Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train,

Till Stoneman´s Cavalry came an´ tore up the tracks again

In the winter of sixty-five, we were hungry, just barely alive.

By May the tenth Richmond had fell; Its a time I remember, oh, so well.



(CHORUS)

The night they drove old Dixi down

And the bells were ringin´;

The night they drove old Dixi down

And all the people were singin´, they went:

La la, 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 Robert E. Lee!"

Now I don´t mind choppin´ wood and I don´t care if the money´s no good,

Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest but they should never have taken the very best.



Like my father before me I will work the land

Just like my brother above me, who took a Rebel stand;

He was just eighteen, my 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.



J. Robbie Robertson

Copyright 1969 by Canaan Music, Inc.

ASCAP 3.22



"The difference between the words on the record and the words in the text are either

itentional or otherwise." Joan Baez