Big Country › Lyrics › The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Virgil Caine is my name, and I worked on the Danville train
Till Sherman's cavalry came and tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May the tenth, Richmond had 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 singin'
They went na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na

Back with my wife in Tennessee till one day she says to me
Virgil quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee
And I don't mind choppin' wood
And I don't care if the money's no good
You take what you can 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 singin'
They went 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 below me, I took the rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave
But a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the mud beneath my feet
You can't raise a Cain 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 singin'
They went na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na

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 singin'
They went na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na
Na, na, na, na, na