcome of which is unexpected: After centuries of bargaining, humankind has finally produced a musician whose natural skills surpass the Devil’s. This paper analyzes the similarities and differences between Goethe’s Faust and Charlie Daniels’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It is the contention of this paper that the song has largely adapted the ‘devil wager’ theme while making its subject more straightforward than the complex Faust play. Gambling with the Devil In the song, the devil journeys to the southern state to collect souls, and chooses to compete against a native fiddle titleholder (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem 125): Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the Devil his due: I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, “cause I think I’m better than you.” The boy said: “My name’s Johnny, and it might be a sin, But I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, ‘cause I’m the best that’s ever been’. The tune is made up of two instrumental pauses ushered by Charlie Daniels himself on fiddle; every break symbolizes the performance of one of the competitors. The song of the devil has no actual, genuine tune, but an eerie melody that Daniels attained by overdubbing some parts of his own performance with the fiddle. Johnny performs a rendition of the old song called Fire on the Mountain. His melody is presented in the song through the below puzzling verses (Daniels 10): Fire on the mountain, run boys run Devil’s in the house of the rising sun Chicken’s in the bread pan pecking out dough “Granny, does your dog bite?” “No, child, no.” When every fiddler has performed his melody, the devil has to concede his defeat. He gives the golden fiddle to Johnny, and leaves as a loser. Charlie Daniels, in creating this song, was obviously inspired by folk stories about the demon taking part in fiddling competitions, which have been popular in the U.S. for more than a century. Charles M. Skinner documented such a story, narrated by a Black fiddler called Joost in New York, perhaps in the middle of the 19th century. Similar to numerous devil and ghost tales, in the story of Skinner the demon is chased off by the devotion of Joost in performing a hymn, and by the coming of dawn (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem 128). Nevertheless, in other renditions of the story, the demon is easily conquered by grander musicianship. Still in relation to The Devil Went Down to Georgia, consider, for instance, a rendition obtained by Herbert Halpert (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem 128): Old Sammy Giberson, he was playin’ to a dance, and after he got done, he said he could beat the devil. So—on his road home, he come to a bridge—he had to cross a bridge. And the Old Man appeared to him right on that bridge—that’s the Devil hisself. “I understand,” he said, “that you can beat the Devil playin’ the fiddle.” “Well,” Old Sammy says, “that’s what I said and that’s what I meant.” So they went at it, and by God, Sammy played every piece the Devil did, and the Devil played every one that he did, except one, and the Old Sammy heard the tune comin’ through the air, and that’s where he beat him. The Devil couldn’t play it and Old Sammy could. That’s it, that all of it. Derived from an old tale, The Devil Went Down to Georgia is hence an illustration of folktale being changed through melody. However, there are also certain, particular parts of folktale implanted within the bigger story. For instance, to understand the apparently senseless verse that presents Johnny’s melody, it is important to understand first the remarks of the folklorist Alan Jabbour for the Fire on the Mountain (Bendix & Hasan-Rokem 128-9): The tune seems to be associated with a cluster of playful rhymes and jingles used in children’s songs, play-party songs, and courting songs across the early frontier. The jingles in turn give rise to many of the bewildering array of titles that has turned up for this tune. Some representative examples are… “Granny Will Your Dog Bite”… [and] “Chicken in the Bread Tray.” It can be deduced from this that much of the above statements from the Fire on the Mountain verse are of implanted folktale, also pieces of old verses related to the melody Johnny plays, and another name for the melody itself—“The second line is the title of an American ballad, “House of the Rising Sun,” with the Devil added to it; this cleverly makes the whole stanza thematically relevant to the larger song” (Patterson 45). Ultimately, Fire on the Mountain, as an old fiddle song in the Americas, is part of a folktale itself. Charlie Daniels, in his song The Devil Went Down to Georgia, has hence captured how music and folktale work together. By performing an old American fiddle melody, the song emphasizes folk music, which is combination of music and folktale. By integrating this melody into a bigger structure that fits it components of saleable rock and country, and by fitting in old tunes and alternative titles, it demonstrates the reworking of old folk wisdom and folk varieties into new musical perspectives (Patterson 46-47). Most importantly, by adopting a very popular legend—Goethe’s Faust—it proves that there is also ‘literature’ in music. By adopting Faust, it illustrates that narratives can influence the creation of a melody. For instance, The Devil Went Down to Georgia shows the moral conflict embedded in Goethe’s Faust (Schafer 30): The Devil went down to Georgia, he was looking for a soul to steal He was in a bind ‘cos he was way behind: he was willin’ to make a deal. When he came across the young man sawin’ on a fiddle and playing’ it hot. And the devil jumped upon a hickory stump and said: “Boy let me tell you what: “I bet you didn’t know it, but I’m a fiddle player too. And if you’d care to take a dare, I’ll make a bet with you. Now you play a pretty good fiddle, boy, but give the devil his due: I bet a fiddle of gold against your soul, ‘cos I think I am better than you.” The boy said: “My name’s Johnny and might be a sin, But I’ll take your bet, you’re gonna regret, ‘cos I’m the best that’s ever been.” As stated in the song, the demon seemingly went to Georgia. Later activities of fiddling, sexual pursuit, and specific moral degradation would take place. Both Faust and The Devil Went Down to Georgia are filled with conflicts and paradoxes. Both contain musical verses and lack an unhappy ending. Both Faust and Johnny cannot be regarded as traditionally tragic characters. Indeed, their typical longing for wisdom and experience resembles the characteristics of romantic age heroes. The desires of Faust and Johnny pulled them toward paradise, but they are also strongly engrossed in the physical realm. It is pointless to attempt at figuring out the ‘actual’ sense of Faust, or the worldview it espouses. Goethe has formed a small-scale version of life, making an attempt to protect its vigor, its conflicts, and its intricacy. On the other hand, at first glance, Charlie Daniels’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia is somewhat straightforward—a fiddling competition between Johnny and the Devil. However, there is more to the song than meets the eye. The use of American South rhymes is one of the puzzling aspects of the song. Still, both the narrative and the song are meant to be enjoyed, not analyzed. One of the major conflicts shown in Goethe’s Faust is between experience and learning. Faust turns down learning for life, yet it would be erroneous to think that Goethe clearly promotes this idea. Mephistopheles, who is normally both clever and honest, cautions him against this interest in pure experience. Faust represents Goethe, just like how Johnny embodies Charlie Daniels. Both Faust and The Devil Went Down to Georgia are very amusing and engaging, but only if the reader or audience makes sense of its thoughts and allusions. Faust and Johnny is the typical contemporary western man who forms his own identity and his world through pure determination, thus achieving the grandest goal of humanity, fulfilling the objective or purpose of every human endeavor, which is viewed as the self-attainment of personal excellence, the utmost refinement of an individual’s inherent talent. However, Faust and Johnny also embody a more traditional perspective of humanity and, in the case of Faust alone, life’s purpose. Goethe’s Faust and Charlie Daniels’s Johnny go through a development carrying them outside idealism to a fundamentally realist worldview. The audience is introduced to Faust, the elderly professor, beneath the tapered gothic cellars of his laboratory and study. He is on the verge of complete hopelessness and has made a decision to take his own life. The root of his deep misery is the thought that he has been unsuccessful in his goal in life. Faust had dedicated all his life to what may be referred to as the gnostic pursuit which is the attainment of pure wisdom, a worldly view of the heavenly image. Faust believes he could achieve this goal through his own single-minded efforts, without the help of the divine or saintly. The pride implied in such a pursuit is complemented by the uncompromising resolve of Faust to commit suicide when such hardly possible mission fails. Similarly, Charlie Daniels’s Johnny is also in pursuit of experience and knowledge, although not in a profound, philosophical way like that of Faust. Johnny’s quest, as revealed in the song, is to defend his title as the best fiddle player in town. He would do anything-- even agree to a devil’s wager-- just to prove to the world that he is the best. Not like Faust who is brimming with uncertainty and despair, Johnny is enthusiastic, lively, and full of hope. In other words, Johnny is certain that he can achieve his goal while Faust largely doubts that he can fulfill his life’s mission. It seems that Faust lost his confidence in his own ability to pursue his goals successfully whereas Johnny retained that same confidence in his own talent as a fiddle player. Goethe has deeply changed the customary contract or deal with the devil of the Faustus myth into a more vibrant, less fixed bet. Faust will be ruined, hence the conditions of the wager, if the devil can successfully push him into a condition of full satisfaction. This agreed upon, Faust is carried to a sorcerer’s pantry where a magic tonic changes him into a very young man. The offers the devil presents Faust are power, lust, and gluttony. The partying with students is boring for Faust; hence Mephistopheles thinks he should turn to more vigorous activities, like sex. Here, as well, are three aspects. Faust is lured with Gretchen, who embodies the model of innocent, unpolluted German chastity, then with pure lust, when the demon performed his yearly gathering with all his sorceresses, and finally with Helen of Troy, the model of traditional beauty. Faust refuses to take part in the immoral acts with the sorceresses. However, with Helen and Gretchen, Mephisto almost attains success. Mephisto did not really succeed because Faust is not only consumed by lust. Faust feels genuine affection and respect for Gretchen, although not quite intensely as to stop him from leaving her when he impregnated her. Also, Faust recognizes in Helen not only an object of lust, but a perfect embodiment of beauty. However, in the final analysis, not feminine beauty or ladylike innocence can be the spring of ultimate contentment for Faust (Hedges 82). To marry Gretchen and live in the constricted limits of German city life would be very limiting. Power, which is the devil’s third offer, carries the reader to the core of the German political system, to the Holy Roman Emperor’s court, where, with assistance from the demon, Faust is appointed as the trusted adviser of the emperor (Hedges 82-83). However, as long as the ruler reigns, the position of Faust will continuously be that of a subordinate. This is unacceptable to Faust. Faust wanted to be a ruler in his own right, hence he is granted a land. Technically, apparently, he is still subordinate to the ruler, but on his land Faust is the unquestionable ruler. Once more there are three factors to be taken into consideration, three factors by which Faust tries to acquire the ‘absolute’. The first is by means of intellectual wisdom; second is through emotions or feelings; and, third is through action (Goethe 18). Faust is not contented with only discovering the truth. Faust will use this knowledge, apply it in real life. For Faust, action represents a person’s obligation to acknowledge this world and work ingeniously and resourcefully in it, thus summing up on a human plane the heavenly deed of creation. Johnny, just like Faust, through action—that is, through fiddling—makes life important and full of meaning for himself and to those surrounding him. If Faust sees his new mission as the creation of new territories for his people, constructing infrastructures, and building cities, Johnny sees his purpose as the best fiddler in the town. It is a person’s obligation to acknowledge this world and operate in its spatial and temporal boundaries. However, unlike Johnny who is very confident in his ability, Faust understands that in the humbleness of acceptance rests as well acceptance of the reality that the human endeavor will certainly not attain perfection and completion on earth. Every human struggle, Faust learns through painful experience, will come with misery, anxiety, guilt, desire, and precaution. And because Faust’s exercise of power is in the end modest and temperate and aimed selflessly toward the benefit of other people, the third and most powerful lure of the devil Mephistopheles brings Faust not to damnation but to redemption or salvation. Faust, just like Johnny, has won the bet. Both Faust and The Devil Went Down to Georgia show the downfall or defeat of the devil against humanity. Faust envisions the future. His land will be a united province peopled by free, wealthy and diligent citizens. Faust declares in his death bed (Hedges 49): And so, ringed all about by perils, here/ Youth, manhood, age will spend their strenuous year. Such teeming would I see upon this land/ On acres free among free people stand. I might entreat the fleeting minute: Oh tarry yet, thou art so fair! My path on earth, the trace I leave within it/ Eons untold cannot impair. Foretasting such high happiness to come, I savor now my striving’s crown and sum. Faust is then deserving of redemption. However, both Faust and Johnny are not redeemed by their own efforts only. On the part of Faust, grace is required, and on Johnny, a divine gift is needed and granted. On the other hand, Faust in the end accepts in all humbleness the human limitation. This is what Johnny has failed to do—he, even at long last, still clings to the thought that he is the best fiddle player that has ever been (Canfield et al. 138): Johnny said, Devil just come on back If you ever wanna try again I done told you once you son of a gun I’m the best there’s ever been But Faust, in contrast, surrenders to his weaknesses (Goethe 289): Could I but clear my path at every turning Of spells, all magic utterly unlearning; Were I but Man, with Nature for my frame, The name of human would be worth the claim. Faust understands that interconnection, space, and time, made aware to people thru the intellect and the senses, are not constraints to human achievement, but their prerequisites, the restrictions by which, and only by which, the action is possible. Faust is redeemed through grace, while Johnny is saved by his God-given talent. However, Faust understands that there is no worldly paradise, that every human endeavor is likely to fail and sustain remorse. It is correct that Faust does not have Christian faith in a rigid, doctrinaire way, just like his creator—Goethe. On the other hand, Johnny of The Devil Went Down to Georgia is a product of Charlie Daniels’s exposure to folk literature. As he stated in one of his interviews, “I don’t know where it [The Devil Went Down to Georgia] came from, but it just did. Well, I think I might know where it came from, it may have come from an old poem called ‘The Mountain Whippoorwill’ that Stephen Vincent Benet wrote many, many years ago (1925) that I had in high school” (Daniels 28). Nevertheless, even though different in source, inspiration, or origin, it is still undeniable that both Goethe and Charlie Daniels have one purpose in mind—to expose human weakness and how to overcome adversities through human intellect and talent, and divine assistance. Conclusions Goethe’s Faust has inspired a wide array of academic disciplines, especially literature, philosophy, and music. One of the most popular examples of Faust’s impact on music is Charlie Daniels’s The Devil Went Down to Georgia. The song talks about the devil’s fiddling contest against Johnny. Likewise, Faust is about a man who was tempted by the devil, though in a more profound way. The song is somewhat more straightforward than Faust whose plot is much more complex. However, considering the story behind the writing of the song, it seems that there are subtle messages embedded within the song. It seems that Johnny is a representation of Charlie Daniels himself. The similarities between Faust and The Devil Went Down to Georgia abound. But there are many differences as well, since the song is a mere adaptation of the book, such as the nature of the wager between the devil and the man. Works Cited Bendix, Regina & Galit Hasan-Rokem. A Companion to Folklore. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2012. Print. Canfield, Jack et al. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Country Music: The Inspirational Stories behind 101 of Your Favorite Country Songs. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2011. Print. Daniels, Charlie. The Devil Went Down to Georgia. New York: Peachtree Publishers, 1985. Print. De Vos, Gail. What Happens Next? Contemporary Urban Legends and Popular Culture. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. Print. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang. Faust: A Tragedy. New York: Norton, 1976. Print. Hedges, Inez. Framing Faust: Twentieth-Century Cultural Struggles. New York: SIU Press, 2009. Print. Patterson, R. Gary. Take a Walk on the Dark Side: Rock and Roll Myths, Legends, and Curses. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2008. Print. Schafer, Stephanie. Manifestations of Collective Identity in Country Music—Cultural, Regional, National. Hamburg: Diplomarbeiten Agentur, 2011. Print. Read More