The Night They Drove Ole 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 sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive
Took the train to Richmond we fell
It's a time I remember oh, so well.

The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'! they went
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 said to me
"Virgil, quick, come see: there goes the Robert E. Lee!"
Now, I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if my 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 ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'! they went
La, la-la-la-la-la,
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la.

Like my father before me, I'm a workin' man
And, like my brother before me yeah, I took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, when a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below my feet
You can't raise a caine back up when it's in defeat.

The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the bells were ringin'
The night they drove old Dixie down
And all the people were singin'! they went
La, la-la-la-la-la
La-la-la-la, la-la-la-la-la.