The legendary late Charlie Daniels once dived into the poem that may have inspired his biggest hit, "Devil Went Down to Georgia," before explaining a special edit he made in the studio.
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Charlie Daniels once sat down with the GRAMMY Foundation in 2017, where he unravelled some of the secrets behind his most popular song. When writing the song, he had no idea just how big a hit it was going to become. But he had some sort of understanding that it was going to be a special song.
When looking back, he can't recall the details too meticulously, for he wasn't expecting to have to remember the process decades down the line. However, he can point to one potential point of inspiration for the lyrics and story of the song.
It turns out, The Mountain Whippoorwill, a poem written by poet Stephen Vincent Benét, may have inspired him.
"I was a young fiddle player at the time," he recalled. "I remember reading it ... it
impressed me, quite a bit."
The poem is a very long poem, but it features the fiddle quite prominently. It's very clear where the inspiration would have come from after having read it. Although he pinpoints this very similar piece of literature, he is still unsure whether he was directly inspired by it.
Charlie Daniels Knew He Had Something Special On His Hands
Charlie Daniels had an "inkling" that the song was going to garner attention, as he made an effort to replace a curse word that could have cost the song coverage on the Top 40 radio station.
He explained that the radio was the band's bread and butter at the time, so in case the song took off, they'd need to make sure they didn't shoot themselves in the foot.
"We had enough of an inkling of an idea that we actually punched in the lines 'son of a gun' as opposed to [son of a b---h)," he explained. "Just in case that it should break top 40."
I think subbing the curse was a good idea, as the song really took off, perhaps thanks to expanded radio coverage.
