The Band - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" is a song by The Band, recorded in 1969 and released on their self-titled second album.

Joan Baez's cover of the song was a top-five chart hit in late 1971.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train

'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again.

In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive.

By May the 10th, Richmond had fell.

It's a time I remember, oh so well.

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the bells were ringing,

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singing

They went, "Na,na,na.na,

Na na na na na na na na na.''

Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me,

"Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E.Lee!"

Now I don't mind I'm choppin' wood, and I don't care if the money's no good.

You take what you need and leave the rest,

But they should never have taken the very best.

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the bells were ringing,

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singing.

They went, "Na,na,na na

'Na,na,na.na na na na na na..'

Like my father before me, I will work the land,

And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand.

He was just eighteen, proud and brave,

but a Yankee laid him in his grave.

I swear by the blood below my feet

You can't raise a Caine back up when he's in defeat

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the bells were ringing,

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singing

They went, "Na, na, na na ... "

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the bells were ringing.

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singing.

They went, "Na, na, na na ..."