It may be a good thing that Charlie Daniels did not live to hear Nickelback’s newly released cover of “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” just for the language issues. By performing the 1970s smash live in later years, the famous conservative Daniels would sing the climax line “You son of a bitch” as “You son of a gun” (as it was also heard in the original single radio editing) … so he might not be cotton to Chad Kroeger by changing from “Let me show you how it’s done” to “Let me show you how the f – it’s done.”
But the song would of course not come out at all, if not in memory of the deaths of Daniels, who died on July 6 at the age of 83. The Nickelback version is not a newly recorded one, but had actually been in the spotlight for years. As the band explained on their Facebook page, ‘A few years ago we recorded a recording of’ The Devil Went Down To Georgia ‘during a studio session with our good friend Dave Martone. It was a fun song to capture and bring back so many good memories for all of us. When Charlie Daniels passed away last month, the world lost a music icon. We hope our version brings half as much fun as his for us and so many others. “
If you’re wondering if Nickelback brought in, say, Lindsay Stirling or anyone else to provide some crazy fiddle skills, well, apparently that’s an F-word that the group the want to prevent. It takes all the electric guitars in this all-metallic upgrade. Kroeger once said that “I will sit down and have a conversation with each shredder”, and that is exactly what he is doing, with Martone participating. The resulting track writes “Guitar Center in Woodland Hills” more than “Georgia,” per se.
“A lot of people think we’re just a band playing the gushy love song stuff, but all of us have a metal-head streak,” Mike Kroeger told Entertainment Tonight Canada. ‘So what we’ve decided is, we’ll make it heavy and actually sound a little bit angry. Give it a little more of a darker kind of tone. ”
That’s Nickelback’s version of “Devil” maybe even the personification of pure evil? That may be something fans of the band and their famous legions of detractors might actually agree. Watch the animated video that accompanies the new release and decide for yourself if it is intentional or accidentally satanic.
