Song Lyrics

Virgil Caine is the name, and I served 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.
By May the tenth, Richmond had 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 called 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 will work the land.
And, like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand.
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, when 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 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.

Robbie Robertson