The Devil in Music

In the well known religious text of the Bible, Ezekiel 28:13 refers to the Devil, saying “the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created” (Ezekiel 28:13, KJV). In terms of poetry, this scripture is a far cry from modern styles and methods; but the theme it carries has somehow endured long enough to find a comfortable place in the music of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Martin Chilton, writing for uDiscover Music, interprets this verse from the Bible as evidence that “Satan was something of a multi-instrumentalist himself, because as well as playing the fiddle, Ezekiel 28:13 states that he had his own instruments (tabrets – small drums – and pipes) built into his very being” (Chilton). Many makers of music have taken this idea to heart, giving the Devil, or some representation of him, featuring roles in songs such as the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy For The Devil” and “The Devil Went Down To Georgia'' by the Charlie Daniels Band. Both examples place the Devil in the real world by personifying him in ways which previously were reserved by the church to warn against the cunning guile of Satan. In the time since the ‘60s and ‘70s, music has developed in many ways, but the Prince of Darkness has remained thematic, either with obscure genres of hardcore rock and roll––or as in recent years––as a symbol of the complex relationship between humanity and evil. The Stones, Charlie Daniels, and many others have personified the Devil in the past, often in barely two-dimensions, as a cartoonish red demon who exists only for the moral of a simple story of good and evil. However, Sam Melo and his band Rainbow Kitten Surprise skillfully give the Devil fathoms of depth and a human quality that make the character unnervingly familiar to the listener. That same humanness makes him dangerous when presented as a mirror to human behavior, as he presents the question of whether “evil” originates internally or is an influence outside ourselves which has been praying on humans since the days of Eden.

I am of course reference the 2018 song “It’s Called: Freefall” by Rainbow Kitten Surprise. The song is only two minutes and thirty-two seconds in length, but into that short time Melo and his bandmates pack three verses of pure poetry, a catchy and musically dense hook, and an extremely satisfying guitar solo section to end with. While the beauty of good music lies in the cooperation of all its parts, a guitar solo––certainly not “Freefall’s”––would not strike as resonant a chord with listeners if the lyrics preceding it did not build up to the solo, to that cathartic moment of released intensity. At this time, I would like to recommend my readers to go listen to this song (via the YouTube link found in the attached bibliography) if they are at all interested in the full musical experience, as I will be assessing solely the lyrics as written poetry for the remainder of these pages. Because “Freefall” is now poetry like any other poetry to us, we can observe it as such, courtesy of the Genius Lyrics user Solomacron.

Called to the Devil and the Devil did come

I said to the devil, "Devil do you like drums?

Do you like cigarettes, dominoes, rum?"

He said only "sundown, Sundays, Christmas"

Some days end when I need a few friends

Now and again I could never hope to keep them

Thought to give friends what I thought that they wanted

Never had they needed a good friend as I've been

Don't get me venting on friends who resent you

'Cause all you've ever done is been a noose to hang on to

They thought was a necklace and reckless they fell into hell

Where you both hang with nothing to do but

Scratch, kick, let gravity win like

Fuck this, let gravity win like

You could leave it all behind

Even the Devil needs time alone sometimes

You could let it all go, you could let it all go

It's called: freefall

It's called: freefall

Called to the Devil and the Devil said quit

Can't be bothered better handle your shit

Keep about your wits man, keep about your wits

Know yourself and who you came in with

Can I sit down I've been hustling all day

I can't even count how many souls I've made

Off the same deal you on

Remember, the Devil ain't a friend to no one

But fine, true

You could let it all go, you could let it all go

It's Called: Freefall

It's Called: Freefall

Called to the Devil and the Devil said

Hey! Why you been calling this late?

It's like 2 A.M. and the bars all close at 10 in hell, that's a rule I made

Anyway, you say you're too busy saving everybody else to save yourself

And you don't want no help, oh well

That's the story to tell

Like you could let it all go, you could let it all go

It's called: freefall

It's called: freefall

You could let it all go, you could let it all go

Cause ain't shit free but falling out

And that shit's easy let me show you how, it's like…

When attempting to dissect song lyrics as a poem, one issue that may arise is that of the exact intent behind written function such as punctuation and quotations. Musicians do not often publish their own lyrics in written form, and so fans are left to create their own interpretations of intended meanings from cues such as intonation and pauses in the phrases being sung. I have chosen to use the lyrics published online by Genius Lyrics, and they will be the sole source I quote from.

The song opens by immediately contradicting every preconception we have go the Devil character by way of him turning down paragons of a sinful life, except for times when they are most sinful. In the following stanza it becomes unclear who exactly is speaking, whether it’s the Devil himself who seems to struggle with maintaining relationships or if it’s us, the listener/speaker who is confiding in the Devil. For our intents and purposes, we will assume that because quotation marks aren’t present, as they are in the first stanza, that the Devil is not the one speaking are we are being given the catalyst for the story of how the speaker came to meet the Devil. That is, “recklessly… fell into hell / Where you both hang with nothing to do” (Genius). From this we can infer loneliness, a feeling which Melo’s Devil can sympathize with, but previous Devils in music have not had the capacity of character to. This sympathy of the Devil creates a kind of connection with the Devil––another layer of humanity muddling the line between evil and ourselves.

As I have mentioned before, the song’s impactful end comes after, and thanks to, the final line; “Cause ain't shit free but falling out / And that shit's easy let me show you how, it's like…” (Genius). However, with the wail of the lead guitar to finish the story, the final line seems extremely suspenseful, almost like the reader is left hanging from an edge, in freefall even. As the title suggests, the central idea of the poem is the idea of suspension, at times in a gruesome sense, but also as symbolical. Working backwards, the repeated chorus line “you could let it all go” (Genius) is one example of possibly more metaphorical freefall, as the “all” could refer to all of life, or all the normal daily worries and stress of life. This possibility of two interpretations reoccurs throughout the poem, directing the reader back and forth between two levels of tone; one being suicide, as it’s stated implicitly in lines nine and ten; and the other being almost entirely abstract and fantastic, much like a sympathetic relationship with the Devil.

This humanization of a previously entirely evil character such as the Devil is one of the most interesting developments of modern music, led by “Freefall”. In past decades, most music concerning the Devil was in one of two categories; either borderline satanic worship or referring to the Devil in the classical or theological sense. “It’s Called: Freefall” follows neither of these ideologies, as it presents the Devil as relatable and somewhat conversational. This trend of humanizing evil began with the Rolling Stones placing him in historical situations, and the Charlie Daniels Band giving him the human trait of overconfident arrogance, but Rainbow Kitten Surprise and Sam Melo give the Devil a kind of backstory. Like most real-life human beings, he has times when he relaxes, but is all business any time besides “sundown, Sundays, Christmas,” and he even finds “2 A.M.” (Genius) to be an ungodly hour for phone calls. A further example of his reliability to the modern listener can be seen elsewhere in the song; such in the previous verse, where the Devil express all-too-human exhaustion after a long day’s work in asking “Can I sit down I've been hustling all day” (Genius); and extremely clearly in the line “Even the Devil needs time alone sometimes” (Genius). IThe Devil as he is presented to us in this song is unlike one any culture has known before. Melo has crafted him to represent not the sin that humanity must strive to wipe out, but as the natural contrast between good and evil that forms our personalities. The Devil is not a character who is often portrayed with depth, but the poetry of “It’s Called: Freefall” does just that, a task which I believe is sorely needed in much of society. To defeat our sins, we must first recognize them. When sin is a grinning red goblin with horns, the idea is much harder to project onto one’s self. When sin walks and talks like we do, we are much more capable of seeing it in ourselves. And when sin exits with a guitar solo like Melo’s, the feeling of triumph is incomparable.

Works Cited

Chilton, Martin. “The Devil Has The Best Tunes: How Musicians Discovered The Dark Side.” UDiscover Music, 31 Oct. 2020, www.udiscovermusic.com/in-depth-features/the-devil-has-all-the-best-tunes/.

King James Version, Bible Gateway, https://www.biblegateway.com/versions/King-James-Version-KJV-Bible/. Accessed 13 March 2021.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise. “It's Called: Freefall.” Edited by Solomacron, Genius Lyrics, 6 Apr. 2018, genius.com/Rainbow-kitten-surprise-its-called-freefall-lyrics.

Rainbow Kitten Surprise. “It’s Called: Freefall.” YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2WDdccgaDY.