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Johnny admits to knowing that taking the bet was a sin and commits it anyway. Johnny gets the golden fiddle, but the devil gets his soul in the end anyway. What's 60 more years to an eternal being? The song can still be a cautionary tale you just need to finish it.
Johnny admits to knowing that taking the bet was a sin and commits it anyway.
No, he admits that it might be a sin.
The boy said, "My name's Johnny and it might be a sin
But I'm gon' take your bet, you're gonna regret, I'm the best there's ever been"That means he's acknowledging its a sin but he will do it anyways. You are thinking it says it might be a sin or might not, but thats not how the sentence goes.
I definitely read it as an acknowledgement of a risk rather than an admission of wrong.
Either way he's saying it doesnt make a difference, if it was a sin or not he'd still do it.
There's a big difference between saying "I understand this is a sin, but I'm doing it anyway" versus "I think this might be a sin, but I'm doing it anyway."
I dont see a difference in intent at all. Can you explain that? Theres not some loophole left in the word might, context matters.
I don't know how to explain it more clearly. "It might snow tomorrow" doesn't mean it will snow tomorrow, it means there is a possibility. It isn't a loophole lol.
But if I said, "it might snow tomorrow, but I'm going to work no matter what", then you could safely say that I plan to drive in the snow if the situation arises.
In this case the situation did arise, johnny was just being cheeky, he absolutely knew it was a sin, but his pride wouldnt allow him to deny the challenge because he believed he was better and could prove it.
The sentence can be interpreted either way.
Point kinda holds, though. Ignoring the long-term consequences for short-term gain seems to also feature heavily in America.
The county was founded by generations of people who came here with little thought to long term consequences, so it tracks
ah yes, that short term Constitution that never held up /s
That was the second one. The first one was the Articles of Confederation. Lasted 8 years.
Hell, even the constitution is like a handful of good ideas, some terrible ones, and a README about how to make a pull request to add more features.
Yep only in America
🙄
Eh? The wager was Johnny either gets the fiddle or loses his soul, why would he go to hell anyway?
No human is without sin, after all.
Exactly. Johnny wins the contest, so he gets the fiddle. If he had lost, he would have forfeited his soul.
Win or lose, taking the bet at all is a sin, and Johnny aknowleges this in the song. Plenty of protestants (the target audience) see this as reason enough to go to hell.
Now you could argue about forgiveness or confession or whatever the fuck but the stage has been set for Johnny to go to hell even though he won.
"Here's your fiddle. See you in 80 years".
I think its a cautionary tale about using evil even when you think you're good and right. The devil doesnt play fair, and always wins.
It's not a protestant belief that a single sin makes you irredeemable and sends you to hell.
Nor a Catholic belief...
They didnt say that. Do we still call these strawmen?
Yes they did.
Win or lose, taking the bet at all is a sin, and Johnny aknowleges this in the song. Plenty of protestants (the target audience) see this as reason enough to go to hell.
[...]
"Here's your fiddle. See you in 80 years".
Well, Daniels wrote a sequel in which the devil comes back to try again. That pretty much negates this theory.
Also, Daniels wrote it in the middle of a recording session for the sole reason that he realized they forgot to write a fiddle song for the album they were recording. So I wouldn’t ascribe too much intention to anything.