The Night They Drove Old Dixi Down lyrics

Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train,
Till Stonemans Cavalry came an tore up the tracks again
In the winter of sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth Richmond had fell; Its a time I remember, oh, so well.

(CHORUS)
The night they drove old Dixi down
And the bells were ringin;
The night they drove old Dixi down
And all the people were singin, they went:
La la, la, la, la, la, la,
La, la, la, la, la, la, la
La, la, la.

Back with my wife in Tennessee when one day she called to me,
"Virgil, quick! Come see! There goes Robert E. Lee!"
Now I dont mind choppin wood and I dont care if the moneys no good,
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest but they should never have taken the very best.

Like my father before me I will work the land
Just like my brother above me, who took a Rebel stand;
He was just eighteen, my proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave.
I swear by the mud below my feet You cant raise a Caine back up when hes in defeat.

J. Robbie Robertson
Copyright 1969 by Canaan Music, Inc.
ASCAP 3.22

"The difference between the words on the record and the words in the text are either
itentional or otherwise." Joan Baez