Origins: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Subject: RE: Night They Drove Ol' Dixie..help
From: Spartacus
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:57 AM

Im sure that some of the phrases contain have double meanings, but the "stonemans calvary", "Robert E. Lee" and "Rebel stand" references make it difficult not to put meaning to the words....

Subject: RE: Night They Drove Ol' Dixie..help
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:54 AM

Not Sandburg...Robert Frost.

Subject: RE: Night They Drove Ol' Dixie..help
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:51 AM

I always felt that this song was more myth, feelings...you put your own meaning to the words because they are a bit vague and have double meanings..."can't raise a Cain back up" (the family name, Cain...the dead brother..."raise Cain"....wheat in the fields knocked down...Dixie knocked down...) (then then whole image of "train") Who was it, Sandburg?, said don't try to put too much meaning to words.

Subject: RE: Night They Drove Ol' Dixie..help
From: Spartacus
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:36 AM

as near as i can tell:

Verse 1 In the first verse he works on a train, until the union army (stonewall jackson) comes and destroys the tracks to keep supplies flowing to rebel armies during the civil war. He lost his job and hes hungry, then the union army takes richmond, VA.

Verse 2 He's with his wife and he sees Robert e lee go by. He gets a job chopping wood, claiming its not beneath him. Then he laments that they shouldnt have taken dixie down (taking the very best)

verse 3 Like his father the farmer and his dead brother the soldier in the rebel army, and died in battle with the union, hell die before he admits defeat.

I think that pretty much does it....

Subject: Night They Drove Ol' Dixie..help
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Feb 02 - 09:22 AM

I've listened to Joan Baez and the BAnd sing this song a gazillion times and I still can't quite figure out what is happening in the song. If anyone can give me a plot summary, verse at a time, I'd appreciate it. I've talked this over with friends, with the help of a brew or 2, and it still is unclear to me. thanks

Subject: RE: the night they drove ol dixie down
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 01 - 04:09 PM

Well as to Stoneman return to combat, during the Civil War, prisoners were exchanged. Grabt put a stop to that to increase the drain on Confederate manpower. Now as an interesting side note, the Danville train was the route to the city of Danville--no-brainer--from Richmond. With the fall of the capital in Richmond, Jeff Davis and the CSA government fled to the city of Danville, Va., on that train with CSA treasury. Stoneman's cavalry on a raid missed them by the skin of their teeth, but "tore up the tracks." Very interesting how Robertson is so historically accurate, but so way off on the Lee bit. But like most folk tales and stories, there is always a gain of truth. Maybe the mistakes are a way of making it an authentic "old but new" song. His mistakes are to create the distortions of time. However I do remember reading a story of Lee going to a resort and vacationing after the war--I think it was the Greenbriar in W.Va.--but not sure. Maybe that is the basis. Kudos to RR on his historical knowledge either way.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
From: GUEST,Tracey Dragonsfriend
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 04:57 PM

Well, according to The Band's own website, here are the lyrics, from the horse's mouth - J. Robbie Robertson:

THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
By J. R. Robertson. Album: The Band
© 1970 Canaan Music, Inc.

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 '65,
We were hungry, just barely alive.
By May the tenth, Richmond had fell,
It's a time I remember, oh so well,

(Chorus)
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 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,
"Hey Virgil, quick, come and 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.

(Chorus)

Like my father before me,
I will work the land,
Like my brother 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.

(Chorus and fade)

There's also a long discussion on the meaning of the words on that website too...

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
From: katlaughing
Date: 03 Aug 01 - 04:48 PM

I like the way Baez did it. Whether she sings it that way or not, the lyrics attributed to her singing it, at Lyrics World, are the same as the ones you say are the original, LH. Of course we don't know how meticulous the transcriber was and there is one mistake, that I can see. This one says "I don't care if MY money's no good" and it should "THEIR." Now I will have to go dick out my Diamonds and rust tape and listen...carefully:-)

THE NIGHT THEY DROVE OLD DIXIE DOWN
Joan Baez
Written by J. Robbie Robertson

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...

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.

Chorus

Like my father before me, I will work the land.
And, like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand.
He was just 18, 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.

Chorus