My Top 1000 Songs #705: The Devil Is My Friend

[I've been writing up my Top 1000 songs on a daily basis--you can see them all in descending order by hitting the All My Favorite Songs tag.] 

This delightful little country-romp from the wonderful Jazz Butcher is a bit of a lark, and apparently even was for the band. It was a last-minute b-side recorded for a 1985 single, later showing up on the 1986 Bloody Nonsense collection (my introduction to the band) and, more recently, the exhaustive 2021 compilation Dr. Cholmondley Repents (a must-own!). A distant cousin to the Grateful Dead's "Friend Of The Devil," the song playfully turns US bluegrass into British pub music. Max Eider's guitar gets to shine, while late great frontman Pat Fish name-checks myriad demons, from Idi Amin to Love & Rockets (whose bassist briefly played in the band).

If (god forbid) you're new to the Jazz Butcher, here's a mix: