Category: Spirit

The Title comes from an email I received this morning from Michael Brenner. He doesn’t have a Blog or an account on X. He is a prominent American scholar specializing in International Relations, American foreign policy, and transatlantic affairs. He is best known for his critical analyses of U.S. geopolitical strategies, European security, and global power dynamics.

This is what he wrote: BRETHREN

There is an old blues ballad called: “The Devil Don’t Knock Twice.”* Assuming that he knocks at all — or just sidles up to you at a Delta crossroads with a proposition that you can’t refuse. The specter of Satan requesting entry – into your home, into your soul – suggests that you have a choice whether or not to let him in. That evidently is true for even the most downtrodden, the most desperate, the most vulnerable.

We Americans – individually and collectively – have been privileged with three knocks, each seeking entry.

The first time, we took a deliberate look through the peephole, sized him up as off-beat, hyper, a little weird but quelled our doubts in opening the door. After much strained and acrid palaver, we agreed to a 4-year lease on the premises.

At its end, he aggressively demanded an extension of the same duration – the 2nd knock. With decidedly mixed feelings we turned him down. An inspection of the property had revealed widespread damage. The house was desecrated with Satanic graffiti and reeked of foul sulfuric fumes. Worse, the Evil One had turned it into a refuge for a coven of unisex demons from the nether world. 

Furious at the rejection, he incited them to ransack the place and to seize it in his name. We managed to repel them – just barely. That wasn’t the end of it, though. Hardly. The diabolical schemer launched a massive all-out campaign to overturn the eviction. Spurious lawsuits, incessant protest rallies, random acts of vandalism – even blatant intimidation of judges and prosecutors. 

Satan himself raging everywhere – fuming, breathing fire and brimstone – vowing revenge against all who had played a part in his eviction, who had thwarted him in any way – or else! This went on for years.

Then, he knocked on the door a 3rd time – declaring loudly that he would make the house a great mansion again – if we let him in – or else. We opened the door wide.

Searching Google for the original ‘The Devil Don’t knock Twice’ found this: Unearthed from the depths of the American South, [LOST TAPE #013 — “The Devil Don’t Knock Twice” by Jeremiah “Dust Bowl” Reed (1934)] captures the haunted soul of early Delta Blues. Recorded on fragile acetate in a dusty roadside chapel during the Great Depression, this lost field recording reveals the raw emotion, pain, and faith of a man who sang not for fame—but for survival. The cracked voice of Jeremiah “Dust Bowl” Reed echoes through time, blending gospel roots, delta slide guitar, and an atmosphere so authentic you can almost smell the rain on dry soil.

Woke up on a Monday, sun behind the ground Look out on the future, couldn’t tell a place of time Been chasing that dollar, brother, in a field of wooden yield Now the dust is my blanket and the highway is my field

[Chorus] Cuz the devil don’t knock twice, son You just walk right through your door Leave you standing in the ruin Wonder what you suffered for He don’t send no letter, don’t whistle no sweet tune The devil don’t knock twice He just come and take the moon

I had a good woman, pretty as a newborn day She stood by the fence post ’til the wind blowed away Had a house made of timber, a roof to keep me dry Then the bank man came calling with the death note in his eye

[Chorus] Cuz the devil don’t knock twice, son He just walk right through your door Leave you standing in a ruin Wondering what you suffer for He don’t send no letter, don’t whistle no sweet tune The devil don’t knock twice He just come and take the moon

I walked a thousand miles, man, just to keep my spirit whole Try to run from the bad luck that will stamp upon my soul But whether it’s the drought or the poor man’s power line The darkness is a shadow and it follows close behind I’m standing by this doorway, listening for a sound Just a grid on the wind, brother, blowing across the ground

I learned my lesson early, the hard way, cold and fast When the devil wants your life, he don’t need a second pass

[Chorus] Cuz the devil don’t knock twice He just walk right through your door Leave you standing in the ruins Wondering what you suffer for He don’t send no letter, don’t whistle no sweet tune The devil don’t knock twice He just come and take the moon…

For those who prefer a Rock & Roll cover of the original Country Music: