Joan Baez - The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

 

                    

 

 

Virgil Caine is my name and I drove on the Danville train
Til so much cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65 we were hungry, just barely alive
I took the train to Richmond that fell
It was 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 ...

Back with my wife in Tennessee, and one day she said to me
Virgil, quick come see, there goes the Robert E. Lee
Now I don't mind, I'm choppin' wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
Just 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 ...

Like my father before me, I'm a workin' man
And like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
Well, he was just 18, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below my feet
You can't raise the Caine back up when it'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 na na ...