Virgil Caine is the name, and I served on the Danville train
'Til Stoneman's cavalry came and it tore up the tracks again
In the winter of '65, we were hungry, just barely alive
By May 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 ringing
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and all the people were singin'
They went

Back with my wife in Tennessee, when one day she called to me
"Say Virgil, quick, come see, there goes Robert E. Lee!"
Now I don't mind choppin' wood, and I don't care if my money's no good
Ya take what ya need and ya 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

Like my father before me, I will work the land
And like my brother up above me, who took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, but 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, when all the bells were ringing
The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and you could hear 'm all singin'
They went

Copyright: Universal Music Publishing Group
Writer(s): Robbie Robertson