The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Virgil Caine is the name

And I served 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 the bells were ringing

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the people were singing

They went, "Sha, na, na, na, na, na ..."

Back with my wife in Tennessee

When one day she called to me

Said "Virgil, quick, come see,

There goes Robert E. Lee!"

I don't mind chopping wood

And I don't care if my money's no good

You take what you need

And you leave the rest

But they should never

Have taken the very best

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the bells were ringing

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the people were singing

They went, "Sha, na, na, na, na, na ..."

Like my father before me

I will work the land

And like my brother above me

Who took a rebel stand

He was just 18, proud and brave

But a Yankee laid him in his grave

And I swear by the mud below my feet

You can't raise a Caine back up

When he's in defeat

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the bells were ringing

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the people were singing

They went, "Sha, na, na, na, na, na ..."

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the bells were ringing

The night they drove old Dixie down

And the people were singing

They went, "Sha, na, na, na, na, na ..."

• Artist:The Band
• Album:The Band (1969)