Speak of the Devil

[Jeremy Kill]

This has got to be one of my most favorite songs by Sum 41. It's funny because the first time I heard it, I liked it simply because it was the most "original" sounding song from Underclass Hero. I judged that by how no one said Speak of the Devil reminded them of another band's song. Later, I learned how the song was written in both the Devil's perspective (first verse and chorus) and Deryck's (second verse and chorus) and I fell in love with the song once again.

Just tonight I learned that the tritones played right before the chorus are known as the "Devil's Tritone" or "Devil's Chord". So musically, lyrically and metaphorically it's all tied together. I didn't know that even though I play guitar because I don't take lessons and never bothered learning any theory.

Why did I create this topic? I just felt like sharing this info and even though Underclass Hero may have been a commercial and critical flub, doesn't mean there wasn't anything cool to be found out. Still, I'm glad Screaming Bloody Murder will be nothing like the last album or any of the others for that matter.

[Mitchell]

I like those kind of hidden things...

Thanks!

[Susanne]

^Me too. That's pretty cool

[Dylan]

i also love this song. i kind of feel like a hypocrite, but Underclass Hero may not be my favourite CD but there are some really good songs on it. and i wish they'd play Speak of the Devil live.

[Hentaiman]

Yeah, I also don't like the CD that much, but it has some nice songs like Speak of the Devil and Count Your Last Blessings which I really like and wish they would play live.

[Jesus Christ Supermarket]

Sounds like a blink song from the smiley album.

[SumGeek]

I've always loved Speak of the Devil. One of my favourites off UH.

[lisaNL]

Speak of the devil is one of my favourites 2, thanks for sharing :)

[Laura-]

WOW. I've always thought that Deryck is a genius (especially) when it comes to music, but after reading this... He's beyond genius.

I fell in love with the song immediately, and it has been one of my favorite songs ever since. Thanks for sharing this, now I can listen to the song and understand it better, the way it is meant to be understood..

[gejmik]

Speak of the Devil was the first song that got me on UH, thanks for sharing I had no idea about that :)

[dff_punk]

Interesting. This is one of my favorite songs too. Not only the chorus is one of the catchiest I have heard from them, but the lyrics are perhaps the most interesting. I read them lots of times and I still cannot quite put my finger on whether Deryck is against or with the devil. The only thing I managed to catch from it that it might be about some inner battle within them, but I still cannot reach a definite conclusion.

[Andyrew004]

Woahh that's pretty interesting. I never looked really deep into it. I just thought it was an intense song musically that had to do with inner demons or something?

[Jeremy Kill]

Woahh that's pretty interesting. I never looked really deep into it. I just thought it was an intense song musically that had to do with inner demons or something?

Yeah, it's still a song about inner demons, just that the "Devil" acts as a metaphor for that inner demon.

Devil = Metaphor for inner demon = alcoholism (What I can only assume the inner demon is from interviews, etc.)

Interesting. This is one of my favorite songs too. Not only the chorus is one of the catchiest I have heard from them, but the lyrics are perhaps the most interesting. I read them lots of times and I still cannot quite put my finger on whether Deryck is against or with the devil. The only thing I managed to catch from it that it might be about some inner battle within them, but I still cannot reach a definite conclusion.

The way the song is arranged, it makes me think that Deryck wants to break away but his entire perspective from the song is only a thought in his head and in reality he is siding with his inner demon. Like the intro and outro is what is going on right now and the rest of the song is what's going on in his mind. He's tempted by the demon, he wants to break free, but in the end he doesn't.

This might be looking too far into things, but it fits with the context of the song. Alcohol, wine more specifically, has been around as far back as 6000 BC ("Before Christ"). Most people who end up being alcoholics say that they drank to forget their problems ("Had forgave you your sins").

[HugoDisasters]

Woahh that's pretty interesting. I never looked really deep into it. I just thought it was an intense song musically that had to do with inner demons or something?

Yeah, it's still a song about inner demons, just that the "Devil" acts as a metaphor for that inner demon.

Devil = Metaphor for inner demon = alcoholism (What I can only assume the inner demon is from interviews, etc.)

Interesting. This is one of my favorite songs too. Not only the chorus is one of the catchiest I have heard from them, but the lyrics are perhaps the most interesting. I read them lots of times and I still cannot quite put my finger on whether Deryck is against or with the devil. The only thing I managed to catch from it that it might be about some inner battle within them, but I still cannot reach a definite conclusion.

The way the song is arranged, it makes me think that Deryck wants to break away but his entire perspective from the song is only a thought in his head and in reality he is siding with his inner demon. Like the intro and outro is what is going on right now and the rest of the song is what's going on in his mind. He's tempted by the demon, he wants to break free, but in the end he doesn't.

This might be looking too far into things, but it fits with the context of the song. Alcohol, wine more specifically, has been around as far back as 6000 BC ("Before Christ"). Most people who end up being alcoholics say that they drank to forget their problems ("Had forgave you your sins").

Interesting view there, Deryck seemed to be in really good shape during the UH era though so i can't really see what time-frame he was speaking about, the Chuck era? Or his past life in general?

[Hentaiman]

Woahh that's pretty interesting. I never looked really deep into it. I just thought it was an intense song musically that had to do with inner demons or something?

Yeah, it's still a song about inner demons, just that the "Devil" acts as a metaphor for that inner demon.

Devil = Metaphor for inner demon = alcoholism (What I can only assume the inner demon is from interviews, etc.)

Interesting. This is one of my favorite songs too. Not only the chorus is one of the catchiest I have heard from them, but the lyrics are perhaps the most interesting. I read them lots of times and I still cannot quite put my finger on whether Deryck is against or with the devil. The only thing I managed to catch from it that it might be about some inner battle within them, but I still cannot reach a definite conclusion.

The way the song is arranged, it makes me think that Deryck wants to break away but his entire perspective from the song is only a thought in his head and in reality he is siding with his inner demon. Like the intro and outro is what is going on right now and the rest of the song is what's going on in his mind. He's tempted by the demon, he wants to break free, but in the end he doesn't.

This might be looking too far into things, but it fits with the context of the song. Alcohol, wine more specifically, has been around as far back as 6000 BC ("Before Christ"). Most people who end up being alcoholics say that they drank to forget their problems ("Had forgave you your sins").

Interesting view there, Deryck seemed to be in really good shape during the UH era though so i can't really see what time-frame he was speaking about, the Chuck era? Or his past life in general?

Probably all his past taking drugs and drinking nonstop before he came to this state of sobriety that he was in while being with Avril, which was around the whole 2006-2009 era, which is when UH was written and recorded, so it's like his clean state of mind after years of alcohol and drug abuse.

[Jeremy Kill]

Lately, I've been listening to this song more than any other song in the past week. I must be going through subconscious Underclass Hero withdrawals or something.