Interesting tidbits:
I was working as a DJ just out of college in a rural radio station that played country in the mornings and crossover in the afternoons. This was the most misnamed requested song to ever hit the request line. It was usually some variation of “The Devil In The House With The Rising Sun”.
The radio airplay copy had two distinct differences. The song had been cut down to under 3:30 because you didn’t get airplay back then if your song was longer than 3-1/2 minutes (mega-stars excepted) and the phrase “son of a bitch” was replaced with “son of a gun”.
The edgier FM stations would get the longer version off the album with “son of a bitch” in the lyrics while most AM stations and mainstream FM stations stuck to the shorter “son of a gun” version.
TDWDTG was a huge hit and made the Charlie Daniels Band a name on both country and pop stations but it was ultimately a novelty song and couldn’t sustain him as a consistent chart-topper although he has always been a popular performer in clubs and tours.
Thanks, that is interesting.
I was a country music fan and remember when it came out, would always listen for which version it was.