High school marching band cancels plans to perform "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
The marching band at C.D. Hylton High School in Prince William County, Virginia, has scrapped plans to perform the Charlie Daniels Band song "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia, after a resident sent a letter suggesting that a song about the devil violates the separation of church and state. Fearing controversy, band director Dennis Brown pulled the song from the band's repertoire. "I was just being protective of my students," he says. "I didn't want any negative publicity for C.D. Hylton High School." However, the decision has created a furor, not only in the community but throughout the nation. Charlie Daniels, composer of the song, believes Mr. Brown should not have given in to a single letter writer. "If people find out that he can be manipulated that easily, he's going to have a hard way to go," Mr. Daniels says. Local residents, parents, and alumni have weighed in attacking censorship, the band director, and the letter writer, Robert McLean. Mr. McLean, who home schools his children, says he merely intended his letter to spark a philosophical debate, not to ruin any student's marching band experience.
Washington PostBy Ian Shapira
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