The Devil Went Down To Newport
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Tony Millionaire's artwork for the song
| song name | The Devil Went Down to Newport (Totally Rocking) |
| artist | Mono Puff |
| releases | Unsupervised, The Devil Went Down To Newport (EP), TMBG Clock Radio |
| year | 1996 |
| first played | June 26, 1996 (19 known performances) |
| run time | 3:46 |
| sung by | John Flansburgh, Mike Viola backs |
Trivia/Info
- John Flansburgh wrote about this song in the Unsupervised Libretto:
This two chord wonder was originally recorded in demo form by the legendary, now-defunct New England combo the Clamdiggers. Members of that band were in the group Mente, who performed a locally notorious song called 'Bobby Orr' ('greatest hockey player in the world- bahhhh-none!'). Mike [Viola] was channeling Eddie Van Halen during this take. That's my best/worst John Entwistle impersonation on the fuzz bass at the end.
- The song was written by Clamdiggers members Nat Freedberg and Ted Widmer, and is a take on "The Devil Went Down to Georgia," a 1979 song by The Charlie Daniels Band. The Clamdiggers were from New England, so the 'Newport' in the song is likely Newport, Rhode Island, where the curls are not particularly heinous. After leaving The Clamdiggers, Widmer went on to work as a speechwriter for President Bill Clinton, and was actually questioned by the FBI about the satanic messages in this song.[1]
- The Clamdiggers never officially recorded or released this song. Flansburgh knew of the song because he owned one of the band's demo tapes, which was given to him by Brian Dewan.[2] Flansburgh said of covering the song: "When first putting the group [Mono Puff] together, we needed some quick and easy songs to fill out the set."[3]
- Producer Pat Dillett spoke about recording the song in a 1997 interview:
On the song "The Devil Went to Newport," we set up Mike Viola to sing some background vocals. He had never really heard the lyrics to the song and was only going to sing along in the chorus. The song features some really funny lines, so I left his mic open the whole time to catch his reaction to the lyrics as he heard them for the first time. If you listen closely you can hear him giggling throughout in response to several of the pithier lyrics.
- The music video was directed by Norwood Cheek and produced by Shirley Moyers.[4] Flansburgh spoke about the music video in a 2013 Tumblr post: "The alien was a hired actor. Some of his best footage was lost in a terrible technical goof up. The hipster couple I also do not know. We shot at the NYC Subway museum. I never had a pager. And I don't know what happened to that ring exactly but I think it might have broken apart at a show as a part of someones stage wear...."
- The music video's alien is based on the alien in the 1962 Twilight Zone episode "To Serve Man." This episode is also referenced in the Mono Puff song "To Serve Mankind."
- Mono Puff also recorded a slow, funky version of this song, titled "The Devil Went Down To Newport (Totally Remade)," for the 1996 The Devil Went Down To Newport EP.
Song Themes
Accents, Body Parts, Gleeful Irreverence, Music, Religion, Supernatural, Sports, TMBG Remakes, Two Chord Songs, Yes
Videos
- Watch it on
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