Chase the Devil

"Chase the Devil" is a reggae song, recorded in 1976 by Max Romeo, with the backing of Lee "Scratch" Perry's house band, The Upsetters.

Background

Composed by Perry and Romeo, "Chase the Devil" was released on the album War ina Babylon in 1976. Also in 1976, The Upsetters recorded a version with different lyrics. The track, called "Croaking Lizard" and credited to The Upsetters and Prince Jazzbo, was included in their album Super Ape. Later, Perry made a dub remix of both versions, called "Disco Devil".

Meaning

In a BBC interview recorded in 2010 Romeo describes the meaning of the song. He explains that the devil is everything negative in our minds, the iron shirt is our strength of spirit that allows us to cast out the devil.

Track listing

Samples, covers and appearances

Devil

The devil (from Greek: διάβολος or diábolos = slanderer or accuser) is believed in many religions, myths and cultures to be a supernatural entity that is the personification of evil and the archenemy of God and humankind. The nature of the role varies greatly, ranging from being an effective opposite force to the creator god, locked in an eons long struggle for human souls on what may seem even terms (to the point of dualistic ditheism/bitheism), to being a comical figure of fun or an abstract aspect of the individual human condition.

While mainstream Judaism contains no overt concept of a devil, Christianity and Islam have variously regarded the devil as a rebellious fallen angel or jinn that tempts humans to sin, if not committing evil deeds himself. In these religions – particularly during periods of division or external threat – the devil has assumed more of a dualistic status commonly associated with heretics, infidels, and other unbelievers. As such, the devil is seen as an allegory that represents a crisis of faith, individualism, free will, wisdom and enlightenment.

The Devil (Tarot card)

The Devil (XV) is the fifteenth trump or Major Arcana card in most traditional Tarot decks. It is used in game playing as well as in divination.

Symbolism

In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Devil is derived in part from Eliphas Levi's famous illustration "Baphomet" in his Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (1855). In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Devil has harpy feet, ram horns, bat wings, a reversed pentagram on the forehead, a raised right hand and lowered left hand with a torch. He squats on a square pedestal with two naked human demons—one male, one female, with tails who are chained to it. Baphomet has bird wings, goat horns, a raised right hand, lowered left hand, breasts and a torch on his head and also combines human and animal features. Many modern Tarot decks portray the Devil as a satyr-like creature. According to Waite, the Devil is standing on an altar.

In pre-Eliphas Levi Tarot decks like the Tarot of Marseille, the devil is portrayed with breasts, a face on the belly, eyes on the knees, lion feet and male genitalia. He also has bat-like wings, antlers, a raised right hand, a lowered left hand and a staff. Two creatures with antlers, hooves and tails are bound to his round pedestal.

The Devil (play)

Iblis (Azerbaijani: İblis / ابلیس) is a verse play (verse dram), tragedy in four acts of an Azerbaijani poet and playwright Huseyn Javid, written in 1918. Ideological credo of Javid is revealed in the play, a mysthic flaw is strongly expressed and the poet’s thoughts about a problem of human’s happiness followed by the imperialistic war are reflected in the poem.

Initially the tragedy was staged in 1920, by Abbas Mirza Sharifzadeh. It’s noted that, at the beginning of 1920’s the play had a great success. “Iblis” is considered as the first verse play of Azerbaijan, which was put on the stage. It is also noted that the play is significant not only for its complex philosophic character, and also for a romantic style.

The play was published in 1924, for the first time. Later, it was published in 1927, 1959, 1969, 1982, 2001 and 2005. In the Small Soviet Encyclopedia of 1931, the work was called a poem. It is considered one of the best plays of Huseyn Javid.

Roles