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 ringin'

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singin'

They went, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"

"Na, na, na-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 Robert E. Lee"

Now, I don't mind, I'm chopping 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 ringin'

The night they drove old Dixie down

And all the people were singin'

They went, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"

"Na, na, na-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 eighteen, proud and brave

But a yankee laid him in his grave

I swear by the blood below my feet

You can't raise the Cain 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, "Na, na-na-na, na-na"

"Na, na, na-na, na-na, na-na-na"