10. "Devil Went Down to Georgia" - Charlie DanielsThe Devil decides to challenge Johnny to a fiddle-playing contest, confident that he is more skillful than the young boy. The terms of the duel are that should Johnny win, he will be given a fiddle made of solid gold, but should the Devil triumph, he gains Johnny's soul. Johnny accepts the terms, proudly telling the Devil that he will regret it as he is "the best there's ever been". The duel commences, with the Devil performing a sinister and powerful piece with the backing of demon musicians. Despite this, the Devil is squarely defeated when Johnny takes his turn to perform. Take that, Devil!
9. "First Mrs. Jones" - Bill Anderson & Porter Wagoner
Sung by both these legendary artists, it's a scary song about a two-time matrimony killer. "Then next thing I recall was walking to the forest / Lookin' for a place to hide her bones /I dug and dug for hours and then I planted flowers / Right on the top of the First Mrs Jones"
8. "Ghost in the Guitar" - Keith Urban. With lyrics like: "And sometimes that old man he comes alive in my hands/ I feel the beating of his sad old broken heart/ Just like there's a ghost in this guitar /A ghost in this guitar", Keith Urban is possessed by the previous guitar owner.
7. "Ghost Riders in the Sky" - Johnny Cash
This song has an interesting storyline. The cowboy is riding out on a dark and windy day when he witnesses a herd of red-eyed cows thundering through the sky. Following the cattle are riders, who try to round them up, but never can quite reach them. This is their fate: to ride forever chasing the devil's herd across the skies. One rider warns the cowboy that if he doesn't change his ways, this too will be his fate.
6. "Midnight In Montgomery" - Alan Jackson
This song talks about a meeting with the Hank Williams' ghost at midnight in Montgomery, Alabama, on the anniversary of his death. Tomorrow, we'll have the music video for this great song on TNS.
5. "Phantom 309" - Red Sovine
A man is hitchhiking and gets picked up by a trucker who says his name is "Big Joe." They drive through the night and Big Joe lets the man off at a truck stop, giving him a dime to buy a cup of coffee on him. When the man goes in and orders his coffee, saying that it's on Big Joe, he learns the story that happened about ten years ago: "Big Joe," avoiding a bus full of children stranded on the highway, turned his wheel so he wouldn't kill them all and in the process was killed himself.
4. "Riding with Private Malone" - David Ball
The story of this song tells about a man who buys a used '66 Corvette and finds it comes with a ghostly soldier named Private Malone. One rainy night, while driving too fast, he misses the curb, and crashes the car. Witnesses to the crash say they saw a soldier pulling him out of the car.
3. "The Guitar" - Guy Clark
“The Guitar” tells of six-string divine intervention. It’s a talking story-song about discovering a pawn shop guitar predestined to be his. It is truly storytelling at it’s very best- the end of the song has the guitar owner bringing down a guitar case that has the new owners name already on it.
2. "The Ride" - David Allan Coe
This song tells another tale of meeting up with the ghost of Hank Williams. This time it's a hitchhiker on his way to Nashville, and the ghost gives him advice on his career, saying it's a long, hard ride.
1. "The Legend of Wooley Swamp" - Charlie Daniels Band
This great song features, murder, revenge and karma. One day, three greedy brothers decided to kill him & steal an old man's money, but when they tried to get away, they got caught in quicksand and are killed as well. Fifty years later, if you go back in the swamp by the shack where he used to live, you can hear the screaming of three young men, and the laughing of one old man.
Ghost Riders in the Sky! Love it.
ReplyDeleteAs a kid, the Wooly swamp scared the ship outta me every night. They played it about once an hour on the local radio station, and I just had to sleep with the radio on.
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