Johnny Cash
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" lyrics

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Virgil Caine is my name
And I served on the Danville Train
Till Stoneman's cavalry came
And tore up the tracks again

In the winter of sixty-five
We were hungry
Just barely alive
By May tenth Richmond had fell
It's a time
That 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, na, na, na

Back with my wife in Tennessee
One day she said to me
Virgil, quick, come see, Virgil
There goes Robert E. Lee

Now I don't mind chopping wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
Just take what you need
And you leave the rest
But they never should 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, na, na, na

Like my father before me
I will work the land
Like my brother above me
He took a rebel stand

He was just eighteen
Proud and brave
And a Yankee laid him in his grave
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 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, na, na, na

Authors: Robbie Robertson