Devil Inside Trivia Quiz

Answer: To Beat The Devil

It's hard to believe that the man responsible for such classic hits as "Me & Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Morning Coming Down" would have had doubts about the quality and acceptability of his work. The need for security is exposed within the line "When no-one stood behind me but my shadow on the floor".

Fortunately for Kris he had forged a strong bond with June and Johnny Cash who provided him with the encouragement and promotion that he needed. Kris even acknowledges their support within the introduction to the song.
The track appears on Kris' debut album simply titled "Kristofferson" and was released as a single in 1970. It failed to chart but it remains a song that features regularly in Kristofferson's compilation albums and greatest hits packages. Poetically it is one of the best songs that Kristofferson has crafted.

"You see the Devil haunts a hungry man, if you don't wanna join him you got to beat him".

"Me and The Devil Blues" was initially recorded by Robert Johnson and has since been covered by such blues luminaries as Eric Clapton and Peter Green. "Runnin' With The Devil" appears on Van Halen's 1978 debut album and "Satan's Bed" was recorded by Pearl Jam for their 1994 "Vitalogy" album.

Answer: Robert Mitchum

Hell is so hot and dry that the Devil has developed a mighty thirst. As a consequence he has now set his sights on young Lucas Doolan who is racing through the back roads trying to deliver his load of moonshine and, in the process, elude the revenuers.
The song was developed from the movie of the same name in which Robert Mitchum plays the role of Lucas. As well as singing the song Mitchum is also credited as being a co-writer of the track, in partnership with composer Jack Marshall. The song managed to make its way onto Billboard's Hot 100 on two separate occasions - once in 1958 and then again in 1962. In total it spent 21 weeks in the charts.

"There was moonshine, moonshine to quench the Devil's thirst
The law they swore they'd get him but the Devil got him first ...".

Answer: Spanish Train (Chris DeBurgh)

Chris DeBurgh does not draw a long bow by calling the Devil a cheat. I mean, it's what the Devil does best, especially when he's playing the Lord at poker and the stakes are the souls of the dead.

"But as he spoke, from beneath his cloak,
He slipped another ace ....".

As the song winds out it reveals that the Devil and the Lord are now engaged in a game of chess.
"The Devil still cheats and wins more souls
And as for the Lord, well, he's just doing his best ....".

This number, which appears on Chris' second album, "Spanish Train and Other Stories" (1975), was considered offensive and blasphemous in South Africa where a ban was issued against it. The record company, A&M, sued, won and had the ban rescinded.

The Devil does do deals in the other three songs but none of them involve card games. In "Beelzeboss" Tenacious D challenge the Dark One to a musical smackdown - apparently there's a clause in the demon code that prevents him from turning it down. Another musical contest is described by the Charlie Daniels Band in "The Devil Went Down To Georgia" (and in both of these the Demon King is off his game - he doesn't cheat). Finally, in "Titties and Beer" Frank Zappa endeavours to do a deal with Satan in an effort to claim back his female companion and some beer.

Answer: Devil Without a Cause

According to the Kid you need an ego to make it big in this world and, in order to have an ego big enough for success you need to be as bad as the Devil.

He expands this line to claim that he's the significant one and that he's the
"Devil without a cause ... I'm going platinum".
Kid Rock's producers requested that he remove the references to going platinum because they felt that it was too arrogant a statement for an artist whose first three albums failed to significantly set the world on fire. The Kid stood firm and the braggadocio worked. The album became his breakthrough record and is listed by a number of critics as one of the most significant recordings of the 1990's. And yes, it did go platinum, at least ten times.

"It Must Have Been The Devil" is a 1954 single released by Otis Spann that featured BB King on guitar, "Devil's Dance" appears on Metallica's 1997 album "Reload" and "Friend Of The Devil" was recorded by The Grateful Dead in 1970.

Answer: Downbound Train

This is a song that focuses on alcohol abuse. A man gets drunk and passes out on the barroom floor where he dreams that he's on board a train that is being driven by Satan and taking him to Hell.
"The boiler was filled with lager beer
The Devil himself was the engineer".
The man awakes distressed and terrified, swearing never to drink again.

The track was inspired by an old cowboy poem called "Hell Bound Train" and appears as the B-side to Berry's 1955 single "No Money Down". It should not be confused with the Bruce Springsteen track with the same name from his 1984 album "Born in the USA".

"Devil On My Shoulder" is the second single from the album Billy Talent III by the Canadian band Billy Talent. "Driving Down The Darkness" was delivered by the band Devildriver in 2005 and "The Black Rider" is the title track to Tom Waits' 1993 disc.

Answer: The Devil's Right Hand

In the 1970's comedian Flip Wilson introduced one of his catch cries 'The Devil made me do it'. Almost twenty years later Steve Earle has taken these thoughts a step further to encourage his young protagonist to plead that it's not the gun he was holding that killed, it was all the Devil's handy work.
"Not guilty I said, you've got the wrong man
Nothing touched the trigger but the Devil's right hand".

The song appears on Steve Earle's 1988 album "Copperhead Road" which got to number 56 on the Billboard 200 album charts. Steve has also used the song as the title track to a compilation album he released in 2001.

"Devil With The Blue Dress On" was written and recorded by Shorty Long in 1964 but a better known version was released two years later by Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels, which peaked at number four on Billboard's Hot 100. "Angels and Devils" is the title track to Sarah Darling's 2011 album. Fuel's fourth album also bore the same title, however, it does not contain any tracks with that name. "Satan Gave Me a Taco" was recorded by Beck for his 1994 album "Stereopathetic Soulmanure".

Answer: Willie Nelson

The song appears on Nelson's critically acclaimed album "Shotgun Willie" and describes the trials and tribulations of being a musician on the road. He goes on to pine that it is such a nightmare that even the Devil would fail to extract pleasure from it.

"And the Devil shivered in his sleeping bag
He said travelling on the road is such a drag
If we make it home by Friday we can brag
And the devil shivered in his sleeping bag".

Answer: Run With the Devil

Released in 1956 this song was Gene Vincent's follow up single to his debut hit "Be-Bop-A-Lula". It didn't do well for him, failing to chart in both the USA and the UK.
As the song progresses it chronicles a young man trying to shrug off the sins of his past, looking over his shoulder only to see that they're catching up with him. This is reflected in the lines:

"Devil doing ninety nine" and
"Devil now doing a hundred and one".

All the while his chances of escaping his judgement are looking less likely.

While the lyrics indicate that the young man is driving a hot rod in this number, it is only intimated that the Devil is riding something similar. In the other songs above, the Vaudevillians, an Australian band, indicate in the title of their 2008 song that the Dark One drives a Valiant (a Chrysler model). Joe Nichols disagrees stating that the Devil enjoys the ride of a Coupe DeVille (I gather the pun was intended) in his 2002 song "Brokenheartsville" while the band "X", in 1983's "True Love", installed him into a Buick.

Answer: The Devil's Chasing Me

It's not a case of something slipping the Reverend's mind, he simply doesn't want to know about it.
"No, I did not make no deal
So don't wait for me to die".

But the Devil is not one for forgetting and now he's decided to turn the heat on the Reverend Heat.
"And a smile made to deceive
The Devil's chasing me".

Jim Heath, alias the Reverend Horton Heath, describes his sound as country fed punkabilly with a dash of pyschobilly. "The Devil's Chasing Me" appears on his second album "The Full Custom Gospel Sounds of Reverend Horton Heat" which was released in 1993.

"A Devil In The Woods" appears on The Gun Club's second album "Miami" released in 1982, "Shout At The Devil" was the title track and second single to come out of Motley Crue's second album, which was released in 1983 and "Deal With The Devil" is a Judas Priest song that appears on their 2005 disc "Angel of Retribution".

Answer: Cliff Richard

One has to wonder if Cliff is merely lashing out here or if there is some truth in his tale? Is the Devil really a woman Hell bent on destroying the souls of men?
"Beware the Devil woman, she's gonna get you from behind".

With that in mind it's little wonder Cliff Richard sang about the virtues of being a "Bachelor Boy" way back in 1962. "Devil Woman" was released as a single by Richards in 1976 and the number appears on his album from the same year "I'm Almost Famous". A departure from his usual style it peaked at number nine on the UK charts and it became his highest charting single in the USA, reaching number six on Billboard's Hot 100.

Marty Robbins released a similarly titled song in 1962 that made it to number one on Billboard's country charts.