The C.D. Hylton High School Marching Band will not be playing the Charlie Daniels classic “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” when they perform at the Peach Bowl this year, and all it took to influence the decision was a single letter to the editor.

The Woodbridge, Virginia, school band had been working on the song for months in preparation for their trip to Atlanta, when a letter published in a local daily suggested its talk of Satan ran counter to the separation of church and state. Not wanting to offend anyone, band director Dennis Brown dropped the number. That’s when all hell broke loose.

Parents, friends and enemies have been arguing the issue tirelessly. Even Daniels weighed in, explaining that, as a Christian, nothing he’d write would be pro-devil. Perhaps most embarrassing to the knee-jerk reaction is that Robert McLean, the original “complainant,” wasn’t actually complaining at all. He just wanted to inspire a little debate. In fact, the song, McLean says, “was one of the first 45s I had.”

» Scott Saxon