Virgil Caine is my name and I served on the Danville train,
Till so much cavalry came and they 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 ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singing
They went "La, la, la-la, la, la, la, la-la, la-la, la-la, la"

Back with my wife in Tennesee, 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 the money's no good
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 ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singing
They went "La, la, la-la, la, la, la, la-la, la-la, la-la, la"

Like my father before me, I'm a working man
Like my brother before me, I took a rebel stand
He was just eighteen, proud and brave, but a Yankee laid him in his grave
I swear by the blood below my feet
You can't raise the cane back up when it's in the feed

The night they drove old Dixie down, and all the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Dixie down, and the people were singing
They went "La, la, la-la, la, la, la, la-la, la-la, la-la, la"